These crispy-all-over, supremely decadent tasting biscuits are unlike others.
Because they have a novel ingredient that you might just guess from my cheeky photo.
Yes, duck — as in fat.
There’s no butter or shortening in these babies. Just a generous amount of lavish duck fat along with buttermilk.
This fabulous biscuit recipe is from “Still We Rise” (Clarkson Potter, 2023), of which I received a review copy.
It’s by Erika Council, creator of the Southern Souffle blog and chef-owner of Bomb Biscuit Co. in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward historic district where Martin Luther King Jr. was born.
As she writes, this book embodies the “gospel of biscuits,” the heritage and heart these rounds of little more than flour, fat, and dairy have carried over generations, especially among Black home-cooks who proudly perfected them for their families.
Slices of firm tofu get cooked in a sweet soy sauce with onions and mushrooms for comfort in a bowl.
Over the holidays, with my husband and I both slogging through our first bouts of Covid ever (we escaped it for nearly four years, so I guess it was only a matter of time), and then with him experiencing a rebound case right after, I half-joked that I needed a hazmat team to come to my house to rid the premises once and for all of every germ in sight.
Or maybe we just needed some spicy tofu.
Homey, comforting, and with enough Korean chili pepper and fresh slices of jalapeno to rev and warm the immune system and every other part of the body, it sure hit the spot.
But you don’t have to be ailing to thoroughly enjoy “Braised Tofu (Dooboo Jorim).” Because this easy dish will leave you contented no matter what.
It’s from “Sohn-Mat” (Hardie Grant, 2023) of which I received a review copy.
When Beverly Soon Tofu opened in 1986, Lee says it was the only one of its kind in Los Angeles serving soon tofu stew in Koreatown. So, this is a woman who definitely knows her tofu dishes.
The 2022 Aperture Chenin Blanc. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)
At Aperture Estate in Healdsburg, discover art all around — from what’s in the bottle, to what’s adorning the walls, to where visitors sip these beautiful Bordeaux-style wines.
After all, winemaker and founder Jesse Katz is the son of famed photographer Andy Katz, whose photos have graced the album covers of the Doobie Brothers and Dan Fogelberg, and who has published 15 photo books.
Andy Katz’s work has brought him to more than 90 countries. And it was on many of those travels with his father, especially to France, that inspired Jesse Katz’s passion for wine-making.
The sleek building that houses the tasting room. (Photo courtesy of Aperture Estate)
In fact, the winery takes its name from the aperture of a camera lens, which controls the amount of light that hits the camera sensor that affects the exposure of the image. In that vein, Jesse Katz likens what he does to “shedding light” on what Bordeaux varieties grown in its 120 acres of estate vineyards in cooler areas of Sonoma can be like.
The culinary journalist and editor-in-chief ofCook’s Country magazine has used her expertise and passion for historic research to write a book that pays homage to Black drinking culture through the ages by spotlighting its hospitality, creativity, and longevity.
You’ll be thirsting to make everything from “Strawberry Wine,” “Coffee Liqueur,” and “Pomegranate-Demerara Rum Punch” to “Pineapple-Lemon Highball,” “Absinthe Frappe,” and the clever, non-alcoholic “Cosmockpolitan.”
