I had an unwelcome reality check a few days ago. 59 days to deadline, with 83 recipes to go. I thought I had plenty of time to semi-comfortably complete my Magnolia project on time, but April 7th looms a lot larger from this side of February. Math is not on my side: I need 1.4 recipes PER DAY to hit my target! Failure and I are not on speaking terms, but I’m expecting to become well-acquainted with “compromise” soon. Still, I’m going as full-force toward my goal as our appetites and food budget allow! Yesterday I made four new dishes, but it occurs to me that I have never told you the story of where it all began. With that, let’s take a little Throwback Thursday journey to see some of the first recipes produced from Magnolia Table.
In 2019 I failed to sit down and document it, but I was most definitely cooking. My new larger pants size can attest to that… Now I have to look waaaaaay back to the day I first opened the book and remember what came first. Luckily that answer is easy: BISCUITS! JoJo’s Biscuits was in fact the very first recipe in Chapter 1, and it firmly set the hook for me to want to keep on cooking.
I have never been a “baker” by the true definition as one who creates her own recipes. I’m always afraid of messing up the baking powder (or is it baking soda?) ratios and ending up with hockey puck cookies, or wondering if sifting vs. not sifting dry ingredients will irrevocably change the outcome of a dish. (The short answer is YES, by the way!) I simply follow what it says in the book, and luckily for me, “JoJo” did all that trial-and-error stuff herself using her family as guinea pigs so I didn’t have to! And boy, did she do her research right, because these biscuits kicked Bisquick’s butt. According to her introduction, Jo made more than 50 batches, once a week for over a year, before landing on the final masterpiece. Even though it has been 13 months since I made these, I can still remember how fluffy the dough was (take a note, Syrian Donuts! -see previous post for details!) and how perfectly light and buttery they came out of the oven. I needed to do the next two recipes in the chapter just to have a reason to keep consuming biscuits, but sadly failed to capture photographic evidence. In a testament to good organization and logic, Pop’s Strawberry Jam, and Bobo’s Classic Gravy followed JoJo’s Biscuits. No, I am not making that up, although it sounds like I was baking from a circus cookbook!
Pop’s Strawberry Jam: I’ve never been much of a canner, but her directions made the process simple and I was able to produce eight pint-jars of delicious homemade jam, much cheaper than buying the same quantity from the grocery store. The only thing I took issue with was the SEVEN CUPS of sugar to five cups of fresh strawberries. That was not happening. Anyone who knows me is aware that I have been guilty of eating sugar cubes straight out of the box, so I like my sweets, but that was just obnoxious. I found the flavor to be a perfect balance of sweet/tart with only five cups of sugar. But isn’t controlling your ingredients the beauty of making food from scratch??
Bobo’s Classic Gravy: Just to be perfectly clear, biscuits and gravy is not something I typically go for. I have a dear friend who makes this dish and knows how to impart good flavor and not “soggify” the bread, but she’s the exception. Most of the time I think it is bland wallpaper paste dumped on a dense brick; not appetizing. THIS stuff though… Simple, yet delicious! With only four ingredients, you’d think it would be rather dull, but the gravy turns out flavorful and silky. Sausage, flour, milk and pepper is all that goes into this; probably why it’s called “classic”. Sometimes reinventing the wheel just complicates things without improving them, so I appreciate a recipe that just tells me how to make it GOOD.
Last but most definitely not least was Chicken and Dumplings. Here I go again with the same old “soggy bread” argument, but I promise these biscuits hold up! I had to step out of my Chapter 1 comfort zone to find this final use for JoJo’s biscuits, and it was worth the re-direct. Again, simple ingredients ruled the day. If you didn’t already make the biscuits (and really, why haven’t you??) refrigerated, store-bought ones will work. I make NO guarantees regarding the flavor or sog-proof factor of those! Dinner came together with just chicken broth, a rotisserie bird, flour, seasoning and half-and-half, and of course those delectable biscuits. I’m a sucker for any food item that can be used in multiple ways, and JoJo’s biscuits delivered. So do yourself a favor, pick up a copy of Magnolia Table, and leave the store-bought biscuits in the refrigerator case!
Have Book, Will Cook 