Cathead Biscuits
Howdy folks, and thanks for stopping by the website! In this week’s episode, I wanted to take things back to the basics. It’s freezing outside here in New Mexico, and when it gets this cold outside there is just nothing as warm and satisfying as biscuits and coffee. And – when you’re cooking at camp, you’ve got to find a way to get that Dutch oven warm enough to bake some biscuits.
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Cold Weather Dutch Oven Cooking Tips
Y’all have seen me cook biscuits before, but it’s a whole different ball game when it’s below freezing. There are a few steps to take to prep the ground before you cook on hot coals in the winter.
- Don’t shock the Cast iron – Warm up the cast iron a little bit before setting it over hot coals. The cast iron will be cold if the air outside is cold, and if you take it from freezing to fire, you’ll warp or crack it.
- Prep the ground – Remove any snow and ice, and take a propane torch or an extra batch of hot coals and warm up the ground. If you don’t warm the ground first, that cold dirt is going to suck all the heat out of your coals, and cause you to burn way more fuel than you need and mess up your cooking time.
- Pour boiling water into a yeti cooler and close the lid for a bit. You’re pre-warming it to use as hot storage. So if the roast is done and you need to keep it warm, you just dump the water out of the cooler, wipe it dry, and it will store anything and keep it warm for hours.
Cathead Biscuits
Start by mixing up all the dry ingredients. Note that I’m using both all-purpose flower and cake flour. This is the best mix, to me, to make a good biscuit. If you only use all-purpose flour, the biscuits turn out a little too crumbly.
When the dry ingredients are mixed up, it’s time to cut in the butter. If you’ve never made a biscuit before, to “cut in” the butter means to take cold butter and grate it into the flour mixture. There’s a kitchen utensil called a pastry cutter that people use to cut the cold butter into the flour. The perfect biscuit dough has shards of cold butter all throughout it when it goes into the oven.
Work the butter into the flour with your hands until it’s about cracker crumb consistency. Work in the bacon grease – this will give good flavor and moisture to the biscuits. Add chilled buttermilk – again, we want that butter to remain a little cold at this point. Knead until the dough is moist but not sticking to your finger.
Form into biscuits, and place them in a greased Dutch oven. If it’s cold outside, warm up the Dutch oven just a little before you do this because you don’t want to put a cold cast iron on a hot fire or over hot coals.
Tip: Cook the biscuits in a cast iron skillet, casserole dish – anything that has a side all around it. You want the biscuits to rise UP, not sideways.
Bake the biscuits for about 30 minutes. If you’re cooking indoors, pre-heat your oven to 425. The biscuits are done when they’re 190 degrees in the center.
Tip: I like to bake breads slowly, so they’ll rise higher.
When the biscuits are done, let them set about three or four minutes and serve them warm. Preferably with some cowboy coffee.
This YouTube video was sponsored by ChefsTemp and you can save 20% at www.chefstemp.com with code: COWBOYKENT20
Cowboy Coffee
Cowboy coffee is boiled over a hot fire. Get your water warm on the stove or get your fire going and put the water on. When the water is steaming, add your coffee. Bring that coffee to a rolling boil. Not just a little simmer, but a full boil. Stir and lower the heat if it looks like it’s going to boil over.
The longer you boil the coffee, the stouter it will be. I like to boil for about four minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for about three minutes.
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Cowboy Coffee
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The trick to pouring out the coffee is to settle the grounds. To do that, pour cold water in around the edges – that water will settle the grounds and you’ll pour a smooth cup of coffee with no acid, no indigestion. Just delicious coffee.
We recommend our blend of coffee because it’s made especially for this method – if you enjoy it, you can sign up for automatic shipments and save 20% on every order. It comes in whole bean and ground, and tastes great any way you brew it.
As always, Shannon and I thank you for visiting our website and subscribing to our videos. Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram! God bless you and we’ll see you down the Cathead Biscuit & Coffee trail!
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Cathead Biscuits – Cowboy Kent Rollins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ sticks butter chilled
- 1 tablespoon bacon grease
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Butter a Dutch oven or cast iron skillet.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, sugar and salt.
- Grate the butter in and stir to combine. With your hands or a spoon, work in the bacon grease.
- Fold in the buttermilk. Flour your hands and lightly knead the dough into a ball. The dough should be moist but not sticky. Add flour and/or buttermilk, if needed.
- Pinch off about 8 equal pieces and form into a biscuit. Place the biscuits in the Dutch oven or skillet. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until lightly browned and the internal temperature is 190 – 200 degrees F. Let rest until warm, before removing and serving.
Cowboy Coffee – Cowboy Kent Rollins
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup coffee grounds
- 1 quart warm water
Instructions
- If using a coffee pot, fill with water to the bottom of the spout and warm. Depending on what size pot you are using you can estimate 1/4 cup of grounds to 1 quart of water.
- Add the coffee grounds and bring to a rolling boil. To prevent the water from boiling over, you can slightly reduce the heat when boiling. Boil for about 4 minutes- the longer the boil the stouter the coffee will be.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let rest 2 minutes. Pour about 1/2 to 3/4 cup for smaller pots and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cold water for larger pots down the spout and in the top of the pot. The cold water will settle the grounds.
- Serve hot.