by Jeannie Travis
On mornings when the stove wood was wet Mama made up biscuits as usual but she fried them in an iron skillet. She would take the stove lid off and set the skillet in the hole so it could get any heat the wet smoking wood produced. It’s easy to cook biscuits that quick and simple way. You put them in the melted butter shortening/grease and turn them over. Turn the heat down real low and cook, covered, about 10 minutes, or till brown on the bottom. I use the lowest possible heat. Use a fork to turn them over and put the lid on, cook on low for 5 to 10 minutes, or till brown and done. Sometimes I will turn them up on edge and cook a bit longer if they are a little thick and don’t seem cooked through. Hubby calls them ‘stove tops,’ and prefers them to baked ones. Uses more shortening, but surely doesn’t heat up the house like an oven does.
I cook corn bread that way too year around. Just mix as usual and pour into the melted shortening, turn heat down, cover, cook for about 10 minutes or till it is mostly ‘set’ on top. Flip with a spatula, or be a sissy and turn it out on a buttered plate then slide it back in the skillet. Cook another 10 minutes or till it is brown on top. You can flip it out on a plate to check. I use two eggs in mine instead of the usual one, and add about a level Tbl. of sugar. For milk I use straight canned milk or sometimes add a little water. I also put melted butter shortening in the mix, maybe a bit more than a recipe would call for. If you make it too thick the bread will be kinda dry and crumbly. Thick pancake mix texture is good, You can experiment, bake a little ‘hoecake’.
Cornbread and milk was all the supper Ma – Cora Barker Buntin – ever ate. She had big goblets to drink from and that’s what she used for the milk and crumbled up cornbread. I think I saw her eat a regular supper one time, but she always cooked for us kids. I eat the bread and sweet milk as a snack lots of times, and always warm the cornbread first. It is also good heated, split and buttered and spread with peach preserves, hone, etc.