QUICK MIX
You can have an endless array of biscuits, muffins, and pancakes at your fingertips as fast and easy as with a store-bought baking mix, only better because it’s homemade.
To make Quick Mix:
5 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup baking powder
1¼ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. I use a large spoon and a whisk to blend the ingredients well. I like to make this mix in 5-cup batches because that quantity fits easily into my mixing bowls for blending. I make multiple batches at once and store it in a large canister on my kitchen counter. Store as you would flour.
BISCUITS:
Per 1 cup of Quick Mix used, add—
¼ cup shortening, salted butter, or lard
⅓ cup milk or buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Using a pastry cutter, cut in the shortening, butter, or lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and knead your biscuit dough. (A secret to great biscuits—knead the dough lightly a few times, adding a pinch of flour if needed to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.) Roll onto a floured surface to an inch thickness and cut out. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Depending on the size of your biscuit cutter, this makes approximately 4 to 6 biscuits per recipe using 1 cup of mix. Double or triple as needed.
MUFFINS:
Per 1 cup of Quick Mix used, add—
3 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
⅓ cup milk
2 tablespoons oil
⅔ cup fruit (optional)
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Add the sugar, egg, milk, and oil to the Quick Mix all at once. Stir just till moistened. (Batter should be lumpy.) To make fruit muffins, using blueberries, diced apple, and so on, fold in ⅔ cup fruit. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake approximately 15 to 18 minutes. Per cup of Quick Mix, the batter makes 4 to 6 muffins.
PANCAKES:
Per 1 cup of Quick Mix used, add—
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
¼ to 1 cup milk
2 tablespoons oil
Add the sugar, egg, milk (adjust to make a good pouring batter), and oil. Stir just till moistened. Pour the batter onto a hot, lightly greased skillet or griddle, turning to cook the second side after the first side bubbles on the surface. The 1-cup recipe makes approximately 6 pancakes.
BISCUITS AND GRAVY
Biscuits with sausage gravy is one of my kids’ favorite lazy weekend breakfasts, and sometimes we even have it for dinner. One, biscuits. Two, sausage. Three, gravy. How can you go wrong with that combo? It’s no surprise it’s such a country breakfast staple.
Per dozen biscuits (depending on cutter size):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening or lard
⅔ cup milk
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl (or use 2 cups Quick Mix). Cut in the shortening or lard. Stir in the milk. Roll on a floured surface to about an inch thick and cut. Place the biscuits on a greased pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.
For the gravy:
1 pound ground mild or spicy sausage
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the sausage in a large skillet till done; drain, leaving a little bit of the drippings in the pan for flavor. Stir in the flour and garlic powder; add the milk gradually, cooking and stirring over medium heat. When the gravy thickens, turn off the heat and add salt and pepper to taste.
By now, you’ve got big, fluffy biscuits coming out of the oven.
You might need to eat one of those suckers right away, with some butter, to test them before you let anybody else have them with the gravy. You wouldn’t want anyone getting a bad biscuit. And they are awfully good right out of the oven.
Split the biscuits and pour on the gravy. Serve hot!
MAKING LARD
Start with a big bag of fat from when your pig was butchered. If you don’t have a big bag of fat, you’ll have to go to a butcher shop. Trust me, it’s worth it. Making your own lard is easy, and you can do it no matter where you live or how far you are from a farm. Homemade lard is fresh, natural, and not hydrogenated like store-bought lard, and if you raised your own pig, you know exactly what it was fed. It makes the best piecrusts and biscuits in the world. Lard is a real, natural food—don’t be afraid of it—and making your own is easy, taking you another step closer to your food and its origins.
To make homemade lard, you’ll need:
Pork fat
Water
(Short ingredient list.)
To render lard for baking, the best pork fat is kidney, back, or belly fat. Freeze the fat first to make it easier to handle—cutting up fat is a messy job. Chop it into about 1-inch pieces. (Some people even grind the frozen fat. The smaller the pieces of fat you start with, the quicker it will render.) How much fat you render at once doesn’t matter—however much you want to work with at a time and will fit in your pot.
Use a large cast-iron kettle or dutch oven to cook it on the stovetop, or cook it in a Crock-Pot or the oven. Cook the fat any way you choose—the method is similar no matter which way you do it. I prefer a Crock-Pot. Rendering actually produces three products—the mild creamy-white baking lard, what is called savory lard, and the cracklins (which are a guilty pleasure).
First add water to cover the bottom of the pot or pan you’re using to cook the lard, then add a layer of fat pieces. (Don’t add all the fat yet.) The water will eventually cook out—it’s just there at the start while you get the first pieces of fat melting so the fat doesn’t stick to the bottom.
Cook the lard slowly. I set my Crock-Pot on low and keep the pot uncovered throughout the process. When you see the first pieces of fat floating and turning white, the rendering has begun.
Go ahead and put in the rest of the fat. You can stir it occasionally, but it doesn’t need a whole lot of attention. It knows what it’s doing. It doesn’t need your help. The pieces will float as the amount of melted fat increases.
