"Has Your Family Tried 'em . . ."

Garrison Keillor undoubtedly touched on something deep within the American soul with his iconic paean to Powdermilk biscuits, the “sponsor” of his public radio show A Prairie Home Companion. I’m not even going to begin to unpack the layered nuances here, except to say that they are as rich and textured as Edna Lewis’ recipe for buttermilk biscuits (pictured here).

I will own up to the fact that we never — and I mean not once — had biscuits in my house growing up. It was the antithesis of who were were. Biscuits were lard, and we were kosher. Biscuits were starch, and we were all about veggies. Biscuits were pure COUNTRY fare, and of course we were urbane and sophisticated. Even when we ate out and had a choice of toast or biscuits with our cheese and jalapeno omelettes, we always opted for the toast (whole wheat grain of course). Boy did we miss out — on a whole lotta levels.

There is something deeply gratifying about baking these biscuits in the midst of a pandemic wrapped within a godawful time in American political (and cultural) history. I love making the buttermilk and baking powder more or less from scratch (the buttermilk is lemon juice and milk; the baking powder is baking soda and cream of tartar). Love the solid history behind this deceptively simple dish. Love its look and smell. In a soul food kitchen, comfort food starts and ends with these biscuits, so foundational.

Garrison Keillor had it dead-on right: They’re made “to give shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done.”