watching over me directing me, and in the
end I just don’t think they tasted as good,”
Rucker said. “It really was the weirdest
thing.”
Rucker joked that her sons said the miss-
ing ingredient was one that she couldn’t
conjure on her own.
“They told me the thing is, the missing
ingredient was Nannaw’s love,” she said.
“Those biscuits have always been made
with love, and that’s something I couldn’t
quite duplicate. But I have come closer as
I’ve practiced and learned a little more.”
When Arthur visited her family in the
Tampa Bay area, her grandson would bring
his friends – several of them students at
Florida State home on break – into the kitch-
en to learn how to make the biscuits, too.
“They came in with their tablets and they
were making notes on what I was doing,”
Arthur recalled. The students had noshed
on the biscuits on previous visits and want-
ed to learn how to make the doughy cakes
for themselves.
There is some debate within the family
about how the biscuits are best enjoyed.
Some in the family prefer to eat the biscuits
plain – no butter, syrup or jam needed.
Others prefer butter, cheese or jam between
the flaky layers. One Louisiana in-law who
has been added to the family adores putting
peanut butter on hers.
“I just haven’t been able to get into that,”
Rucker said, laughing.
Arthur learned how to make her biscuits
in part by watching her mother when she
was little. When she got married to her hus-
band, the late Norman Arthur, he wanted
her to make biscuits – something she did for
him for the majority of their 64-year mar-
riage.
She said that early on, her biscuits
weren’t as good as they are now.
“It’s like almost anything,” she said. “You
have to practice to be good at it.”
Arthur said one thing that makes her bis-
cuits so tasty is that after she shapes them,
she takes her knuckles and makes a dent on
the top of each one. Then, she puts a smidge
of canola oil in the dent.
Through the years, Arthur has shared
pans of biscuits with many people, includ-
ing neighbors and her adult children’s
co-workers. While she typically made the
biscuits early in the morning, she also
sometimes made them in the evening –
especially if a hungry grandchild requested
them.
“It’s not unusual to be out and run into
someone who asks me if my mother is still
making Nannaw’s biscuits,” Rucker said.
Arthur insists on using her stainless-steel
bowl and spoon when making her biscuits.
“It’s got to be my spoon,” Arthur
36•
“It’s like almost
anything. You
have to practice
to be good at it.”
Opal Arthur