Onion & Garlic Biscuits -- Something Warm to Make While the World Sorts Itself Out

Went to the doctor Thursday like I said I would. Dr. Patel. Young man, kind eyes, the sort of careful voice they must teach in medical school for when they have to tell a man who's worked with his body for thirty-three years that his body is done working. He pulled up the MRI on his computer and showed me the two herniations like he was showing me a weather map of a storm I was already standing in. Degenerative disc disease. L4-L5, L5-S1. He said the words surgery and physical therapy and lifestyle modification, which is a medical term for you can't do what you've been doing. I sat in that office chair and nodded and didn't hear half of it because there was a ringing in my ears that had nothing to do with my back and everything to do with the floor dropping out.

He gave me a referral to a surgeon and a number for the disability office. Two pieces of paper. I put them in my coat pocket and drove home and sat in the driveway and looked at the house I'd been paying for with construction wages for eighteen years and thought: what now.

Connie was home when I came in. She didn't ask how it went because she could see how it went. She made coffee and set a cup in front of me and sat down and we drank coffee in silence for ten minutes, which in our marriage is the equivalent of a long conversation. Then she said, we'll figure it out. Two plates, two cups, one table. That's all the meeting we needed.

Didn't go to the job site all week. Called the builder Monday and said I needed the week. He said take what you need, Craig, his voice still careful, still rehearsing. I spent the week cooking because cooking is the only work my back will let me do without punishing me for it. Made a big skillet of fried potatoes Wednesday — Yukon Golds sliced thin, cooked in bacon grease with onion until they're crispy on the edges and soft in the middle, salt and pepper, nothing else. Betty's recipe, which isn't a recipe, it's just potatoes and grease and patience. I ate them standing at the counter because standing is still easier than the chair, and I thought about those two pieces of paper in my coat pocket, folded once, waiting.

I haven't called either number yet. I will. I'm not Earl. I'm not going to let the work decide my ending. But I need another day or two of potatoes and silence before I pick up the phone.

The fried potatoes carried me through Wednesday, but by Thursday I was back in the kitchen looking for something else to do with my hands — something that didn’t require a phone call or a decision or a plan. Biscuits made sense. Betty used to make onion biscuits to go alongside the skillet potatoes, and I hadn’t thought about that in years until I was standing there at the counter with nowhere else to be. You can’t rush a good biscuit, and that felt right for where I was.

Onion & Garlic Biscuits

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 14 min | Total Time: 29 min | Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/3 cup finely diced yellow onion
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
• 2 tablespoons cold shortening
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted (for brushing)

Instructions

1. Preheat. Heat your oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or lightly grease it.
2. Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and garlic powder until evenly combined.
3. Cut in fat. Add the cold butter and shortening to the flour mixture. Use your fingertips or a pastry cutter to work the fat in until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces remaining — don’t overwork it.
4. Add onion. Stir in the diced onion, distributing it evenly through the flour mixture.
5. Add buttermilk. Pour in the cold buttermilk and stir just until the dough comes together. It will be shaggy and slightly sticky — that’s right.
6. Shape. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it gently to about 3/4-inch thickness. Fold it once, then pat back to 3/4 inch. Cut into rounds with a floured biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass, pressing straight down without twisting.
7. Bake. Place biscuits on the prepared pan with sides just touching for softer edges, or spaced apart for crispier sides. Bake 12–14 minutes until risen and golden on top.
8. Finish. Brush hot biscuits with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Serve warm alongside fried potatoes or on their own.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 185 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 23g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 310mg