For questions that aren’t answered here you can email me (elena {at} biscuitsandsuch.com) or ask me on formspring.

Why did you start a southern food blog?

For years I’ve been using food blogs as my go-to for new recipes.  I love the incorporation of large photos to help the reader really work through a recipe.  However, one day I really wanted to make my grandmother’s country fried steak, but I needed some help filling in the recipe where I had forgotten steps.  Not for lack of trying, I couldn’t find a southern food blog that I liked.  So, I set out to fill a niche.  Since then it’s morphed into something much more, it’s become a mega-hobby that’s allowed me to cook and photograph as much as I wanted.

Your mother is from New Jersey, why don’t you write an Italian food blog?

I really did start this blog because I wanted to fill what I saw as a hole in the food-blogosphere.  The southern food presence on the internet was sub-par, and I wanted to create something that gave an authentic alternative to things like Paula Deen.  Not that I don’t love Paula Deen, it’s just that there is southern food that isn’t smothered in three sticks of butter and a cup of mayonnaise.  I wanted to show the internet that there was more to southern cooking.  I am also a lot more comfortable cooking southern food.  I was raised in the south, albeit with a Yankee mother.  I identify myself as a southerner.

What is so special about biscuits?

Biscuits are one of my favorite foods because they’re adaptable and delicious in so many different ways.  You can spread jam on them for breakfast, drench them in gravy for dinner, or throw them on top of a cobbler for dessert.  They’re also quintessentially southern, so when I was trying to come up with a name for my southern food blog including biscuits made sense.  Also, the Bojangles chicken biscuit single-handedly got me through the trauma of failing math my senior year of high school.

What is Bojangles?

Pure heaven in a chicken biscuit.  Actually, it’s a fast-food style chain restaurant in some parts of the southeast.  Born and breaded in North Carolina the quality varies outside of the Old North State.  I will never stop loving their chicken biscuits.

What is a grit?

Grits are the coarser half of what is produced when corn is ground in a stone mill.  The finer half, what makes it through the filtering screens, is corn meal.  Do not mistake grits with G.R.I.T.S., or Girls Raised In The South.  Because they will mentally beat you senseless with their knowledge of manners and southern customs.

Can I suggest a recipe?

Why yes, please do.  While I can’t promise that I’ll use every recipe suggested, I would absolutely encourage you to send them.  Just email elena {at} biscuitsandsuch {dot} com.

Are you open to product reviews?

Biscuits & Such is a recipe-based blog, so no.

How about link exchanges?

I keep a running list of blogs that I cannot go a whole day without reading, which you can find here.  Feel free to email me a link to your blog and if I like it and it becomes an obsession, you may just see yourself on that list.

Can I advertise on your site?

Email me for advertising rates at elena {at} biscuitsandsuch {dot} com.

I tried your recipe and it failed horribly.  Were you plotting against me?

Even though Dan sometimes claims that I am the Biggest Jerk in the World, I promise that I wouldn’t ever post a recipe without first trying it out, and that I am always honest about my results.  If I set out to make danishes and they end up biscuits, I tell you when I post it.  That being said, there are a lot more factors than just following the recipe at work.  For instance, a recipe that works perfectly in my oven at 350 may explode in your oven.  Or a dough that rises at my altitude may fall at yours.  All I can suggest is that you make sure you follow the recipe using fresh ingredients, without substitutions (unless multiple options are listed).  Cook with confidence and when it flops, laugh about it.

I’d love to print/email/tweet your recipe, how do I do that?

If you scroll to the bottom of any post (not on the front page of the site, but on the actual post), between the directions and the comments you’ll see a row of images.  Move your mouse over the pictures and you’re given the option to print, email, or share the recipe on your favorite social media sites.

What kitchen appliances/tools do you recommend?

Every once in a while I will suggest a new tool or product.  First of all, I can assure you that I don’t get paid for product placement, so if I’m recommending something to you, it’s because I love it.  However, as someone who really came into her own as a cook in college (read: without fancy equipment), I try and write my recipes so that you can use the tools if you have them, but won’t be left out if you don’t.  Whipping by hand is not as easy or fun, but it’s doable and you’ll have super strong wrists.  The same goes for kneading dough.  For a short list of some products we recommend, see my amazon store.

What kind of camera do you use?

I use a Nikon D40 with an 18-55mm lens.  I also sometimes shoot with my iPhone, my Holga, or my Pentax SLR film camera.

Do you edit your photos?

I come from the school of thought that you should do all your editing in camera, as you frame the photo.  I think if you rely too heavily on tools like photoshop you loose your eye.  That being said, I’ll tweak the contrast a little if the lighting is funky.  I also very rarely shoot with a flash because (as I mentioned before) I’m poor and can’t afford a flash that would do justice to the way I try and photograph.

Is it okay if I use one of your photos on my site?

No.  All text and images are copyright of Biscuits & Such unless otherwise noted.  I would be very upset to see one of my photos somewhere else without permission and would send the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz after you.  However, I am always happy to see my work syndicated, and if you’re interested in publishing me on your website, just email.

Who designed/hosts/maintains your blog?

The design is a Wordpress them by Pink & Yellow Media.  All of our websites are hosted by Media Temple.  Dan helped me a whole lot in the setting up of it, but I pretty much maintain it solo.  Every once in a while when it starts to talk back to me I have to call in reinforcements, but for the most part it’s happy as long as I feed it pictures of pie on a consistent basis.