Hopefully, you READers have recovered nicely from your turkey-tryptophan induced food comas. You've finished off the last of the pecan pies, but you still have enough stuffing to keep you, well, stuffed until Christmas. Holidays are filling in many ways, so READ's most recent issue, "Food for Thought," jumped right on board with the theme.
We interviewed a very accomplished food writer for her perspective on two of READ's favorite topics: food and writing. But, our cornucopia of food stories runneth over, so we had to direct you here for an excerpt of Ms.O'Neill's writing.
For ten years, Molly O'Neill was a food columnist for the New York Times. Her articles are fascinating and readable because they explore the history of a food (where and when did this food originate), the social life of the food (who eats it, when, where and how), the sensual properties of the food (how does it look, smell, how does it taste), and of course, a recipe (because all that food-reading works up an appetite). Below I have included one of Molly's articles from the New York Times Magazine, entitled Jam Session. It's all about scones. It was published May 31, 1998, and though the scones may harden after ten years, this article melts my heart every time. Her style as enticing, clever, and high brow as the scone itself.
Food; Jam Session
Published: May 31, 1998
By: Molly O'Neill
Source Article (with more recipes)
JAM SESSION
Sugar and shape are the only differences between biscuits and scones, though socially, they are worlds apart.
Scones, having originated in Scotland as round tea cakes, are usually served with jam, sweet butter and heavy cream. Like biscuits, they rise with the help of baking powder or soda. And like biscuits, they have a distinctly flaky texture, created when the cold butter used to cut the dough melts in the oven, creating airy layers, not unlike a croissant's.
While most scones are sweet and triangular, biscuits tend to be unsweetened and almost always round. These, then, are their essential differences, though scones are thought of as rather elegant and biscuits are regarded as common.
Sugar, once considered precious, is probably responsible for this disparity. Also, scones are richer than biscuits. In addition to butter and heavy cream, some even employ eggs.
Biscuits, on the other hand, have never quite transcended their humble origins. In French, bis means twice and cuit means cooked, and in fact the earliest biscuits were flat cakes cooked twice, once on a griddle and, just before eating, in an oven. (Or perhaps, if you go back far enough, again on the griddle.) In either case, biscuits tended to be dry.
In fact, the drier and harder a biscuit was, the longer it kept -- a plus for the soldiers and sailors who depended on them. Most likely, the first biscuits resembled cookies and could be either sweet or savory. In the first century, Pliny called them Parthian bread, and under Louis XIV, they were known as stone bread.
Promoters of the New American cuisine have managed to romanticize the origins of biscuits, so they've become folk heroes of the American table. The cakes were standard in the South, to be sure. But everybody in America ate biscuits; the South just happened to cling to them longer.
The success of either a biscuit or a scone lies in the skill of the baker. The dry ingredients must be completely mixed to avoid nasty little pockets of baking soda or powder. Optimum flake comes from quickly incorporating very cold butter -- it can be chilled in the freezer -- into the dry ingredients with the skill and alacrity usually reserved for making a perfect pie crust.
Tenderness, or the lack of it, is a result of how quickly the liquid is added to the butter and flour meal. The faster it's done, the less the gluten develops and the more tender the result.
In general, a sweet and affectionate impulse always precedes the baking of a pastry. In the case of biscuits or scones, which are usually served in America for breakfast, the good will that inspired the baker in the first place can set the tone for the entire day. But only if the results are tender. Toughness in the morning is a worry.
Cream Scones
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones.
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and position a rack in the top third of the oven. Thoroughly combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of this mixture, add 1 1/4 cups of cream and stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a fork. Work quickly, stirring as little as possible, until a soft, shaggy dough forms. Add more cream, a tablespoon at a time, if the dough seems too dry.
2. Use a large serving spoon or cup measure to drop the batter onto an ungreased baking sheet, allowing at least 2 inches between each scone. Brush the top of each with heavy cream and bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Yield: 8 large scones.
