Christmas biscuits chez Huang that channel Shirley Corriher

Vice Munchies included All Under Heaven in its shortlist of Best Cookbooks for 2016. 

And Wendell Brock at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution did the same thing. 

I'm so blown away. I never thought this would happen, but here it is. Wow. I have a lot to complain about when it comes to 2016, but as far as the books are concerned, all I can say is Thank You! on eternal loop. 

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I first fell in love with these amazing biscuits in Portland, when the great cooking science author Shirley Corriher was demonstrating how easy it was to make them, even when scores of hungry people are milling around you. 

We were all at the IACP convention, and this had to be the highlight of the entire experience for me. As Shirley explains in this video, the original recipe came from her grandmother, and she has refined it over the years into a masterpiece.

Now, I wrote about these biscuits when I first started this blog, so even I pretty much forgot about that post until just now. (Do check it out for the original recipe, and also for the video I taped of the lady herself making the biscuits.)

And I have to agree with you, if you happen to notice, that this recipe is not even peripherally Chinese. However, Touch of Grace Biscuits are just so delicious that you can throw out every other biscuit recipe ever made, as far as I am concerned.

These are the lightest bits of pastry I’ve ever tasted. And here’s the reason why: they are neither rolled nor dropped. Instead, very wet blobs of dough are tossed in flour, which holds them in place long enough to get sidled up against other wet blobs of dough and shoved into an oven. And because the dough is so wet, the biscuits bloom into puffs of air held together, again, by that flour coating, which just sort of disappears when its work is done. 

That’s what happens when a dedicated food scientist messes with your biscuits. It's inspired.

Light as a feather

Touch of Grace Biscuits are perfect as is, and don’t even need butter or honey or gravy to make them shine. The dab of melted butter on the top is the exact right amount in my book, and if it’s good quality salted butter – like Kerrygold – the taste turns out to be astonishingly good. However, I would never say no to one of these if they were properly adorned with butter or a slice of ham or whatever else might be seducing my attention.

I like to make these biscuits the day after a holiday, especially if people are showing up for brunch. I throw a small ham in the oven, bake these biscuits, and offer a bowl of fruit along with the coffee and orange juice. It’s a great way to end a holiday gathering without getting too stressed.

The cutest damn label in the world

Over the years, I’ve of course messed around with it just a little bit – or maybe a lot. There is kefir in here instead of buttermilk, half of the sugar in the original, and it’s baked in a cast iron skillet instead of a cake pan. 

In addition, I’ve used super-fine cake flour here plus baking powder and an extra dash of salt instead of the self-rising flour called Tenda-Bake or White Lily that Shirley always calls for, basically because I never have any other need for the stuff, and because it always gets buggy before I use it all up. Also, I didn’t care for the flavor of the leavening in the self-rising flour when it was used to powder the balls of dough and much preferred plain flour there.

Ingredients in my version

But then again, this is Shirley’s recipe, so of course try hers too in order to see which one you prefer. However you make these biscuits, you will end up a convert.

Touch of Grace Biscuits chez Huang

Makes about 16

Spray oil

2 cups / 300 g super-fine cake flour, like from Bob’s Red Mill

1 tablespoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons sugar

Use a pastry knife to mix in the shortening

1 cup / 150 g cake flour for shaping the biscuits

4 tablespoons white shortening, room temperature (see Tips)

⅔ cup/ 155 ml heavy (or whipping) cream

1 cup / 250 ml kefir or buttermilk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Heat your oven to 425°F / 220°C and set one shelf just below the center of the oven. Spray the oil on the inside of a 9-inch / 23-cm cast iron frying pan (or a similarly sized round or square cake pan – whatever you like). 

Toss in the cream

2. You will want to make these biscuits by hand, rather than in a mixer or food processor, since a) this will make the pastries much lighter and b) it’s just easier to do it this way. To measure the flour in cups, simply dip your 1-cup measure into the flour and then scoop off the top with a knife – this way the flour doesn’t get tamped down. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar with a dry balloon whisk. Don’t skimp on this step, as you want the leavening to be very easily distributed.

