Prepare the strawberries: Take about 12 ounces of the least attractive strawberries—the bruised, the bulbous, the misshapen—and hull, slice, and place them in a small saucepan. Add the sugar, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, and the salt. Cover and bring to a simmer over low heat. Uncover the pot and cook the berries gently, stirring occasionally, until they are completely soft and their juices have thickened slightly, about 10 minutes. Mash the berries in the pan with a potato masher and transfer them and their juices to a fine-mesh strainer set over a small, deep mixing bowl. Press down on the berry pulp with a small spoon or ladle to extract every bit of juice. Discard the pulp and set the sauce aside.

Hull and slice the remaining berries and turn them into a large bowl. Fold the sauce into the berries. Add the remaining lemon juice and stir gently to combine. Taste for seasoning. If the berries need more sugar sprinkle some in to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Make the shortcakes: Adjust the oven racks to the lower-middle and uppermost positions and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place it in a second baking sheet for insulation.

Place the rice flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor bowl and pulse to combine. Scatter the butter pieces over the dry ingredients and process to a coarse meal, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add 8 ounces (1 cup) of milk. Blend lightly but evenly with a rubber spatula. Add more milk—up to 2 ounces (¼ cup)—if the dough feels dry. (The dough should be fairly wet.) Allow the dough to rest briefly, about 2 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out or pat into a 7-inch disk, about ¾ inch thick. Using the back of a chef’s knife or a bench knife, score the disk lightly into 8 wedges (fig. 5.1). Dipping the knife or bench knife into flour to prevent sticking, cut along the scored lines all the way through the dough, and then carefully (this dough is delicate!) lift the wedges one by one with a spatula and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Score the back of each wedge with a paring knife (fig. 5.2); this will make the shortcakes easier to halve once they’re baked. Brush the wedges with the 1 tablespoon milk and sprinkle them with sugar.

Set the baking sheet on the lower oven rack and bake 10 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through. Transfer the baking sheet to the upper rack and bake 10 minutes more, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through. Let the shortcakes cool completely on the baking sheet.

Make the whipped cream: Place the cream, sugar, and vanilla in the chilled bowl of a stand mixer or, if using a handheld mixer, in a chilled large mixing bowl. Whip on low speed until the cream bubbles, and then increase the speed to medium and beat until the whisk leaves a trail in the cream, about 40 seconds. Increase the speed slightly and continue to beat until the cream forms soft, droopy peaks when the whisk is lifted, about 20 seconds. Remove the bowl and whisk from the stand mixer (or, if using handheld mixer, remove one beater), and beat the cream by hand to finish.

To serve, carefully halve each shortcake with a sharp, serrated knife, using the scored back as a starting point. Lay one bottom half cut side up in each of 8 shallow serving bowls. Spoon strawberries and sauce over the shortcake bottoms, evenly dividing the mixture. You can spoon the whipped cream onto the strawberries and place the shortcake tops on top, or you can place the tops directly on the strawberries and spoon the whipped cream on the side.