July the 4th continued: biscuits.

Aah. Biscuits. Just the thing to make the man from Georgia go all misty eyed. Obviously more so if, like the fifties housewife of my fantasy (I'm not so sure if I should be admitting to this), I am wearing his grandmother's apron. Ric-rac and all. The somewhat alluring picture above is by Foodistablog at www.flick'r.com Thank you!

To a Britisher, the closest thing to a biscuit is a scone. There's a slight kick of acidity with biscuits, though. The quarrel between the raising agents you use and the buttermilk, milk or yoghurt of the mixture. In the South, they would always be served hot and with butter. You could split them and serve them with a little bit of the July the 4th ham I've described for you. In the South, it would be 'country ham' -- for which I refer you to Damon Lee Fowler again: Classical Southern Cooking.

I have here the recipe of my mother in law, Mrs Claudia Ballard Mead Ellis. She is a proud Virginian. I've changed her recipe only in that I've altered the eminently sensible American cup measurement (which is 8 oz or 240 g, in case you were wondering.

To make 12 to 16 biscuits,
take 480 g self raising flour (Claudia uses what is known in America as all purpose)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
60 g of unsalted butter (or you could use vegetable shortening, as she does)
150 ml milk

Alternatively, add a quarter teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to the dry ingredients (in addition to the baking powder) and substitute buttermilk for the milk. She suggests adding another 20 grammes of shortening or butter if you wish to make these buttermilk biscuits instead. I like the texture also if I add half and half yoghurt (full fat) and milk instead of plain milk.

So, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and then rub in the fat until it ressembles coarse crumbs. Then just make a hollow and stir in enouigh milk to make a soft dough. Add the milk a little at a time: you may need more or less. The mixture should leave the sides of the bowl and stick to your mixing utensil. Now, turn the dough onto a floured board and knead with the heel of your hand 15 times. Roll thee dough out to about 2 centimetres in thickness and cut out with a straight or serated 2 inch cutter. Put them on a greased baking sheet in a very hot oven and bake until risen and golden brown.

I like Claudia's instruction that you should place them close together for soft sides and 1 inch apart for crusty sides.

And do serve at once. They will re-heat, but do not seem as special. And do you know what my husband's last meal would be? Biscuits and red-eye gravy. If you want to know more about this, you'll have to come round -- although not, obviously, if it really is his last meal.