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| Self-rising flour, water, and lard were the only ingredients that Grandma used to make homemade biscuits. |
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| Grandma Emma |
Most of the lives of my three sisters and I were spent
living with our maternal grandparents, Minor Thornton (1913-1979) and Emma
Johnson Thornton (1922- 2011). Our grandfather died when we were teenagers.
When I think of my grandmother’s hands, I think of her cooking during my
childhood and early adult life and making homemade biscuits.
Growing up with our grandparents, my sisters and I never
starved; we did not always have what we wanted to eat, but as long as there was
a little flour in the house and some cooking grease or lard, we would have a meal such
of biscuits and gravy. Both of my maternal grandparents were from North
Carolina and grew up on farms. They were from the depression era generation
that knew how to take a little bit and make much.
Grandma’s Homemade
Biscuits
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| Lard |
Self-rising flour, water, and lard were the only ingredients
that Grandma used to make homemade biscuits during my childhood in the 1970s
and 1980s. During those days, my family would buy the big red plastic container
of lard (probably about 5-10 lbs.) Grandma never used measuring cups to measure
stuff, she only used these cups as a scoop. Grandma would mix her ingredients
together until they became a big ball of dough. Perhaps it was the way that the
dough felt to her hands that signaled to her that it was fully mixed and
kneaded and ready for shaping into biscuits.
Then she would pinch off a wad of dough and begin shaping it
into a round biscuit with her hands and fingers. Grandma never used a biscuit
cutter to my knowledge and her biscuits always came out fluffy, round, and
pretty. In my memory, I can still see her hands and fingers moving to shape the
biscuits. Oh how I wish I had a video of this memory. Grandma’s mother Bell is
remembered for her mouth watering biscuits. I assume that Grandma learned this
skill from her mother.
During my youth, I followed Grandma’s biscuit recipe, but my
so-called biscuits were more of a weapon or something to break your tooth
rather than for eating. I’m still not sure to this day why mine never came out
like hers.
We ate homemade biscuits often especially before my
grandfather died in August 1979. Sometimes the biscuits themselves could be
meal or a snack. Granddaddy liked to dip his in coffee or break them up in a
bowl of stewed tomatoes. At times, he would also add other things such as
molasses, jelly, butter, or Karo syrup to the biscuits. I believe that Karo
syrup came in both a dark color and a clear color. I think that we used
whichever of these were in our refrigerator. Karo syrup is also used to cook
candied yams, but this makes a great additive to a hot biscuit. I never tried
the coffee thing with biscuits, but I did eat them in stewed tomatoes or either
with the other butter, jelly, or syrup additives. The best time to eat these
biscuit was when they were hot out the oven. There were no microwaves back
then, and if small toaster ovens were available at that time, my family did not
own one.
I cannot remember the last time that Grandma made biscuits.
During my fairly recent adult years, I have asked her to fix some biscuits, but
her excuses are that she does not remember how to do this and that her hands
are not like they used to be.
So the closest I can get to Grandma’s biscuits is by baking
Grand’s Biscuits . Grandma’s homemade biscuits were not as large as Grands,
however, they still can never replace the taste of Grandma’s biscuits.
