Country Ham and Biscuits

by Dolly Parton and Rachel Parton George, featured in Good Lookin' Cookin'

Published by Ebury

Print me

Introduction

We admit it — we love the way butter or some sort of grease makes food taste, especially bacon grease. That’s why we use it to cook up country ham. I use it more than Rachel, so I have people save their bacon grease for me. I tell them, “Don’t throw away your bacon grease!” And when somebody says, “How do you keep your skin looking so good?” I tell them, “Bacon grease . . . from the inside out!”

This is one of my favorite recipes from many years ago, and it is still a fantastic biscuit! Also, these are so easy to start in the food processor, which I often use to save time. If you don’t have one, you can also mix your dry ingredients and cut in your shortening and butter by hand like Mama used to. She was so good at cooking and making biscuits that she could just work the dough by hand and before you knew it, the whole pan would be coming out of the oven!

As featured in

Good Lookin' Cookin'

Image of Dolly Parton's Country Ham and Biscuits — Photo by Aubrie Pick

Ingredients

Makes: 6 servings

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

¼ cup shortening (plus more for greasing)
3 cups all-purpose flour (preferably King Arthur (see Additional Information below), plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ cup (1 stick) butter (very cold and cut into ½-inch pieces)
1¼ cups whole buttermilk (well shaken)

HAM

1 teaspoon bacon grease or shortening
3 slices country ham (fat left on)

Method

Country Ham and Biscuits is a guest recipe by Dolly Parton and Rachel Parton George so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe

To make the biscuits, preheat the oven to 425°F. Grease an 8-inch cast-iron skillet or a similar-size baking pan with shortening.
In a large bowl or the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cream of tartar. Mix or process a few times to thoroughly combine the dry ingredients.
Cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture by hand using a pastry cutter or pulse them in the food processor just until you get a crumbly consistency. If you’re using a food processor, transfer the dough to a large bowl. Add the buttermilk to the bowl and gently stir until just combined, being careful not to overmix.
Place the dough on a floured work surface and, with floured hands, gently pat the dough to a 2-inch thickness. Using a 2½-inch biscuit cutter, cut out 6 to 8 biscuits. Transfer to the greased skillet or baking pan, arranging to fit. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the biscuits from the oven and allow to cool 5 minutes.
While the biscuits are baking, make the ham. Add the grease or shortening to a cast-iron skillet. Do not trim any fat from the ham before frying. Melt the grease over medium heat, then add ham slices to the skillet. Fry over medium heat until the edges are brown, a few minutes per side. Remove the ham from the skullet and place the slices on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Cut the ham slices in half.
To serve, split each biscuit in half and sandwich a piece of ham between the top and bottom.