These biscuits mark a really lucky moment in Alison’s life. A moment that changed everything. A moment made by the convergence of hard work, years of training and preparation, courageous risk taking, and a bowl of lucky biscuit dough. A moment you can hope for, prepare for, but never plan.
These biscuits got me thinking about my own lucky moments, where my hard work paid off in an unexpected way. Though I can’t think of any one significant biscuit moment, I can remember many smaller instances where my work paid off in a way I didn’t foresee. Like the time I decided to order a few extra bottles of product for a photoshoot, just in case, and we ended up needing them because the original product got damaged. Or that time I decided to make two batches of chili instead of one in case more people showed up, and what do you know, they did.
One lucky moment happened this week that had nothing to do with me. Just two nights ago on Thanksgiving, my mom got up from the couch where my dad and brother were sitting and went into her bedroom. After a bit of time, my brother had the lucky instinct to go check on her. He found her in extreme pain, lying in fetal position on her bed. She wasn’t sure what to make of the pain, and was waiting to see what would happen next. As the pain quickly spread from her chest to her right arm, they decided to drive her to the ER. They had the lucky hunch that this wasn’t indigestion. She was having a mild heart attack.
It’s lucky that they went in when they did. The doctor said if they had waited another hour, things could have ended up much worse. She’s in the hospital now, waiting for various enzymes and chemicals to go back down. But luckily there seems to be no permanent damage done to her heart. No plaque or clogged arteries. We’re lucky it wasn’t something more. We feel like the luckiest family in America.
With my family far away in California, and myself living in Chicago, there’s nothing I can do but pray and answer the phone when someone calls. It’s in these “useless” moments when I’m most thankful for cooking. Something to do with my hands that feels nurturing and productive. This morning, I didn’t know what else to do but make lucky biscuits.
Though I’ve only made biscuits a handful of times, the process is largely similar to pie crust, and therefore quite familiar to me now. I used gluten-free flour and xanthan gum, but regular butter and buttermilk. I broke down the cold butter between my thumbs and forefingers, like rubbing a dog’s ear (thanks for the tips, Margaret). I drizzled the buttermilk in and kneaded the dough a few times, then patted it into a square to be cut. The squares sat on a parchment-lined baking sheet as I drizzled more buttermilk and flaky sea salt on top. They spent a total of 27 minutes in the oven, rotating once halfway through.
These biscuits were fluffy, buttery, layered, with crispy edges - just as Alison promised. And given all that’s happening today, these biscuits sure felt lucky to me.
175 recipes cooked, 50 to go.
