Posted by Ed Kiser on April 19, 2005 at 16:41:52 from 64.12.116.6 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Mrs. DIXON cooking over open fire posted by John Nichols on April 19, 2005 at 15:32:15:
When it is 95 degrees (F) (35C) outside, it really takes dedication to do any baking in an oven that is heated with a wood fire in the firebox next to the oven, or to stand by such a stove and manage a frying pan or stir a pot - or even BE in the same room with such a heater - especially when the only way to "cool" the room was to open a window and let that breeze, such as it was, blow through. Makes one really appreciate good baked biscuits (rolls) and an apple pie under these conditions.
Please apply the American definition of "biscuits", not the UK one. The kind I'm talking about can be split open and a dab of butter stuck in, then closed back up to melt and soak into the bread. It is also good for sopping molasses (syrup, not "toffee") from the plate. The problem with that molasses business is to try to get the biscuits and the supply of molasses on the plate to come out "even" as all too often, there is some of one left over, so you have to get more of the other to finish up with, and then find now there is some of the other left over. Amazing how many biscuits and how much molasses one can go through trying to get both to be all used up at the same time. And by the way, when starting on the molasses course of the meal, one asks for the 'lasses. Now once you have had some, and want some more, THEN you can ask for some mo' lasses. Perhaps one has to be a Southern American to understand this...
Um, getting hungry...
Ed Kiser, South Florida