Cooking biscuits the old fashioned way seems to be getting harder in the digital age, but Wyoming's "real deal cowboy" Ron is here to show you how it's done. The total time to whip up these yummy biscuits is under an hour.
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Ron's always cooking and baking outdoors, teaching passersby how to bake over an open fire, out in front of Buffalo Bill Historical Center. But just in case you can't make it to the Equality State him live, this cooking cowboy also shows off his skills on YouTube via Buffalo Bill Center of the West, where's he's teaching the world how to make authentic Dutch Oven Biscuits.
Ron kicks things off with the dry ingredients by putting four cups of flour and two teaspoons of baking powder into a large bowl and mixing all the ingredients together. He then adds the shortening at a 4:1 ratio with the flour.
With a pastry cutter (or biscuit cutter in this case), Ron mashes and mixes up the mixture on his work surface, and adding around one to one and a half cups milk (or water) to the dough. He then combines all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon.
The dough is then ready to knead, so (after washing his hands, of course) he adds just enough flour to stop the mixture from sticking to his hands and the bowl.
Then, the real cowboy cooking starts. Watch as Ron covers over the mixture and cuts some wood to bake the biscuits on an open fire using hot coals. You'll need a cast iron dutch oven to cook the biscuits in. Dutch oven cooking is so easy; it's perfect for a camping trip where you want to throw all the ingredients in one for some easy meals. You could also whip these up from the comfort of your backyard!
After preparing the fire, the cooking cowboy greases his Dutch oven with shortening (or melted butter) and pulls balls from the dough that are around half an inch thick before placing them around the oven in a circle. After placing the lid on, you place biscuits on the coals, adding few to the top of the Dutch oven.
Ron then bakes his delicious treats for 30 minutes -- no peeking -- while rotating the pan every 10 minutes. You'll know they're ready when they are the perfect golden brown.
Then, of course, the very best part start lickin' your fingers, because you're ready now to eat some authentic cowboy-style biscuits.
This post was originally published on January 19, 2016.