3. Have a pastry knife ready, as well as an ice cream scoop and silicone spatula, and place the extra cup of flour in a medium work bowl for Step 5. Work the shortening with the pastry knife into the flour and baking powder mixture until there are no large lumps. Shake the bowl gently to encourage any large clumps of fat rise to the top, and then chop away at the flour mixture until it looks sandy. (If you don't have a pastry knife, or dough blender, or whatever you want to call it, simply work the flour and fat together with your fingertips as Shirley shows in the first video.)

Dough arranged in the pan

4. Use the silicone spatula to toss in the cream, which will give you large clumps of dough. Be sure and toss these ingredients together with the spatula, rather than stir, as this will incorporate all of the dry ingredients without toughening the dough. Gently stir in buttermilk until the dough resembles cottage cheese. The leavening will start to foam as soon as the kefir hits it (that’s the baking powder reacting with the acidic kefir), so it will fluff up. (This is also why this is officially called “double-acting baking powder,” because you get an initial rise when wet meets dry, and then again when the dough is cooked.)

5. Use an ice cream scoop to pick up plum-sized balls of dough. Toss these around in the flour to coat them well. Shake off the excess and arrange these in the skillet, packing the balls of dough tightly together so that they all fit. Bake them until the tops are a golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Brush the top of the biscuits with the melted butter. Use a fork to lift out the biscuits and serve immediately. Any leftovers can be split and toasted, and by the way those are truly excellent when they turn all crunchy, plus then they will be better able to withstand whatever toppings you like.

The proper way to measure solid fat

Tips

Measure the shortening the way my seventh grade home ec teacher taught me: Fill a measuring cup with 1 cup cool tap water minus the amount of fat you need. So here, since you need 4 tablespoons, fill the cup with ¾ cup water. Then, press the fat down into the water so it is covered, which gives you an accurate measurement. Keep adding the shortening until the water level reaches 1 cup, and you then have a quarter cup (= 4 tablespoons) of fat in there. Empty out all the water, and there you are.

Be sure to gently squish the balls of dough up against each other in the pan. Otherwise, you will run out of room.

That cottage cheese look

Also, shake off the extra flour once each ball has been coated. This ensures that the biscuits won't have dry areas.

Whatever you do, don't make these in a food processor or with an electric mixture. Go easy on the dough, as it is more like a delicate cake batter than a packaged mix. 

Enjoy the textures of the dough as it undergoes the various chemical reactions. It turns out to be quite sensuous and wonderful, and the transformation when the kefir is added is positively thrilling, as far as I'm concerned. Yes, I'm a food nerd. We've established that.

Chinese-ish turkey and cranberries casa Huang

Forgive me while I tell you about more good news regarding the books - yes, both books! - since this past week was filled with even more terrific news than usual. 

I guess that the Festivus fairies are working overtime this year around...

Matt Zuras at Vice Munchies accompanied JH and me on a fabulous tour of Flushing's Chinatown in Queens last September, ate more than he was legally required to do, and lived to tell the tale. 

I love this article because Matt really asked great questions, chowed down anything I nudged toward him, and turned out to be one heck of a person to roam the streets with out in the wilds of NYC. He also is a fabulous writer and good people. I now want to move to Flushing, by the way. Just saying.

The lovely and talented folks over at the San Francisco Chronicle food section - and I'm specifically talking about you, Sarah Fritsche - included All Under Heaven in its list of favorite cookbooks for 2016. 

I've violated all sorts of promises this year by buying more cookbooks, and who really can blame me when you look at the roster here? I mean, this is one amazingly cool crowd to hang out with. Yes, I'm still a nerd. Thanks for asking. 

