“I want these hot biscuits and I want them RIGHT NOW!”

If that’s your reaction, you’re in luck. While immediate instant gratification isn’t likely (unless you already know these biscuits’ cold, dark secret), FUTURE instant gratification is a real possibility.

And the secret is…

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It’s interesting how you strike up a conversation with someone.

While at the Kneading Conference in Skowhegan, Maine, on July 28th & 29th, I was taking this picture of my delectable lunch when the gentleman across the table chuckled a bit (doesn’t everyone take pictures of their food?). I explained that I would be blogging about the conference and was taking pictures of pretty much everything because I just didn’t know what I might end up writing about.

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As any good Southern cook knows, ham biscuits are a must-have on New Year’s Eve. AND New Year’s Day.

Or so I’m told, by friends down South. Me, I’m a New Englander through and through and through (except for the part of my heart that still feels a pull for Wisconsin, the state of my birth).

So what could I possibly know about ham biscuits? Or any kind of biscuit, truth be told… Aren’t Southerners the best biscuit bakers on earth? (more…)

When Tod Bramble, director of bakery and foodservice sales for King Arthur Flour, told me he was interested in having us sponsor a grain growing and baking conference in Skowhegan, Maine, I returned a blank stare followed by, “What?”

Didn’t he know I had just posted a blog about our fantastic visit to the wheat fields of Kansas, highlighting the terrific quality of the grain grown there and showing how our consistent flour was dependent upon Midwest grain?  I thought, won’t people be confused by this apparent contradiction?

Then I met with the event’s organizers one beautiful, unseasonably warm March day in Portland, Maine. And it all made sense. (more…)

What do the states of Maine and Pennsylvania have in common?

1) They voted blue in the last election;

2) They include towns named Falmouth, Union, and Smyrna;

3) They have a rich and robust Whoopie Pie history;

4) All of the above.

If you guessed “all of the above,” congratulations! Not only are you a student of politics and an astute map reader, you’re obviously a food historian well versed in snack cake trivia. Because Maine, and Pennsylvania’s Amish country, both have legitimate claims to being the birthplace of an historically little-known (outside their own region) snack cake phenomenon: the Whoopie Pie. (more…)