We’d been told that Miss Shirley’s Cafe (missshirleys.com) was a favorite with baseball players so we figured it would be appropriate for a hearty meal ahead of a game between the hometown Baltimore Orioles and our home town Boston Red Sox. Little did we know that most of the Red Sox team was chowing down in the same restaurant in a private dining room. But one gander at the menu told us that athletic young men with hearty appetites were a perfect target clientele for this Baltimore comfort food institution. Indeed, the Polar Bear Pancakes are named for Pete Alonso, the towering first baseman nicknamed the Polar Bear.
For the record, said pancakes are a supersweet combo of pancakes with Teddy Grahams, marshmallow Fluff, sugar crystals and a gummy bear — served on a plate with a raspberry purée glaze. And that’s before you pour on the syrup.
Sauntering over to the savory side
But there were plenty of choices for those of us who weren’t going to burn off a few thousand calories on the ballfield. David enjoyed a dish called Get Your Grits On. We reasoned that Baltimore is just far enough South to bridge the cultural gap between Southern and Mid-Atlantic cooking. We weren’t wrong. The plate was a lineup of three perfectly composed towers with fried green tomatoes on the bottom, a generous lump of grits in the middle, and a plump broiled shrimp on top of each one. We’ll be revisiting that dish with a recipe once green tomato season arrives in New England.
Pat opted for an excellent omelet, foregoing the usual choice of toast or English muffin in favor of Miss Shirley’s locally famous Everything but the Bagel Biscuits. The name comes from all the seeds sprinkled on top, a la an ‶everything″ bagel. It might be the apotheosis of the Southern biscuit — fluffy yet substantial and packed with flavor. They were a favorite of Hall of Fame Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson. We don’t know what the Red Sox players ate, but they took two out of three games in the weekend series.
Homage fo Miss Shirley’s biscuits
The biscuits at Miss Shirley’s Cafe star at breakfast and a serve a critical supporting role in brunch and lunch dishes. The most popular form is the Everything But The Bagel Biscuit. We didn’t get the recipe from the restaurant, but we ascertained that they are made with cream cheese and butter and topped with a melange of seeds similar to ‶everything″ bagels. King Arthur’s Flour sells the ‶everything″ seed blend, but we prefer to make our own, nixing the poppy seeds because they overwhelm the other flavors. Miss Shirley’s is famed for adding flax seed to their seed topping. We did the same and found that it produced a nice, nutty biscuit.
Makes 4 large biscuits
Ingredients
- 140 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut in 1/4-inch cubes
- 56 grams full-fat cold cream cheese, cut in 1/4-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup cold buttermilk plus extra for brushing biscuit tops
- 1 tablespoon Everything Bagel Seasoning (Our blend is roughly 1 teaspoon each of sesame seeds, flax seeds, and dried onion bits, combined with 1/4 teaspoon each of garlic granules and salt.)
Set oven at 425°F. Line baking sheet with parchment or Silpat.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, garlic granules, and salt.
Add butter and cream cheese. Use a pastry blender to work them into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal with a few pea-sized lumps.
Pour in buttermilk. Stir with a spatula until just combined.
Turn the sticky dough onto a floured surface. Pat it into a rectangle and fold it in half several times. Pat down to 1-inch thickness.
Cut with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter. Brush tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with seed mixture.
Move to baking sheet and bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