And then the Wall Street Journal went and loved the bejeezus out of The Dim Sum Field Guide. In "Dim Sum: The Delicious Diaspora," Adrian Ho generously praised this little book as "extensive and satisfying." 

So happy these two books are being enjoyed. Thank you to Matt, Sarah, and Adrian, and thanks to all of you who have made this year so utterly wonderful!

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‘Tis the season to be making turkey and all the trimmings, so I thought I’d crack out my own way with this most American of all meals. By which I mean, of course, that we eat this with a decidedly Chinese range of flavors and ingredients.

For decades now, I have been making variations on the following Chinese turkey. What it basically boils down to is a richly seasoned marinade that goes heavy on the aromatics, so that our house smells like heaven by the time we sit down to eat.

At first I started out with a simple mixture of soy sauce, ginger, rice wine, and sesame oil. But then other things started to wend their way into the marinade, and what we have here is one of my favorites. It’s not too salty or sweet or overpowering – in fact, I think it’s just perfect. A thick layer of onions and carrots under the bird provides me with an extra no-fuss vegetable dish, and you can double or triple the carrots for more veggies, toss in some parsnips or mushrooms, if you wish, and really turn this part of the meal into as fancy a deal as you like.

Having all those vegetables in there does more than supply you with what seems like a free side dish, for all their flavors mix in with the turkey juices and marinade as the bird cooks. You end up with a great sauce that can be easily turned into gravy, or you can do as I do and sneak it off to the side to enhance soups and other dishes over the next couple of days.

I’ve also come to enjoy the ease that comes with spatchcocking the bird instead of leaving it whole or even stuffing it. Instead of hours in the oven that dry out the white meat and having to deal with carving the turkey at the table, I simply remove the backbone and flatten the bird, which then only requires a bit over an hour to roast. Have an instant meat thermometer handy to ensure that the dark meat is completely done, too, as this cuts out lots of the guesswork.

Another really good reason why you should cook a turkey this way is that you will not need to baste it. Really! Your oven stays nice and hot the whole time, which in turn crisps the skin up. Do note that the skin on the breast will brown, almost alarmingly dark in places, but that’s just the sugars in the marinade. Have no fear, it will be delicious.

Below the turkey recipe here you’ll find my favorite cranberry sauce. It’s not Chinese at all, but rather a mishmash of Californian influences, with the secret ingredient being jalapeño peppers in adobo. This ends up being not as frighteningly hot as it probably sounds, and these are so mild that I actually toss in at least 4 or 5 of the chiles and as much of the adobo sauce as I think I can get away with at the dinner. You may, of course, adjust it to fit your own palate.

I once gave a jar of this to someone as a gift, and she said that a friend of hers sat there and ate the whole thing, spooning it in until it was all gone. So, people do like it.

I’ll be attempting to add more holiday favorites to the blog over the following weeks so that you can ramp up your preparations for whatever festivities you have in mind. All of these dishes are designed for 6 to 8 people, with leftovers, because what is a holiday feast without all those good things hanging out in the fridge for easy gluttony?

Turkey Chez Huang

Huángjiā huŏjī  黃家火雞

Serves 6 to 8, with lots of leftovers

1 young, unbrined turkey, about 12 to 14 pounds

½ cup Shaoxing rice wine

5 tablespoons light soy sauce

¼ cup oyster sauce

2 tablespoons agave syrup or honey

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

6 cloves garlic, finely minced

½ cup thinly sliced fresh ginger

6 green onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths

1 cup unsalted stock (see Tips)

Spray oil

3 large yellow onions, peeled and sliced into thin wedges

8 or so carrots, peeled and left long, but split into wedges if they are too thick

¼ cup softened salted butter

1. Defrost the turkey in the refrigerator according to the package directions – usually a couple of days are needed for a rock-hard bird. Remove any giblets and the neck from the turkey, and then use large tweezers or needle-nose pliers to remove any pinfeathers. Wipe the bird down with paper towels.

