When I Used To Be A Cook

We’d listen to NPR on an old, dough’d up bluetooth speaker. The morass of dish water would turn cold as we laughed, of what, I can’t recall.I lost weight from standing, cooking, for hours, and eating only farm eggs. I procured parallel scars running up my arms from when sheets singed skin, a semaphore or such for carelessness, caprice.There are moments I remember from my time working in the kitchen of a coffee shop, and there are moments that I don’t. But there are two things that have forged forward, subsumed into my now every day.

There is Taylor, a woman and friend whose soul I imagine could swell and save just about anyone. And there are biscuits.

We’d bake trays and trays of them — the hours in a lifetime spent deep in flour and cold, cold, butter; salt and buttermilk, sour and thick. Lined up in the oven, they’d stretch up and out each morning with a croon. We must have baked thousands.

One day my hands will be petal-textured and roiled. I will look at them with wonder at all they have done. I will remember waking before the sun and baking biscuits with Taylor in our own trove of flour and steel, forted by bags of beans rising to roast.

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Ham & Cheddar Biscuits

Servings 18 biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. (5 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 10 oz. (2 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 2 cups cold buttermilk
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1/4 cup ham, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1/4 cup scallions, chopped thinly

Instructions

• In a food processor, pulse together your flour, baking powder, and salt. Add your butter and pulse 3-4 times. You'll want your butter to be the size of peas and just incorporated into the flour. Pour the mixture in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center, and pour the buttermilk in, folding it into the flour with a rubber spatula. 
• Once the biscuit batter just begins to form into one mass, flip it onto a heavily floured work surface. Begin to fold it until it comes together. With a rolling pin, rolls it into a 2" thick rectangle. Spread half the cheddar, ham, and scallions on top. Fold the dough in half, and then roll it out to another 2" rectangle. Spread the remaining cheddar, ham, and scallions. Fold the dough in half, and then roll it out to another 2" rectangle. Using a biscuit cutter (see note), cut your biscuits and lay them on a baking sheet lined with a silpat baking mat or parchment paper. Put the tray of biscuits into the freezer and freeze for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 425°F. Take the biscuits out of the freezer and place them directly into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, or until they just begin to turn golden on top. 

Notes

• I don't have a biscuit cutter, so I just use the opening of a sturdy glass. Be careful if you do this! I've broken a glass or two pressing too hard.