{"id":1375,"date":"2007-11-13T01:27:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-13T01:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2007\/11\/13\/a-great-relief"},"modified":"2007-11-13T01:27:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-13T01:27:00","slug":"a-great-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/","title":{"rendered":"A great relief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh guys.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s kind of hard for me to get my head in the game this fall – you know, for Thanksgiving and the holidays and all. I can hardly keep track of anything these days except the words on my computer screen, and even that\u2019s touch-and-go. My brain is a wide-mesh sieve. The other day, I went out to breakfast with a friend, someone I\u2019d lost touch with for a couple of years and ran into again only recently, and we were talking about my wedding. She wanted to know what time the ceremony took place, and – get this – I couldn\u2019t remember. Could. Not. Remember<\/span>. I was like, \u201cUhh, four? Or five? Or no, four-thirty?\u201d The only good part is that later, when I told Brandon about my little memory lapse, he giggled and admitted that he can\u2019t remember either. Heavens, he\u2019s dreamy. We were meant for each other.<\/p>\n

But all that notwithstanding, I really do want to talk about Thanksgiving today. I love Thanksgiving. It\u2019s barely ten days away and approaching at lightning speed. I haven\u2019t been cooking much these days, to be perfectly honest, but over the past few weeks, during lunches and in those late-night moments before my eyes cloud with sleep, I\u2019ve come across some holiday recipes that made me itch to get to the stove. I don\u2019t have much time to spare, but this weekend, feeling terribly decadent and devil-may-care about the manuscript<\/a> and whatnot, I decided to do it anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Oh ho ho. See that carrot soup up there? So pretty, right? So silky, so creamy, so delicious, it would seem, with white cheddar and a warm baguette? Oh, were it so. To tell you the truth, it was boring. Really boring. Like, I\u2019ll-keep-eating-this-because-it\u2019s-healthy-but-I\u2019m-definitely-not-
going-to-enjoy-it-boring. It had tons of sweetly sauteed shallots, homemade chicken stock, and cream, and still, booooo-ring<\/span>. I had it for lunch today and almost fell asleep.<\/p>\n

Then there was the winter squash gratin from Julia Child\u2019s The Way to Cook<\/span>. Years ago, someone told me that it was a terrific recipe, and I\u2019ve had it bookmarked ever since. I finally tried it on Saturday. It\u2019s basically cubed winter squash – I used butternut – that you steam briefly with some minced garlic and fresh ginger and then fold gently with b\u00e9chamel<\/a>, top with fresh bread crumbs and gruy\u00e8re, and bake slowly until lightly browned on top. I\u2019d never made a gratin with b\u00e9chamel – usually just milk or cream – but this was Julia, right? I love Julia. And butternut squash! And gruy\u00e8re! It would be rich! It would be gooey! A Thankgiving homerun! You see where this is going. It too was only so-so: strange and slippery on the tongue, and with next to no flavor. It was like butternut squash with the volume turned down. It was wasted groceries, basically, and why oh why<\/span> did I do that, and oh, what the hell, let\u2019s have ice cream for dinner.<\/p>\n

But in the midst of all this, my weekend of utter mediocrity, I remembered something. It came as a great relief. I think you\u2019re going to like it. I know I do.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
What I remembered was Shirley Corriher\u2019s Touch-of-Grace Biscuits. Over the past several years, these little lumps of glory have come to be my Thanksgiving trademark, and though I wrote about them here three years ago, I thought it was high time to take them down from the shelf, dust them off, and trot them around again. I hope you don\u2019t mind. Once you\u2019ve tasted them, I doubt you will. I\u2019ll bet even a snore of a carrot soup could look lively with one of these dunked in it.<\/p>\n

Shirley Corriher is a well-known food scientist and author of a book called Cookwise<\/span>, but even if you haven\u2019t heard of her, this recipe will have you shouting her name from the rooftops. It\u2019s based on her grandmother\u2019s method for making biscuits, and though it\u2019s a little odd on first glance, it\u2019s utterly, utterly easy. Basically, you combine flour, sugar, and salt; rub in some shortening; and then stir in buttermilk and cream until the mixture looks like large-curd cottage cheese. Then, using a measuring scoop, you spoon up a biscuit-size quantity of the wet dough, dunk it in a bowl of flour, dust it off, nestle it in a cake pan, and repeat. The biscuits bake into a pebbly cake of sorts, like this.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Then you break them apart, wrap them in a dishtowel, put them on the table, and watch them go – because they do, fast. They\u2019re uncannily light, moist and airy, with a flavor that\u2019s both rich and tangy, buttermilk through and through. If you want to know what I\u2019ll be contributing to Thanksgiving next week, when Brandon and I go to Oklahoma to celebrate with my mother, my aunt, my grandmother, three cousins, one cousin-in-law, two cousins\u2019 boyfriends, one brother, one sister-in-law, one uncle, and one baby niece who is just starting to eat real food and loves it so much that she pants in anticipation – pants! – <\/span>when she sees a spoon, <\/span>well, this is it. I\u2019ll probably be making two batches, actually, or maybe even three. Because we like biscuits. Much better than butternut gratin, in fact. I don\u2019t know what I was thinking.<\/p>\n

Touch-of-Grace Biscuits<\/span>
Adapted from Shirley Corriher\u2019s Cookwise<\/span><\/p>\n

