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I have a recipe that calls for biscuit mix, and the box I have is ancient, over 5 years old, so I think I'm going to toss it and not use it. I have all purpose flour, self rising flour, Crisco, eggs, milk, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. What combination of these things can I substitute for biscuit mix?
For one cup of biscuit mix might I substitute 1 cup of self rising flour plus 1 heaping tablespoon of Crisco, if I mash the Crisco all into the flour with a fork until it's coarse crumbs?
Also, can't you substitute all purpose flour plus baking powder plus salt in recipes that call for self rising flour? How much of each do you use?
Bakers of hatrack, what is the answer? I have no doubt that my solution is to be found here! Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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But Food Network would be awesome, if you have the time to play around. I'd recommend Alton Brown and Sara Moulton for anything, and I bet Pamela Dean would have some wicked Southern biscuits. Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Oh I definitely want to watch his show! I almost bought the dvds of the first season. Sara has already given me a great longing to watch that.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I used self rising flour plus 1 tablespoon (more or less) of shortening to substitute for the baking mix and the muffins seem to have turned out great. I say "seem to" because I'm just going by visual and olfactory clues. I can't eat the things. <laughs>
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Cooking with lard every chance he got led to my father's partial angioplasty (they had to stop halfway through because his heart was too unhealthy to continue) and disability. I'm not saying not to do it at all, but do it in moderation.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Cooking is just like building anything else. Part science and part magic. There are certain things that are done empirically. If mom said grandma said to do it like that then you just do it and don't question. They know it works even if they don't know why. Engineering has lots of these empirical rules in it too. You just do what works, quite often, and nobody really understands why. It's amazingly conservative, since making something that falls down or breaks and kills people is expensive not to mention rather embarrassing.
But the science part is great too! I love learning why things happen the way they do, learning the chemistry behind cooking.
I prefer vegetarian biscuits, so I use Crisco. I once had some made with lard, though, by a lady in Opelika, and I agree that they are wonderful.
I do always use real butter in my baking instead of margarine. Real butter makes cakes and cookies turn out so much better. They have a much better consistency and taste both. I would never ever use margarine anymore for anything besides sauteeing. Butter burns too easily for me to sautee things in butter.
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Yeah, butter does cost more and go bad quicker too. I keep it in the freezer except for one stick. But wow does it taste better!
I loved it in "I Capture the Castle" when Cassandra, bemoaning having to eat margarine with her bread says "Thank heavens there is no cheaper form of bread than bread." Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Anne Kate, cooking is generally based just on heating things to bring out their flavor (or kill the microbes). Ingredients are generally all about the flavor, and so any numbers you see are really suggestions, and any ingredients you want can be left out or substituted, and your palette is the only judge of success--so long as foods are cooked long enough to be inert. Many of my favorite recipes becan very differently from how I currently make them, and evolved as I decided I didn't really care for the flavor of that spice, or it could use more of this, or this other thing would make a nice addition. Heck, the guys on TV don't even use any kind of measuring devices. (The main exception I can think of to this is cooking situations where something must absorb a fairly specific amount of moisture, like pastas, and mashed potatoes--you can certainly mess those up if you screw with the instructions.) Baking, on the other hand, tends to be based on specific chemical reactions, and so there is less leeway for being creative. (Don't believe me? Leave out the baking soda next time! )
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Ah, that's true. Mom taught me to be very precise in the proportions of baking soda and salt to flour. Sift once before measuring and don't pack it down. Make a cutting motion with the flat blade of a knife (not curved) across the top of the measuring spoon to eliminate any air pockets inside before scraping it off perfectly even. Use brand new baking powder and find the one with the futurest expiration date. Lots of things like that keep the chemistry right and they do matter very much.
For other recipes, though, (like lasagna or casseroles and things) a very important criterion for me is using the whole package or unit of each ingredient. Since I cook so rarely, any left will go bad and be tossed out. This offends my sensibilities so I modify most non-baking-type recipes to use an integral number of boxes, cans, packages, or units of every ingredient. (I mean not salt. But you know what I mean. Anything that's perishable within the geological time periods between cooking at my house.)
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