{"id":1797,"date":"2004-12-02T23:35:00","date_gmt":"2004-12-02T23:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2004\/12\/02\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits"},"modified":"2015-09-24T03:54:35","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T03:54:35","slug":"another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/","title":{"rendered":"Another excuse to talk biscuits"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Thanksgiving, the focus wasn’t on the ritual turkey and stuffing; it was on a wedding engagement. After all, my (half-)brother David has certainly made us wait.<\/p>\n

David was fifteen when I was born. A mid-seventies transplant from Baltimore, he took Oklahoma City by storm with his stylish and shiny Farrah Fawcettesque hair<\/strong>, striped knee socks, and devilish ways. Although he kept himself busy scandalizing various cities and defying death and teachers, he also took care to do the requisite brotherly things: asking me (\u00e0 la Telly Savalas), \u201cWho loves ya, baby?\u201d<\/strong> and training me to say, \u201cYou do!\u201d; sitting on me and tickling me until I couldn\u2019t breathe; harassing me about boys; and giving me a beer-derived nickname, Molson<\/strong>. The Kojak<\/em> game is now long over, though it was only around age fourteen that I was able to convince David that tickling is not<\/em> okay. And as for the harassment, it has today happily morphed into a lively banter, at times risqu\u00e9 enough to make him flinch. He pauses, gives me a high-five, and then returns the off-color punch. And of course, I\u2019m still Molson.<\/p>\n

But we\u2019ve been waiting. He\u2019s not getting any younger, and Car\u00e9e is a fantastic catch, to say the least: strong, smart (a professor of health and human sexuality, complete with tabletop condom trees and penis light-switches), pretty, sophisticated, willing to tolerate David\u2019s goofiness, able to put him in his place, and well-versed in dirty martinis<\/strong>. So finally, one blustery weekend last winter, he got down on literal and proverbial bended knee and offered up a very impressive diamond. Car\u00e9e, caught straight out of the shower in a bathrobe and towel-turban, bravely accepted.<\/p>\n

And this past weekend, we celebrated.<\/p>\n

David and Car\u00e9e arrived in Oklahoma City on Thanksgiving Day with a cooler full of Malpecq oysters, which David shucked using our father\u2019s tried-and-true oyster knife. We gathered around the butcher-block island in the kitchen, Champagne flutes in hand<\/strong>, everyone but (scaredy-cat) me loudly slurping oysters. Watching David and Car\u00e9e together, I was struck by how solid he seems with her, how confident, playful, happy<\/em> he is. My mother tells me that he wants to have speakers installed in the kitchen of the house he and Car\u00e9e have just bought: he wants to be able to kitchen-dance<\/strong>. It’s so beautiful.<\/p>\n

But all this was only a prelude: the true celebration came Saturday night<\/strong>, when forty or so of my parents\u2019 friends joined us to f\u00eate David and Car\u00e9e\u2019s engagement. David cleaned up\u2014even taking off the backwards baseball cap, his daring gang-member look\u2014to resemble the suave businessman he is, and Car\u00e9e looked gorgeous in a sleeveless, cowl-neck dress. I got to play hostess (a talent I prize but use far too infrequently) and managed to work the crowd for over two hours without getting a face ache from too much smiling. But best of all, there were biscuits<\/strong>\u2014sweet-potato biscuits.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For as long as I can remember, we\u2019ve had sweet-potato biscuits with ham and Honeycup mustard<\/a> (\u201cUniquely sharp!\u201d the label warns) on the party rotation. For this particular occasion, Mom did a bit of research and found, via David Rosengarten<\/a>, what is purported to be the finest ham in all of America<\/strong>: Murcer\u2019s bone-in ham<\/a> from Enid, Oklahoma. It was indeed a lovely, honey-tinged, and luminously rosy specimen, redolent of smoke, its aroma wafting up from the kitchen into my father\u2019s bathroom, where I was prettifying for the evening\u2019s festivities. Paired with a generous slathering<\/strong> of Honeycup mustard on a buttery<\/strong> sweet-potato biscuit, it was intoxicating. The bartender also kept my wine glass very full.<\/p>\n

