Saturday, February 02, 2008

Bela Lugosi's Dead


I hafta use up the rest of the buttermilk in the fridge before it goes bad. Wait, does buttermilk even go bad? It's already got cultures in it, right? That's neither here nor there - I made biscuits. Delicious, fluffy buttermilk biscuits.

I insist that the very best biscuits are baked in a cast-iron skillet all glued together so that each one is soft and fluffy as a little happy butter cloud. That way if you like a little flaky crumb, you can go for the edge, but if you prefer a biscuit unencumbered by crust you can shoot for the center pieces.

Buttermilk Biscuits, the Only Right Way
There are definitely many ways to make biscuits, but if you want impossibly gossamer biscuits such as these, you just can't fuck with the dough too much or you'll build up too much gluten. Makes a dozen biscuits.

2 c AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
6 tbsp cold butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
3/4 c buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 450o F. In your handy-dandy food processor, pulse the dry ingredients together to combine. Add the butter and blitz until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add the milk all at once and hold your finger on the pulse button for like 4 or 5 seconds until the dough comes together. Stop the instant it does! Turn that bitch out onto a floured surface.

Mush the dough just barely enough to get it into a ball. Don't even bother rolling the dough, just press and flatten gently with your fingers, eye-balling it to roughly the size of the skillet. This is important if you want to not fuck this up. Cut the dough into biscuits by pressing straight down with a scraper or a knife (don't saw back and forth) and lay it into the skillet. Brush the tops with a little melted butter or milk.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (it takes a bit longer when making it a big loaf like this), until the top is golden brown and crusty, or sounds a bit hollow to the tap of a fingernail.


These are nice with jams - I have blueberry, strawberry and apricot. As always, serve with copious amounts of sausages. (I'm a fucking German girl, verstanden?)


You're sitting there, wondering what the hell any of this has to do with Bauhaus, aren't you. So I was fixin' to serve up the brekkie, and I start pouring the bubbly into the glasses. Then I pull out the peach-orange juice numminess and I was telling Scott that this'll be like a Mimosa-lini. Or a Bella-mosa. Or a Bela Lugosa. (I like to come up with catchy names for my cocktails.) And then my handsome genius husband, says "well if you're gonna call it a Bela Lugosa you hafta put some blood orange in it." Oh fuck sake. Blood orange mimosa - why didn't I think of that!

Unfortunately, the sinister color of the blood orange was somewhat diluted by the sparkly, and didn't look as amazing as it sounded like it should've. It tasted nice, though. It's booze for breakfast!

Bela Lugosa
I know his name is Bela Lugosi, but Lugosi doesn't rhyme with mimosa, so there. This is a hybrid between a mimosa and a bellini. Serves 2.

8 oz. Prosecco (Trader Joe's has a $5 Prosecco that is very drinkable)
6 oz. peach-orange juice (Florida's Own makes a nice organic one that's 100% juice)
juice from one blood orange

Combine each of things and pour into a champagne flute or some other elegant, narrow glass. A test tube would be a propos.

10 comments:

Peter M said...

Thanks Heather, now I'm going to have that song in my head all night!

As for the biscuits, I like that they were done in the skillet.

Emily said...

Those biscuits and sausages look so good. With oozing jam.
I'm German, as well. I feel guilty when I watch Schindler's List or The Pianist.

Pixie said...

Lovely looking biscuits. You do make me Laugh, love all the cursen makes me feel like I'm walking the streets back home in NY. Must go back to all your previous entries to catch up on all I've missed. ~:)

Heather said...

Oh Peter, you're too young to know that song! ;)

Emiline, isn't guilt great? Being German means we have extra special guilt, not just the regular white kind.

Pixie! Do you mind if I call you Pixie Stix? I love that my colorful language reminds you of home. :)

cookiecrumb said...

Bela Lugosa! It is *inspired*. Very good.

PS: Buttermilk does go bad. Tastes terrible.

Thistlemoon said...

Wah, I LOVE Bela! Wah.

Lazy baker said...

Love the site Heather, found you on the foodie blog, by the way Bela Lugosi's Dead is a great tune by Bahuas!

Jeremy

www.stirthepots.com

Núria said...

Hola Heather! Great name for the drink! And those sausages look very tasty and juicy!!
Buen provecho :D

Heather said...

Cookie - Thanks for the 411. I will dump my stank buttermilk.

Jenn - You're a big goofball! Bela is great.

Jeremy - Thanks for dropping by! I like the name of your blog. :)

Nuria - Those sausage are so good and juicy, the fat left a puddle on my plate. :P

tammy said...

Biscuits in cast iron just like cornbread? I'll have to try that. They look GOOD.