These golden beauties are having a moment. Whether taking a star turn on the morning menu or showing up as a savory starter for dinner, biscuits are so hot right now. Here’s what makes them super special, including advice on how to ramp up your baking game at home.
The Southern food icon
Biscuits have a long, storied history in this country but the heart and soul of biscuit culture beats in the south. Just ask renowned chef Scott Peacock, who’s been running wildly popular workshops — the Alabama Biscuit Experience — for years. His website describes those baked goods in downright lyrical language: “Biscuits are steeped in mystery and legend and are one of the foremost icons of Southern cooking.” Yes, chef, and please pass the sorghum.
It was after being bitten by the biscuit bug that California chef Lance Velasquez decided to enroll in one of Peacock’s sessions. “I learned so much,” he said in a recent phone interview.
The diners at Alice B in Palm Springs heartily agree, as the chef’s biscuit-making skills have made for one of the restaurant’s most ordered starters. The cheddar drop biscuits are served with butter and organic honey that gets an exotic taste and texture from toasted sesame seeds and cardamom.
How does he make those seemingly simple, yet soulfully satisfying gems so memorable? The crunchy texture on the outside and the pillowy inside is achieved by using quality ingredients. “We use a combination of soft wheat and hard wheat flour from Giusto’s in Petaluma and incorporate some cake flour, which makes them a little fluffier. Then, we use 83 percent fat butter and low-fat buttermilk from Sonoma-based Clover.”
To make the dough, the kitchen crew grate the butter into the dry ingredients. “We make batches of the dry ingredients and put it in the refrigerator, then finish them in batches,” the chef said.
For the new brunch menu, which rolls out March 16 at the latest from the superstar team of Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, the biscuits will take centerstage in several dishes. There’s a cornmeal biscuit smothered in mushroom gravy, as well as a ham and cheese biscuit sandwich that gets all sorts of character from Dijon mustard, fig jam and slaw, plus, a rotating selection of flavors featured on the biscuit of the day.
The chef’s parting advice for those who want to become true biscuiteers: “If you really want to learn to make them, you’ve got to do it at least two or three times a week to get the feel for it.”
Biscuits at Layers in Seattle's Greenlake neighborhood are as beautiful as any French pastry.
Leslie KellyTaking a pastry approach
At Layers, a charming cafe in Seattle’s Green Lake neighborhood, the biscuit might get overlooked because there are so many interesting options on the menu: Not-your-typical sandwiches on house-baked bread, sweet and savory pastries, salads with hot smoked salmon.
But the biscuit is not to be missed.
Pastry chef Ellary Collins recently shared a few steps she takes to make those biscuits extra special. “This is my recipe that I was using at my popup — Boot Scootin Bread — that takes little bits and pieces of recipes that I’ve used in the past,” she said. The list of ingredients is fairly short: Shepherd’s Grain flour, high-fat European-style butter and buttermilk.
It’s the technique for putting those components together that’s as important as the formula, she explained. “You’ve got to make sure you’re not over-handling the dough,” she said.
And after the biscuits are mixed and formed, Collins puts them in the freezer for a bit to firm up the fat. “When it bakes, it releases steam, which is what gives them the height.” Well, that makes delicious sense.
What makes biscuits such a customer favorite boils down to lots of happy memories. “I grew up eating Bisquick biscuits and biscuits from a tube. I think what a lot of people respond to is that they’re so approachable,” Collins said.
Take note, biscuit fans. Because Collins only makes a few small batches a day, there are only a limited number of biscuits available, so arrive early and come hungry.
A few more memorable biscuits
- Tomato gravy smothered biscuits at Big Bad Breakfast, with locations throughout the South.
- The Dirty South at The Rhu in Asheville, N.C., features a buttermilk biscuit with pulled pork, pimiento cheese, Benton’s bacon braised collard greens, plus bread and butter pickles.
- Bryant’s Breakfast in Memphis serves up 11 variations of biscuit sandwiches, including bologna and country ham. They’ve been making people happy since 1968.
This article was written by Leslie Kelly from Forbes and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
