Cobbler, Slump, Buckles, Grunts, Pandowdy and Crisp-An Expose on Summer Desserts

A friend was asking for a cobbler recipe the other day and I had to stop and think...cobbler? When was the last time I made one of those? So I went in search of a recipe and found some very confusing results. I kept digging and taking notes and drooling until I think I have sorted it out. And worked myslef in to a dessert making tizzy. I made a cobbler(hey Margriet!), it was great and it was inhaled. I have decided that I will be making most of these desserts in the next feew weeks to truly sort them out. I'd like to bake them all up in a day or two and walk around forcing people to "taste this" and demand instant analiysis. That's not going to happen. I don't want to burn anyone out on sweet, fruity, deliciousness, right? Unless of course I get some more help consuming these...anyone?

What's the difference? Except that a crisp has a crunchy topping basically they are all variations on a theme. Peak harvest fruits, a dash of sugar and some sort of biscuit topping, baked or boiled. I have been reading a lot of versions of these recipes and these seem to be a generally accepted definitions except by James Beard in "American Cookery" who seems to believe a bit differently, I note where he differs.

Grunt-stewed fruit with a topping, stewed on the stove top with dumplings, simmering berries steaming the dough-berries make a grunting noise as they simmer on the stove-James Beard seems to say these are cooked in the oven with biscuit topping, he seems to be in the minority,
though variations differ state to state

Slump-simmered fruit with dumplings, same as a grunt

Buckle-berries with a cake that rises to the top and buckles when it is baked

Cobbler-baked fruit with sweet cream biscuits on top sprinkled with sugar and baked

Pandowdy-pie crust over fruit cooked halfway then crushed into fruit then allowed to finish baking, James Beard says that a Pandowdy is fruit baked under a pie crust and then flipped over and served crust down
Crisp-crispy topping usually with oatmeal, sometimes with nuts

Hungry yet? Anyone want to come for dessert?


Rhubarb Strawberry Cobbler
5 stalks of rhubarb cut in to 1 inch slices
1 cup of sliced strawberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
dash of salt

1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup sugar+1 Tablespoon divided
6 Tablespoons cold butter, cut in cubes
1/2 cup of milk

combine the first 4 ingredients in a deep dish pie pan or other baking dish of roughly the same size
in the bowl of a food processor pules the dry ingredients--not the 1 Tablespoon of sugar
add the butter and pulse until course crumbs are formed
pour in the milk and pulse until the dough forms a ball
knead 10 times on a floured counter
cut out biscuits and place over the fruit, they can overlap each other
sprinkle with the extra Tablespoon of sugar
bake for 40-50 minutes until the biscuits are browned
serve warm with cream or ice cream
coffee is nice too

Peace and Love,