Cathead Biscuits
So-called because they’re big as an average house-cat’s head. My grandmother made these every morning before sunrise. I can still picture her kneading the dough in the blue splatterware enamel bowl. The morning always smelled of cathead biscuits, slab bacon and strong coffee. I still use the blue bowl. Biscuits made from this recipe will not taste exactly like my grandmother’s because I had to improvise a bit. I asked her once for her recipe and it something like, “you know, honey, you take a couple handfuls of flour, a grab of lard and enough buttermilk to make biscuit dough.” For years she had a flour drawer in the kitchen and she would mix the biscuit dough or pie crust right in the bin. Later she employed the blue metal bowl. But she never measured anything. I’m not that talented. I need a guide. Soo this is my best guess on ingredients and portions thereof. It makes a biscuit that is almost as good as my grandmother’s.
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda (scant)
½ teaspoon salt
1/3rd cup shortening
1 cup buttermilk (if you’re out of buttermilk, here’s a quick substitute: add 2 tablespoons white vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk to make a cup. Stir it up and let it sit for 5 minutes until it clabbers.)
Preheat oven 450. Combine dry ingredients. But in shortening until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add buttermilk to make dough. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead lightly. Divide into ten pieces. Roll and shape each piece into 1-inch thick circle about the size of a small house cat’s head (3 inches diameter). Or you can cut them out using the open end of a large jelly glass. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet, brush tops with melted butter. Bake for 12 minutes or until brown. These a larapin’ good when dipped into a mixture of sorghum syrup marbled with warm butter.