Eventually, the pieces of fat will sink to the bottom—those are your cracklins-to-be. Stick a spoon in there and you’ll see your nice, clear liquid fat. The cracklings will still have a puffy fatness to them. (Not crispy yet.)
You want to render your good, mild baking lard before you finish the cracklins. When you see the pieces sinking, it’s time to get the good stuff. In my Crock-Pot on low, this takes about 12 hours. (It’s a good idea to start lard in the evening and let it cook overnight—but be sure you’ve got it on low.)
Line a colander with cheesecloth. Place the colander over a bowl. Pour the lard into the colander and let it strain through to the bowl. Next, carefully and slowly pour the strained liquid from the bowl to your final container(s). I like to use quart jars to store lard. This first rendering of clarified lard is perfect for piecrusts and other baking uses (and also for soap making). It will be mild and turn a gorgeous white once it sets. Chill it quickly for best texture.
The cracklins, remaining in the cheesecloth, will still look puffy and fat. Return the cracklins to the pot, keeping the heat on low. (No need to add more water.) Continue to cook the cracklins until they’re crispy and golden, having released more fat. Again, strain the lard by pouring it through a cheesecloth-lined colander into a bowl. This second rendering is the savory lard. Because it’s made from cooking down the cracklins, it has a much stronger flavor. You can use it for various savory cooking purposes—it’s just probably not something you’ll want in a crust for an apple pie. It will set to a light amber color and should be chilled for best texture, just like the creamy mild lard.
/> The cracklins, your final product, are delicious sprinkled over salads or on top of casseroles. Or eaten as a snack. Go ahead, you know you want to.
Store your finished lard in a cool, dry place. If you don’t have a cool place to store it, you can keep it in the refrigerator. If used within a few months, refrigeration is not necessary.
Note: You can render other types of fat using the same method. Rendered pork fat is called lard. Tallow is rendered beef fat. Chicken fat when rendered is called schmaltz. Suet is the hard, lean rendering of fat from around the kidneys and loins of cows or sheep. All these types of rendered fat find traditional uses in cooking, soaps, candles, and more.
MAKING BUTTER
Making butter is the process of releasing butterfat from the cream. Like cheese making, it’s an age-old and delicious way of preserving milk.
Here’s how you do it.
Take 1 pint of heavy cream. Not too fresh. It’s best to work with cream that’s been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. Set your heavy cream out for several hours to come to room temperature. When you’re ready to start, pour your pint of cream into a quart jar.
Cover tightly with a lid and start shaking. At first, the cream will seem to expand and fill up the jar to where it almost looks as if you can’t shake it anymore. Keep shaking—next thing you know, a big yellow blob of butter will appear inside the jar. It’s like magic!
Using a spoon to hold the butter in place, pour off the buttermilk, transferring it to another jar, then dump the butter in a bowl. (The most straight-sided bowl you have is best.) Using the back of a big spoon, press the butter, pushing out any remaining liquid. This is still buttermilk, so add it to your buttermilk jar.
Run cold water over the butter, then press again, releasing as much liquid as possible. Dump this liquid—it’s watered down now. Repeat this process of washing the butter several times until the water is pressing out clear. After you’ve washed it for the last time, add salt to taste. (Salt also helps preserve the butter.) Refrigerate and eat with much happiness because you made it yourself.
There are numerous variations on making butter. You can make it with a stand mixer, a blender, or a food processor, too. (Or even the old-fashioned way with a hand-cranked churn.) Main points to remember when making butter:
Be sure to use really good, rich heavy cream.
Don’t use cream that’s too fresh. Let the cream for butter sit in the fridge a couple days before using.
Don’t use ultrapasteurized cream.
Let the cream come to room temperature before starting to make butter.
CANNING IN A BOILING WATER BATH
There is nothing better than a cellar or pantry stocked with home-canned food. It’s frugal, it’s easy, and it makes for great gifts with the addition of decorative canning lids, labels, and a bit of tied raffia or ribbon.
Note: Boiling water bath canning is for high-acid foods only, which generally include fruits and soft spreads. Figs and tomatoes may be canned in a hot water bath with the addition of a sufficient amount of acid (bottled lemon juice, citric acid, or vinegar). Fermented foods such as sauerkraut and pickles may also be preserved by this method. Standard canning recipes are calculated for altitudes of 1,000 feet above sea level or lower. Always consult expert resources for canning method recommendations for the type of food you are canning as well as for altitude adjustments. For low-acid foods such as vegetables, meats, poultry, and seafood as well as soups, stews, and sauces containing those foods, you must use a pressure canner. The pressure inside this type of canner provides a higher heat to destroy the bacterial spores that emit toxins in low-acid foods. A good beginner resource is the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, available at many stores and online.
Supplies you will need: A large canning pot with a rack, a wide-mouth funnel, a jar lifter, and canning jars, lids, and bands. Lids are onetime-use items. Jars and bands can be washed and reused.