Faithful readers may have noticed that I\u2019ve been talking biscuits<\/a> a lot lately, but with winter\u2019s cold closing in and many dark months ahead, consider all this buttery richness a pre-emptive strike against hypothermia. As my French host-father used to say, \u201cC\u2019est nourrissant!\u201d<\/strong><\/em> So allez, mangez<\/em>: come spring, you\u2019ll thank me. Car\u00e9e, with wedding-dress fittings no doubt menacing, will not.<\/p>\n

Congratulations, you two.<\/p>\n

Sweet-Potato Biscuits<\/strong>
(Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart<\/a>)<\/p>\n

1 3\/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbs light-brown sugar
2 1\/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1\/2 tsp baking soda
6 Tbs chilled unsalted butter
3\/4 cup chilled sweet potato puree (read: peeled, boiled, and pureed sweet potatoes)
1\/3 cup buttermilk<\/p>\n

To make the dough:
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 3\/4 cups all-purpose flour, 2 Tbs light-brown sugar, 2 1\/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, and 1\/2 tsp baking soda. With a pastry blender or two knives (or not-too-warm fingers), cut in 6 Tbs chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with some pea-size lumps of butter remaining. In a small bowl, whisk together 3\/4 cup chilled sweet potato pur\u00e9e and 1\/3 cup buttermilk; stir quickly into flour mixture until combined (do not overmix).<\/p>\n

To shape the biscuits:
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead very gently until dough comes together but is still slightly lumpy, five or six times. (If dough is too sticky, work in up to 1\/4 cup additional flour.) Shape into a disk, and pat to an even 1-inch thickness. With a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits as close together as possible. Gather together scraps, and repeat to cut out more biscuits (do not reuse scraps more than once).<\/p>\n

Baking the biscuits:
Preheat oven to 425\u00b0, with rack on lower shelf. Butter or spray an 8-inch cake pan. Arrange biscuits snugly in pan. Brush with 1\/2 Tbs melted butter. Bake until golden, rotating once, 20 to 24 minutes.<\/p>\n

Yield: 8 biscuits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Thanksgiving, the focus wasn’t on the ritual turkey and stuffing; it was on a wedding engagement. After all, my (half-)brother David has certainly made us wait. David was fifteen when I was born. A mid-seventies transplant from Baltimore, he took Oklahoma City by storm with his stylish and shiny Farrah Fawcettesque hair, striped knee socks, and devilish ways. Although he kept himself busy scandalizing various cities and defying death and teachers, he also took care to do the requisite brotherly things: asking me (\u00e0 la Telly Savalas), \u201cWho loves ya, baby?\u201d and training me to say, \u201cYou do!\u201d; sitting on me and tickling me until I couldn\u2019t breathe; harassing me about boys; and giving me a beer-derived nickname, Molson.…<\/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":"\nAnother excuse to talk biscuits | 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=\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Another excuse to talk biscuits | Orangette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This Thanksgiving, the focus wasn’t on the ritual turkey and stuffing; it was on a wedding engagement. After all, my (half-)brother David has certainly made us wait. David was fifteen when I was born. A mid-seventies transplant from Baltimore, he took Oklahoma City by storm with his stylish and shiny Farrah Fawcettesque hair, striped knee socks, and devilish ways. Although he kept himself busy scandalizing various cities and defying death and teachers, he also took care to do the requisite brotherly things: asking me (\u00e0 la Telly Savalas), \u201cWho loves ya, baby?\u201d and training me to say, \u201cYou do!\u201d; sitting on me and tickling me until I couldn\u2019t breathe; harassing me about boys; and giving me a beer-derived nickname, Molson.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/\" \/>\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=\"2004-12-02T23:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-24T03:54:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/12\/Sweet-potato-biscuits1.jpg\" \/>\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=\"5 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\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/12\/Sweet-potato-biscuits1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/12\/Sweet-potato-biscuits1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/\",\"name\":\"Another excuse to talk biscuits | Orangette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-12-02T23:35:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-24T03:54:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/#\/schema\/person\/72d7c362f82fa0578c635d88a69d07fe\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Another excuse to talk biscuits\"}]},{\"@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":"Another excuse to talk biscuits | 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":"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2004\/12\/another-excuse-to-talk-biscuits\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Another excuse to talk biscuits | Orangette","og_description":"This Thanksgiving, the focus wasn’t on the ritual turkey and stuffing; it was on a wedding engagement. 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