Food History

Tonight I’ve been testing dishes for the Prohibition banquet again. I have a vegetarian dish that would be perfect … for brunch. The rest was better.

Testing dishes makes me tired, so today you’re getting some more biscuit and scone recipes for our ever-growing collection. These are from 1904, from The Blue Grass Cook Book, compiled by Minnie C Fox.

Beaten Biscuits
Miss Lyle

1 pint of flour
1 rounded tablespoon of lard
1 good pinch of salt

Mix with very cold sweet milk to a stiff dough. Work 150 times through a kneader. Roll into sheet one-half inch thick. Cut out or make out with the hands. Stick with a fork and bake in a hot oven about twenty minutes till a rich brown.

Mt. Airy Beaten Biscuits
Mrs. Simms

3 pints of flour sifted,
1 large kitchen spoon of lard
1 teaspoon salt

Have the lard well chilled on ice. Rub the lard into two pints of the flour. Make this into a stiff dough with ice water and a very little milk. Work through a kneader 150 times, gradually adding the other pint of flour, or till the dough is perfectly smooth. Roll out one-half inch thick, cut into biscuits, stick with a fork, and bake in a moderate oven till light brown. Serve hot.

Beaten-Biscuit Suggestions

The dough can be kept for two days if put in a tightly covered jar and kept on ice or in a cool place. Roll from 150 to 200 times through the kneader. Bake from twenty to twenty-five minutes in a hot oven. If the stove is hot enough to blister them before they are baked, place a bread-pan on the upper grating. Many of the best housekeepers prefer the old way of making the biscuits out by hand to the use of the cutter.

Brown Biscuits
Mrs. John W. Fox

1 quart of new flour, unbolted or Graham flour
2 tablespoons lard or butter
1 cup of buttermilk with one teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Make this into soft dough, work little, roll out, and cut into biscuits and bake in a quick oven.

Cream Biscuits
Mrs. Henry C. Buckner

Mix 1 quart of flour
5 ounces butter
2 teaspoons of baking-powder and a little salt very lightly together
Add one quart of sweet cream, and work very well for several minutes

Roll out as thick as a silver dollar. Cook in hot oven. Serve hot with honey or preserves.

Dixie Biscuits
Mrs. Charles Ellet Cabell

3 pints of flour
2 eggs
1 small cup of yeast
1 cup of sweet milk
2 tablespoons lard
1 teaspoon of salt

Mix up the bread at eleven o’clock and let it rise. At four o’clock roll out and cut into biscuits two sizes, putting the small one on top and let it rise till supper. Bake twenty minutes.

French Biscuit
Mrs. Joseph Holt

4 pints of flour
4 eggs
4 teaspoons of sugar
1 tablespoonful of butter
1 teacup of yeast
1 pint of sweet milk

Work it well and let it rise. Work it the second time and roll the dough thin. Cut out the biscuit, lard one side and place one on top of another and let it rise again.

Soda Biscuits

1 quart flour
1 pint of buttermilk
1 tablespoon lard
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Make into biscuits and bake quickly.

Fruit Cookies
Mrs. Henry C. Buckner

Beat well together
3 cups of brown sugar
1 cup of sour milk
1 teaspoon of soda
4 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon of cloves
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
2 cups of seeded and chopped raisins

Flour enough to make a stiff batter that will drop off a spoon. Bake in a quick oven.
1 teacup of nuts would be an improvement.