A generous food writer and her biscuits: Remembering Nathalie Dupree, ‘the Julia Child of the South’

Most of the obituaries for Nathalie Dupree, who died last month at the age of 85, took note of her “pork chop” theory of life and cooking. She maintained that if only one pork chop goes into a frying pan, it is likely to burn. Two pork chops, however, share their fat and nourish each other.

Most of the obituaries for Nathalie Dupree, who died last month at the age of 85, took note of her “pork chop” theory of life and cooking. She maintained that if only one pork chop goes into a frying pan, it is likely to burn. Two pork chops, however, share their fat and nourish each other. Photo by Hélène Dujardin/Gibbs Smith Books

The late Nathalie Dupree told me, “Two-Ingredient Biscuits are for everyone. They belong to the world!” Consequently, I know she would approve of my sharing the recipe with readers now.

The late Nathalie Dupree told me, “Two-Ingredient Biscuits are for everyone. They belong to the world!” Consequently, I know she would approve of my sharing the recipe with readers now. PHOTO BY TINKY WEISBLAT

By TINKY WEISBLAT

For the Recorder

Published: 02-03-2025 2:27 PM

Nathalie Dupree died last month at the age of 85. Known as one of the doyennes of Southern cooking, Nathalie was a chef, cookbook author, and television personality.

She was often referred to as the Julia Child of the South. The comparison is apt in many ways. Like Child, Nathalie studied cooking in France. The two also shared outsize personalities, enthusiasm for cooking and teaching, and a way of making any mistakes they made during television appearances fun.

I never met Nathalie in person, but we were Facebook friends, and we corresponded on and off over the years. I found in her a kindred taste for diet coke (she consumed large quantities of it, as do I) and an inspiration.

I cheered her on during her unsuccessful but eloquent write-in campaign in 2010 for the Senate in South Carolina against the Republican incumbent, Jim DeMint. Ever the food lover, she adopted the slogan “Cream DeMint.”

One of Nathalie’s most appealing characteristics was her down-to-earth sense of humor. Another was her support of other female chefs and food writers who came her way.

Most of the obituaries for Nathalie took note of her “pork chop” theory of life and cooking. She maintained that if only one pork chop goes into a frying pan, it is likely to burn. Two pork chops, however, share their fat and nourish each other.

The pork-chop metaphor illuminated her attitude toward marriage. She and her husband were devoted.

The pork chops also shed light on Nathalie’s approach toward other women in the culinary field. She loved helping and encouraging women who might have been viewed as her rivals, believing that mutual support made everyone stronger.

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She was characteristically generous to me when I asked for permission to use one of her signature recipes, her formula for Two-Ingredient Biscuits, on television a few years back.

Biscuits are a bedrock of Southern cooking, and Nathalie literally wrote the book on them. Gibbs Smith published “Southern Biscuits,” by Nathalie and her frequent collaborator, Cynthia Graubart, in 2011.

I love simplicity so although I tried (and enjoyed) several of the recipes in their biscuit book, I immediately glommed on to their two-ingredient formula.

Like all biscuits, Nathalie’s took me a little practice to master. Even the sad-looking ones I produced were delectable, however. Nathalie was happy to allow me to make the biscuits on “Mass Appeal.”

”Tinky,” she told me, “Two-Ingredient Biscuits are for everyone. They belong to the world!” Consequently, I know she would approve of my sharing the recipe with readers now.

Although the biscuits have only two ingredients, self-rising flour and cream, one of the ingredients may take a little seeking out. Like many Southern cooks, Nathalie believed that the best self-rising flour was made from soft wheat.

Soft-wheat flour like Martha Washington or (my favorite) White Lily has a lower gluten content than the flour that goes into bread and cookies. Gluten makes bread crumbly and chewy. In contrast, the ideal biscuit is a soft pillow of tender goodness.

White Lily may be found at some New England stores. I searched for it recently and discovered that it is available at a Walmart in Bennington, Vermont. It may also be purchased by mail order.

The cream is of course easier to find. To make my biscuits extra special, I like to use cream from a local dairy. In a pinch, however, any cream will do.

The trick when making these biscuits is to handle them as little as possible. The dough can be a little straggly, and that’s just fine. They are worth a little care and a little mess.

Before I proceed to the recipe, I want to quote the late South Carolinian author Pat Conroy. Conroy took a cooking class from Nathalie in 1980. He remembered the class and its teacher with fondness in “The Pat Conroy Cookbook,” published by Nan A. Talese in 2004.

“Though Nathalie does not know this, she is one of the few people in my life who seems more like a fictional character than a flesh-and-blood person,” Conroy wrote.

“You never know where Nathalie is going with a train of thought; you simply know that the train will not be on time, will carry many passengers, and will eventually collide with a food truck stalled somewhere down the line on damaged tracks,” he pronounced.

May we all share Nathalie Dupree’s joyful outlook on life, her colorful way of cooking and talking, and above all her biscuits.

Nathalie Dupree’s Two-Ingredient Southern Biscuits

Technically, the melted butter here is a third ingredient — but butter and cream are different forms of the same substance so I’m sticking with the original recipe name.

Ingredients:

about 2 1/4 cups self-rising flour (again, seek out White Lily)

about 1 1/4 cups heavy cream

melted butter as needed for finishing

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with silicone or parchment paper, or brush the sheet with melted butter.

Whisk 2 cups of the flour in a wide, medium bowl. Make a hollow in the middle of the flour with the back of your hand. Slowly stir in 1 cup of the cream with a rubber spatula. Use broad stokes to pull the flour into the cream.

Mix the batter just until the dry ingredients are moistened and the sticky dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If there is remaining dry flour, add more cream.

Lightly sprinkle a board or silicone sheet with flour. Turn the dough out onto the board — it will be messy — and sprinkle the top with more flour.

Using your floured hands, gently fold the dough in half and pat it into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Flour the dough again if you need to and then fold it in half again and pat it out again. If it’s still clumpy fold and pat a third time — but don’t overwork the dough.

Dip a biscuit cutter in flour and use it to cut out biscuits, starting from the outside edges. Do not twist the cutter in the dough; twisting will lead to flat biscuits. Transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the biscuits on the top rack of the oven for 6 minutes; then rotate the pan in the oven and bake until the biscuits are light golden brown, another 4 to 8 minutes. Remove the biscuits from the oven, and brush them with melted butter.

Serve warm.

Makes about 8 to 12 biscuits, depending on how big you cut them.

If you’d like to see me make these on “Mass Appeal” for Mother’s Day several years ago, go to https://tinyurl.com/23nnamuh.

Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.