Jars must be well washed and hot when you begin filling them. Jars do not need to be presterilized as long as the filled jars will be processed at least 10 minutes in a boiling water bath or pressure canner.
1. Before you begin the final preparation stage of the food to be canned, fill the pot half full of water and heat to a simmer (180°F).
Set the pot on the stove to boil. Use a rack that fits the bottom of the pot and the size jars you are using. (The jars must not be in direct contact with the bottom of the pot. Normally, a rack will come with your canning pot. Canning pots are available at most large stores, such as Walmart, and also at hardware and other specialty stores.) Meanwhile, in a small pan, prepare the jar lids. Lids come in regular and wide-mouth sizes, as do jars. Use real canning jars only. Lids should be heated for 10 minutes prior to using. Lids can be heated in a small pan on the stove or in a small slow-cooker that can maintain a temperature of around 180°F. (Do not overheat. Do not boil. Overheating lids by boiling can result in seal failure.) Remove from the water one at a time as needed.
2. Using a wide-mouth funnel, spoon the food into the jars, filling to the recommended headspace per your recipe.
Use a plastic or wooden instrument to press the mixture and remove air bubbles. (Always remove air bubbles, even if you think there aren’t any. There are.)
Never use metal in a glass jar. The slightest knock of metal against a glass jar could cause an invisible fracture that might cause the jar to break in the canning pot.
Wipe the jar rims with a damp towel to clean any spillage. This is important because any particles of food remaining on the jar rim can prevent a vacuum seal.
3. Take the lids one at a time from the simmering water with tongs. They do not need to be dried—put them right on the jar.
You can also buy what is called a magnetic wand to use for removing lids from simmering water to place on jars. But tongs work just fine.
Place a lid immediately on each jar as it is prepared. Screw on the bands. Use a towel to hold the hot jars as you tighten the bands. Tighten the bands only fingertip tight—meaning stop when there is resistance. Firm and snug—not as tight as you can make it. Overtightening can interfere with the vacuum seal and even cause buckled lids.
4. Slowly lower each jar as you fill it into the simmering pot of water using a jar lifter.
Make sure the jars remain upright as they are moved. Once all the jars are loaded into the pot, check that the water is at least two inches over the tops of the jars. If necessary, add boiling water to reach the required level. Place the lid on the pot.
5. Time the boil according to the directions for the recipe you are using. After placing the lid on the pot, increase the heat to medium-high and bring the water in the canner to a rolling boil. Begin counting the processing time when the rolling boil begins. Keep the water boiling during the entire processing time.
When the processing time has expired, turn off the heat, remove the lid, and let the canner cool for 5 minutes.
6. Remove the jars one at a time with a jar lifter and place the jars, not touching and at least 1 inch apart, on a dry surface covered with toweling or layers of newspaper to prevent thermal shock. Keep the cooling jars out of drafts. Do not move the jars or adjust the rings during the resting period.
Allow the jars to rest undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. You will hear the lids “pop” as they cool and form the vacuum sealing the jars. Store the jars in a cool, dry location after removing the rings from the jars and thoroughly washing the jars in warm soapy water.
Do not store jars with the rings on. The rings may rust onto the jars and become difficult to remove. The rings may also mask a bad seal and result in jar explosion. Always remove the rings on stored jars. (You may want to return rings to jars when transporting or gift giving, but long-term storage with the rings on is not a good idea.)
For storing home-canned goods, most expert sources recommend the standard guideline of one year for optimal quality, though it’s not really that simple. Some foods, such as jams, are considered truly best, at
least from a flavor standpoint, if used within six months. However, there is no way to give a blanket answer to the storage question because so many different factors affect storage quality, including temperature of the storage location (should be cool, not warm), how clean the fruits/vegetables were when packed in the jars, and whether or not proper processing and handling were followed in every detail. The best advice is to plan what you can. Can what you expect you will use or share within a year, especially if you are a new canner. After all, every year is a new harvest.
WHISKEY-RAISIN APPLE BUTTER
Apple butter in autumn is an Appalachian tradition. Historically, it’s a daylong event. Whole families would join together to simmer apple butter in copper kettles as big as washtubs. Apple butter was one of the traditions my father took with him when he left these hills long ago after World War II. I grew up on apple butter and, yes, sometimes I thought it was odd. None of my friends had apple butter at their house. But we did. (We also always—always!—had West Virginia molasses in the house, too.)
Once we moved to the farm, I made a lot of apple butter with free apples, either from farmers’ market pig hauls or from the old apple tree behind the Slanted Little House. An adaptation with whiskey and raisins became my favorite version of this West Virginia staple.
Start with however many apples you can get your hands on. A bushel or two is fantastic. (A bushel is 8 gallons.) Most people have a favorite kind of apple, but any type of apple will work. My favorite kind of apple is a free apple. Short of free apples, my next favorite kind is what they sell at the farmers’ markets as “canning apples”—boxes of usually mixed varieties of (often bruised) apples that are offered at a cut-rate price.
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