This recipe relies on two principles: 1) that low-protein flour makes tender biscuits, and 2) that a wet dough creates lots of steam in the oven and makes biscuits extra-light. It\u2019s both simple and ingenious. The only tricky part is that you need Southern self-rising flour. It sounds finicky, but there\u2019s a method to Corriher\u2019s madness: Southern brands of flour are milled from a soft wheat that contains less gluten, meaning that they make a more tender biscuit. My favorite brand is White Lily<\/a>, although I think I\u2019ve also used Martha White, maybe, and Aunt Jemima brand. I can\u2019t remember. White Lily is hard to find outside of the East Coast and the South<\/a>. Williams-Sonoma used to carry it, but they\u2019ve stopped, and now I have to mail-order<\/a> mine. Crazy, I know, but these biscuits are worth it. If you know what\u2019s good for you, you\u2019ll order some too.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t find Southern self-rising flour, or if you don\u2019t have time to wait for the mail, you can also try this: instead, combine 1 1\/3 cups national-brand self-rising flour, 2\/3 cup Wondra flour<\/a>, and one heaping \u00bd teaspoon baking powder. That\u2019s a decent substitute, although not quite as light. You also might need to add a touch more buttermilk to get the right consistency.<\/p>\n

Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups Southern self-rising flour, such as White Lily
\u00bd tsp. salt
\u00bc cup granulated sugar
\u00bc cup vegetable shortening
2\/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour, for shaping biscuits (do not<\/span> use self-rising for this)
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted<\/p>\n

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit, and spray an 8\u201d round cake pan with cooking spray.<\/p>\n

In a medium bowl, combine the self-rising flour, salt, and sugar and whisk to mix well. Add the shortening and, using your fingers, rub it into the flour mixture until there are no lumps bigger than a large pea.<\/p>\n

Stir in the heavy cream and buttermilk, taking care not to overmix. Let stand for 2-3 minutes. The dough will be very wet, resembling large-curd cottage cheese.<\/p>\n

Pour the all-purpose flour into a shallow bowl or pie plate. Rub your hands in the flour to dust them well. Using a \u00bc-cup measuring scoop or something of similar size, spoon a lump of wet dough into the flour, and sprinkle some flour over it to coat well. Gently pick it up and shape it into a soft round. I do this by cradling it in the cupped palm of one hand and gently shaking it, letting the excess flour fall through my fingers. You can also toss the dough softly – very softly – back and forth from cupped palm to cupped palm: it should feel similar to a water balloon. Place biscuit in pan and repeat with remaining dough, pushing biscuits tightly against one another so that they will rise up and not spread out.<\/p>\n

Brush with melted butter and bake until set and lightly browned, 15-20 minutes. Cool for a minute or two, then dump out and break apart into individual biscuits.<\/p>\n

Serve immediately.<\/p>\n

Yield: 10-12 biscuits<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh guys. It\u2019s kind of hard for me to get my head in the game this fall – you know, for Thanksgiving and the holidays and all. I can hardly keep track of anything these days except the words on my computer screen, and even that\u2019s touch-and-go. My brain is a wide-mesh sieve. The other day, I went out to breakfast with a friend, someone I\u2019d lost touch with for a couple of years and ran into again only recently, and we were talking about my wedding. She wanted to know what time the ceremony took place, and – get this – I couldn\u2019t remember. Could. Not. Remember. I was like, \u201cUhh, four? Or five? Or no, four-thirty?\u201d The only…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA great relief | Orangette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A great relief | Orangette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oh guys. It\u2019s kind of hard for me to get my head in the game this fall – you know, for Thanksgiving and the holidays and all. I can hardly keep track of anything these days except the words on my computer screen, and even that\u2019s touch-and-go. My brain is a wide-mesh sieve. The other day, I went out to breakfast with a friend, someone I\u2019d lost touch with for a couple of years and ran into again only recently, and we were talking about my wedding. She wanted to know what time the ceremony took place, and – get this – I couldn\u2019t remember. Could. Not. Remember. I was like, \u201cUhh, four? Or five? Or no, four-thirty?\u201d The only…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orangette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/molly.wizenberg\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-11-13T01:27:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/26240-sunday273-11.jpg?w=300\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mollyorangette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mollyorangette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Molly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/\",\"name\":\"Orangette\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/26240-sunday273-11.jpg?w=300\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/26240-sunday273-11.jpg?w=300\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/\",\"name\":\"A great relief | Orangette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-11-13T01:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-11-13T01:27:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A great relief\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe\",\"name\":\"Molly\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/orangette.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/orangette.net\/author\/molly\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A great relief | Orangette","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A great relief | Orangette","og_description":"Oh guys. It\u2019s kind of hard for me to get my head in the game this fall – you know, for Thanksgiving and the holidays and all. I can hardly keep track of anything these days except the words on my computer screen, and even that\u2019s touch-and-go. My brain is a wide-mesh sieve. The other day, I went out to breakfast with a friend, someone I\u2019d lost touch with for a couple of years and ran into again only recently, and we were talking about my wedding. She wanted to know what time the ceremony took place, and – get this – I couldn\u2019t remember. Could. Not. Remember. I was like, \u201cUhh, four? Or five? Or no, four-thirty?\u201d The only…","og_url":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/","og_site_name":"Orangette","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/molly.wizenberg","article_published_time":"2007-11-13T01:27:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/26240-sunday273-11.jpg?w=300"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mollyorangette","twitter_site":"@mollyorangette","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Molly","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website","url":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/","name":"Orangette","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/26240-sunday273-11.jpg?w=300","contentUrl":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/26240-sunday273-11.jpg?w=300"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/","name":"A great relief | Orangette","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2007-11-13T01:27:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-11-13T01:27:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2007\/11\/a-great-relief\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A great relief"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe","name":"Molly","sameAs":["http:\/\/orangette.net"],"url":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/author\/molly\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}