The ninth edition of Joy of Cooking is out! There are 600 new recipes, including vegan and gluten-free options, but the classics the book is known for are still there. John Becker is the great-grandson of the original author, Irma Rombauer, and he and his wife Megan Scott began work nine years ago to create a modern update for today’s home cooks. He feels it “an incredible honor and responsibility” to take this on and “We love to see those worn-out, stained and duct-taped copies.”
There is a quote from Goethe at the beginning of Joy of Cooking that most of us never notice, too busy heading perhaps towards that peanut butter cookie recipe. “That which thy fathers have bequeathed to thee, earn it anew if thou wouldst possess it.” So clearly this family takes their stewardship seriously.
The recipe I’ve included here played a part in bringing John and Megan together; and how appropriate that cooking was involved . Megan was working in a bakery while going to school in Asheville, North Carolina, and learned that a member of the family who wrote this famous cookbook was a barista at her favorite coffee shop. He had already noticed her at the bakery, and been told by his co-workers that he should ask out the very nice “cheddar-scallion biscuit girl” but he had yet to make his move. So Megan instead asked him out; he cooked coq au vin for her and within a week she moved in. As she has said “It was really fast, but when you know, you know.”
I am not a biscuit maker, but found these directions fairly easy to follow and the folding step kind of fun. Scattering grated cheese on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet before placing the biscuit dough on top results in “crispy, toasty, feet”.
2 cups all-purpose flour (about 8 1/2 ounces), plus more for dusting
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (4 oz.), cubed
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
4 oz. sharp grated cheddar cheese,(about 1 cup), divided
1 cup buttermilk, divided
1 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, black pepper, and salt in a large bowl until combined. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, work cold butter into flour mixture until butter is in small, flattened pieces and mixture is crumbly. Stir in scallions and 1/2 cup cheese. Add 3/4 cup buttermilk, and stir until dough comes together, adding up to 1/4 cup additional buttermilk, 1 Tbs. at a time, if necessary. ( Dough should be neither sticky nor crumbly.)
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface, and knead 3 to 4 times just to bring the dough together. Pat dough into an 8-x6-inch rectangle; fold 1 short side a third of the way over towards center. Fold opposite short side over folded end (business letter fold). Rotate dough clockwise 90 degrees; pat out dough again into a 8-x6-inch rectangle, and repeat folding procedure. Pat dough out into an 8-x6-inch rectangle (3/4 to 1 inch thick); cut dough into 8 rectangular biscuits.
Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese into 8 mounds about 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheet, scattering cheese just a bit so some cheese will stick out from under the biscuits. Place each biscuit rectangle on mound of cheese on baking sheet. Brush tops with melted butter. Bake biscuits in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Makes 8 biscuits.
Mine turned out lovely, but I’m borrowing the photo from Food & Wine Magazine because of the beautiful plate!
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