Leftovers. I’m a huge fan of them, as I’ve mentioned before. I think that having different kinds of leftovers brings to light culinary creativity in reinventing how to repurpose foodstuffs. This doesn’t apply to things like my father’s annual Turkey Garbage Soup creation, but it definitely fits for making Ham Biscuits, using up those last pieces of the enormous holiday ham that you might have bought to serve to family and friends.
Putting together the ham biscuits
When I was putting together the menu for my Park Avenue Tree Lighting Cocktail Party this year, I was mulling over what to add as any extra meat-based item that would be easy to throw together given my tight time schedule to get everything done. The rest of the menu was based around testing my recipes for a menu project that I have to complete for culinary school, so those were taking a bit longer to create and prepare.
Cutting out the biscuits into small rounds
Then, it dawned upon me, I really love this recipe for buttermilk biscuits from Thibeault’s Table and have found it to be incredibly reliable as well as easy to prepare in advance and then to reheat before serving them. What about if I whipped up a batch of these a day or so ahead and then filled them with country ham? Taking a small biscuit cutter, I managed to get about 40 or so biscuits out of one batch of the recipe.
Hot biscuits, right out of the oven
A half a pound of country ham from the Italian deli in my neighborhood gave me just enough to fill each biscuit, as I didn’t have the benefit of having a leftover holiday ham for this project. Then, I put a jar of Honeycup Mustard, one of my favorites with its sweet-tart-spicy kick, and a bottle of Mike’s Hot Honey for the heat-lovers at the party to the side of the serving platter as a condiment. These ended up being the perfect addition to the festivities. They were also, not suprisingly, the first platter to get wiped clean at the party.
Ham Biscuits
Prep time: about an hour
Serving size: 40 2-inch biscuits
Ingredients:
Follow your favorite Buttermilk Biscuit recipe. Mine is here.
1/4-/1/2 lb. of Country Ham
Mustard for serving alongside biscuits
Assembly:
Make your favorite buttermilk biscuit recipe, cutting the biscuits into 2-inch rounds. Bake the biscuits. Let them cool. At this point, you can prepare these a day or two in advance and then store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
Slice the biscuits in half. Cut or tear the ham into small pieces that will just cover on the bottom half of the biscuit base. The ham should not be piled high; this is meant to give a taste of salty meat as a contrast to the soft, fluffy biscuit. Cover with the top half of the biscuit. Pile filled biscuits high on a serving platter. Put mustard on the side so that folks can add it as they wish to the biscuits.
Buon appetito!
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