Feasting before the Rome derby, episode III

After this week's epochal win over Barcelona in the Champion's League quarterfinals, we had high hopes going into today's derby with our hated city rival Lazio. Alas, it wasn't to be this time, as the game ended in a 0-0 draw, with Bruno Peres and Edin Dzeko both rattling the woodwork for AS Roma. It was still an okay result, as we remain tied with Lazio for the third of four Champions League spots reserved for teams from Serie A, and we have the tiebreaker over Lazio, having defeated them earlier this season. Even so, our position remains precarious, since we're also only one point ahead of Inter, who holds the tiebreaker against us if it comes down to it. I guess we'll just have to win the Champions League this year to secure our direct qualification into the Champions League next year.

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After a months-long inquiry spearheaded by the Charlottesville 29, it has been determined by the cognoscenti that Charlottesville's signature dish is the ham biscuit. Brad will undoubtedly be disappointed that the winner was not an egg-on-everything-bagel from Bodo's, but Chef Angelo appears to be on board as he is now serving up his own version of the dish at C'ville's best restaurant, the Ivy Inn. In honor of the unveiling, here are my own buttermilk biscuits, which I'm sure are not as tasty as Angelo's, but are still pretty good. 

Buttermilk Biscuits

There are lots of ways to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. I went with grating in frozen butter shards, because I keep butter in the freezer, and it's an easy method that works well. You can also cut the butter into ½-inch cubes and incorporate it into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender or by rubbing it in with your fingers. Or you can mix the dry ingredients in a food processor fitted with the steel blade, then scatter ½-inch cubes of cold butter over the flour mixture, and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal, about 8 to 10 one-second pulses. The food processor works very well, but then you have to clean it, which is why I like the grating method.

360 grams (3 cups) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (12 grams) white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 slightly rounded teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (113 grams; 8 tablespoons) frozen butter
303 grams (1¼ cups) buttermilk

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and heat to 450 degrees.
    2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
    3. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the frozen butter onto a plate or cutting board, then scatter the shards over the dry ingredients. Stir the butter into the flour with a silicone spatula.
    4. Pour the buttermilk over the flour-butter mixture. Stir together with the spatula until mostly combined.
    5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough just enough to bring it together (maybe 8–10 times). Gently pat the dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle, then fold it over onto itself. Repeat the patting and folding two more times; this will help make flaky layers in the baked biscuits. Gently pat the dough into an 8-by-10-inch rectangle (for square biscuits) or a 9-inch circle (for round biscuits). Either shape should be about ¾-inch thick.
    6a. For square biscuits (easier), flour the edge of a bench scraper. Use the bench scraper to cut the rectangular dough into 12 or so squares. Push straight down when cutting (no twisting).
    6b. For traditional round biscuits, cut circles out of the dough using a floured 2½-inch biscuit cutter. Push straight down when cutting (no twisting). Gather the leftover dough and gently pat it into a ¾-inch-thick circle, working it as little as possible, and continue cutting out biscuit rounds.
    7. Arrange the formed biscuits, upside down, on a 13-by-18-inch baking sheet. (There is no need to grease the baking sheet first.) Bake for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 425 degrees. Bake until golden brown, about 7–8 more minutes. Serve warm, with good butter and/or jam, or allow to cool completely to make ham biscuits.

Ham Biscuits
Get your hands on some of the best-quality Virginia country ham you can find. Split biscuits in half. Spread each half with a thin layer of honey mustard. Pile on some thin-sliced country ham.