Biscuits | Gourmandistan

Beef short ribs with bootlegged Michigan cherries

September 5, 2014 by Michelle

While we were in Michigan, we couldn’t stop buying cherries—a tic which continued even as we headed back to Kentucky. On our way down South we stopped at one last farmers’ market, buying up delicious fruit that we seldom find locally in the Bluegrass State. With a bag of ice in a cooler, the sacks of black cherries (the last of this year’s very late harvest) made it home safely, where they rested in the refrigerator until we could get to a market […]

Categories: Beef, Biscuits, Cherries, Cooking, Food, Recipes

Soppy Jamie’s leek and rabbit pot pie improved with a bit of biscuit

July 10, 2014 by Michelle

Jamie Oliver may have said he doesn’t like to get all soppy, but the first time we made his leek and rabbit pie, the filling wept all over the pastry crust and our oven. His instructions called for cooking both leeks and rosemary along with the rabbit pieces for quite a while in quite a bit of sauce which, as Michelle expected it would, resulted in mushy leeks and unappetizingly gray herbs. Still, the cider-flavored dish had promise and seemed a wonderful way […]

Categories: Biscuits, Cooking, England, Food, Leeks, Rabbit, Recipes

Blueberry lemon shortcake, because summer is finally here

June 25, 2014 by Michelle

After a long winter, Gourmandistan will bear rhubarb, and delight in strawberries, as spring weather begins to literally bear fruit. (Fine, strawberries are “literally” not fruits, but pseudocarp. Satisfied, pedants?) But when blueberries arrive, we know the peaches, plums, blackberries and other delightful summer treats will soon appear at local farmers’ markets, to be enjoyed until apple season signals the end of another (hopefully) bountiful year. We buy many, many blueberries at the markets, because Steve enjoys eating them as snacks. […]

Categories: Biscuits, Blueberries, Cooking, Desserts & Sweets, Food, Fruit Desserts, Recipes, Vegetarian

Bettering beaten biscuits with lard and a little “Derb-kee” sauce

April 28, 2014 by Steve

It’s Kentucky Derby week again, and we were searching for seasonally appropriate (at least for the Louisville area) dishes to discuss. Michelle was disinclined to make beaten biscuits, though alternate Derby food ideas were not forthcoming. Even though Steve pointed out that Charles Patteson included a food processor version of the infamous long-kneaded dough in his cookbook (along with the pre-Emancipation slave labor and post-Civil War “biscuit brake” methods), Michelle resisted. She’d been subjected to far too many virtually tasteless, artificially white and […]

Categories: Appetizers, Biscuits, Cooking, Food, Kentucky Derby, Old cookbooks, Recipes, Sandwiches

Ramping up cheese biscuits with roast duck, slaw and (of course) ramps

March 28, 2013 by Steve

It is wonderfully once again time for ramps, a benefit of Gourmandistan’s close proximity to Appalachia. (Other benefits are elk viewing tours, excellent attorneys/former judges and enormous amounts of dirty, dirty coal money to support Steve’s beloved UK Wildcats.) Michelle bought some ramps immediately upon spotting them at our first spring farmers’ market, and we happily enjoyed them in several dishes before inspiration struck twice and we ended up with what may be the best sandwich on earth. It started […]

Categories: Biscuits, Cheese, Cooking, Duck, Food, Ramps, Recipes