Marie Rudisill could be described as a “character.”
How could she not be? She was the aunt of famous In Cold Blood author Truman Capote who helped raise him in their home of Monroeville Alabama. Capote would immortalize her in a short story about Christmas fruitcake. This story and the later interviews is spawned led to Rudisill being a frequent guest on the “Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno.” While at first she was asked to demonstrate her baking prowess, her dry and matter of fact view of the world made her a curmudgeon-comic. Here she is giving folks the what-for at 96.
Her book (pictured below) is a collection or recipe’s compiled by herself and Capote with inspiration and influence accredited to many people they both knew through kinship with their “cousin” Sook. The book is currently out of print , but you can find a copy on Amazon. It earned her in 2001 a life time achievement award from the Southern Foodways Alliance. Also, if you’re in for a good read, check out the interview of her from writer Wendell Brock, Sweet as Sugar , Rude as Hell.
Thumbing through Rudisill’s work this morning reminded me that our food tells our stories. It tells us of the people we come from and what was important and available to them on their kitchen tables. Not long ago when I was on a “pie kick” I was baking different versions of buttermilk, Tyler, and vinegar pies and my spouse Lauren said to me, “All you do is make Depression era pies.” True, but that’s the kind of pies I remember being around my childhood; those that made do with whatever they had in the pantry.
Making do with what you’ve got. Drop biscuits don’t take much. They are simple in ingredients as most biscuits are. Maybe even more so since they don’t require special handling or shaping. Rudisill’s offering of Sook’s Drop biscuits work well on their own, but I would think could shine even more so when coupled with a bowl of chili beans or creamy chicken dish.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
List of Ingredients
2 cups of sifted flour, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of baking powder, 2 well-beat eggs, and 3/4 cup of heavy cream.
For this recipe, I used King Arthur all purpose flour and ran it through my sifter. I then added the salt and baking powder before giving the dry ingredients a a quick whisk to combine them all. I beat my eggs in a separate bowl, measured out my heavy cream, before making a “well” and adding the two.
Pardons here, my “well” runneth over.
I used a spatula to combine. The result should be a dough that leans toward the wetter side of things.
Out came the “scoop” utensil and I was able to get 8 good biscuits from my bowl.
On to a large baking sheet with parchment paper. The biscuits do expand so I suggest leaving a little room for them to do so. Also, these are non-conforming biscuits meaning they aren’t going to all look alike. Some might lean this way, be a bit bulkier, stand up taller…Embrace their uniqueness and toss them on the middle rack of your oven for about 15 minutes or so (my bake time was right at 17 minutes).
When the tops start browning, out they come. They’ll look something like this. The inside should be baked through with some distinguishable “pockets.”
I packed a half dozen on these up in my travel container and brought them with me to the church. I had a specific parishioner in mind who I thought could use a couple. I was also able to share a few with a tech/service person who had come by to fix our office printer. I asked if he had anything for breakfast that morning and his reply was, “I had a little toast before I hit the road coming here.” He enjoyed the biscuits, walked with me over to the general store for a cup of coffee, and even left with a couple pieces of coffee cake I had made the day before. During this time he shared with me a little about himself. It was a good way to start the morning. Getting people to receive and to share something, well, I think that’s pretty holy.
And all God’s people said?
Amen.