Biscuits

There is no secret to most biscuit recipes, which traditionally include flour, shortening, buttermilk (or milk), and baking powder. What makes all the difference is how gingerly these ingredients are handled and, more important, who is handling them. The exact same recipe in different cooks’ hands yields different biscuits. Typically, biscuits are small, flat-topped and circular, the dough rolled out and cut with a floured glass. On the other hand, a cat head biscuit is knobby-topped and asymmetrical, closer in size and shape to a cat’s noggin than to a smooth hockey puck. Like a drop biscuit, a cat head is not rolled or cut; it is formed from dough using a spoon or bare hands; and the dough, like that for all good southern biscuits, is made from soft flour. (White Lily is the Dixie cook’s preferred brand.) While they generally are cooked in open formation on a baking sheet, it is not uncommon for cats to be crowded into an iron skillet, where they bake together as they rise, resulting in a large, pullapart megabiscuit.