When you’re in the south, you come into contact, at restaurants and homes, with many forms of biscuits and gravy.  The sense of this biscuit tradition becomes clear if you think about what life was like here in the 19th century — hot, humid, and often on the small and large farms far from markets and without refrigeration. Biscuits and gravy could be made entirely of ingredients which can be stored at room temperature in a cupboard, even if you included bacon along the side, which is the “old days” used to be salted and packed in barrels, not kept in the meat tray of the ‘fridge. 

The biscuits of each house are said to be different, and that’s true because the taste depends on the mixing, the thickness of the cut of the biscuits, and the type of fat you use. I think for purpose of taste white vegetable shortening is best. Other options are lard, butter, and margerine.

First put three tablespoons vinegar into a measuring cup and fill with milk until you have 3/4 of a cup. Let sit a few minutes (the time it takes to mix up the dry ingredients should be plenty) until the mixture curdles. This is your “buttermilk” (you can, of course, use real buttermilk but I’ve never thought it worth the trouble.) Turn the oven on to 450 degrees.

Put 1/2 cup of shortening in a bowl. Now put 2 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking power, 2 teaspoons sugar, and 3/4 teaspoons salt in a sifter and sift over the shortening. Get a pastry blender or a fork and begin to cut the flour into the shortening. You want to get the mixture very well mixed, so it’s all in crumbs.

Now pour the buttermilk over it and stir with a fork until it clumps into a ball. Don’t overmix. The texture of the biscuits will be best if you stir just until it stays together. If it’s a little damp and sticky, that’s okay.

Now put a layer of flour on the countertop. Dump the biscuit dough onto the counter and flatten out with your hands. Press it into about a 3/4 inch thickness and cut out the biscuits. There’s a great variation in biscuit crispness depending on how big and how fat you make them; the bigger and fatter, the softer. I cut them out with a small water glass. Put down some corn meal on a cookie tray and line the biscuits up neatly. After the first cutting of biscuits you’ll have to re-press out the dough a second time to use it up. The dough won’t be as soft and will be more dense so roll it a little thinner the second time.

Put the biscuits in the preheated oven. It will only take about 12 minutes for them to become golden. Do not ignore them, they can burn. Meanwhile make the gravy.

Here the gravy is just beginning to boil and will be removed from heat in about 1/2 minute more.

Melt 3 tablespoons of bacon grease (I’m assuming you just cooked the bacon, or else you keep bacon grease in the fridge) in a large skillet. You can also use butter, but the gravy won’t have as much flavor. Add 3 tablespoons of flour. This makes a “roux,” the base for all kinds of sauces from white bechamel to turkey gravy. Mix the roux with a whisk or if you don’t have one a fork. Mix continuously. Brown the roux a little bit and then add 2 cups of milk. It will sizzle and be watery at first, but keep cooking, soon it will begin to thicken around the edges, then as it begins to boil it will become gravy. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over the biscuits.

Makes about 14 biscuits with enough gravy to cover. Number of biscuits does depend on how big you make them of course.