2. Place the bird on a plastic cutting board with the backbone facing you. Use a sharp knife (I use my handy wide Chinese blade) to cut down through the ribs on either side of the spine from the neck down to the thigh joints, and then up from the tail to the thighs. Use your blade to cut between the joints on either side – this makes the removal of the backbone really easy, since you don’t have any major bones to whack through.

3. Flip the bird over so that the breast is now facing you. Press the heels of both your hands down firmly and repeatedly on the breastbone, as if you were trying to revive the turkey, but since the bird is now dead will merely serve to break the breastbone and flatten the bird to a certain degree. The bird will now be floppy. Flatten out the legs so that they sprawl evenly on either side of the body – this is important, because if the thighs stay perched up against the breast, they will not cook through quickly. Fold the wings back over themselves to compact them and prevent them from drying out in the oven.

4. Set the turkey in a pan wide enough to hold it easily. Mix together the soy sauce, oyster sauce, agave syrup or honey, sesame oil, and garlic, and then rub this marinade into both sides of the turkey, paying special attention to the meaty bits. Add the ginger and green onions. Flatten the bird in the pan, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours, then turn it over and refrigerate for at least another 12 hours. If you have the time and energy, turn the bird over a couple of more times. I also add the neck and backbone to the pan, if they fit. If not, the backbone can be cut in half and the extras stashed into a smaller pan – rub these with the marinade, since you will want to either nibble on them or add them to the stockpot later on. If you want the giblets, stash them in with the turkey.

5. The turkey will need around 1 hour to come to room temperature before you place it in the oven, a little over 1 hour to cook, and another 20 minutes to rest after cooking. So, about 2 hours and 30 minutes before dinnertime, remove the turkey from the refrigerator and let it sit in a cool place to remove much of the chill. Heat your oven to 450°F / 230°C. Pour off and reserve the marinade, but discard the ginger and green onions. Clean out the pan, wipe it dry, and oil both the pan and a rack.

6. Sprinkle the onions and carrots (and any other vegetables you’re using) over the bottom of the pan and set the rack on top of them. Arrange the turkey attractively skin-side up on the rack, so that it lies as flat as possible. Rub the butter all over the skin. Place the pan in the oven and roast it until a instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F / 74°C, which means that the turkey is now cooked to perfection – this will usually take just a little bit over an hour, depending upon your oven.

Tips

Get a really good quality turkey, not one of those supermarket specials that are filled with water and hormones and all sorts of evil things.

For the stock, I usually end up using the water in which black mushrooms were soaked. These make an appearance in the Sticky Rice Stuffing My Way, and I’ll post that recipe here soon too. It’s a winner.

To carve a spatchcocked bird, simply cut off the thighs from the bird and then cut up the legs as you like. Remove the wings and then cut down on either side of the breastbone to remove the white meat, which then can be sliced crosswise into juicy pieces. Drizzle a little of the turkey juices over everything, if you are in the mood.

Cranberries Casa Huang

Huángjiā xiăhóngméi jiàng 黃家小紅莓醬

Makes about 3 cups / 750 ml

12 ounces / 340 g fresh cranberries

1 small orange, chopped into small dice

1 cup water

Agave syrup or rock sugar to taste (it will take a LOT more than you expect)

3 or more chipotle chiles adobo (smoked chiles in a sauce), finely chopped, or smoked paprika to taste, or ground chile peppers plus Liquid Smoke to taste

Sea salt to taste

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1. Rinse the cranberries and toss out any imperfect ones. Add the orange and water. Bring this to a boil over high heat and the reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Start adding agave syrup or sugar until it is as sweet as you like.

2. Simmer the cranberries for about 20 minutes, or until the oranges are cooked through. Stir in the chiles, salt, and walnuts. Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat. This can be made a week or so ahead of time and even preserved like a jam, or frozen, if you prefer.

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