OK y’all, you knew sooner or later the topic would come up: Biscuits. The pinnacle of southern cooking.
Now in France, they don’t know from biscuits. And yet…look at the spelling, it’s a French word! This particular parole originated in medieval France, (about the time our favorite château was built, actually), from the latin bescuit, or ‘twice baked’. Along the way, the second baking got thrown out, except for the Italian biscotti. The French pronounce it bis KWI and it means a cracker or a thin, crunchy cookie. The Brits use the word the same way as the French. Those pesky American colonists kept the name but changed the recipe and the pronunciation, leading to the current confusion.
A side note: if you describe a southern biscuit to the English, they will say, “oh, you mean a scone”. Non. A biscuit in is not the same as its drier, firmer English cousin, which nevertheless is an acceptable vehicle for lots of clotted cream and jam.
No, light and fluffy Southern biscuits, or the flat, crunchier old-fashioned version called beaten biscuits, are not found anywhere in Europe, as far as I can tell. Happily, the ingredients are readily available (except for buttermilk, which I haven't found yet). They are dead easy to whip up. Photo: The French & the English think these are biscuits.
I will share with you my very favorite southern biscuit recipe, gleaned from years of testing. I like this version because it makes lovely biscuits without buttermilk, though by all means use it if you have it. The only French touch I've given these is that instead of buttermilk I use a mixture of milk and crème fraiche, which makes a mighty fine biscuit too. I like to use a heart shaped cutter, it makes them more fun.
For the uninitiated, biscuits, traditionally eaten for breakfast but good anytime, are meant to be eaten with lots of butter, never dry. When I serve them to the French, I always butter them while they’re hot before I serve them, because they do not generally butter their bread and will miss the fun. Jam works, too; honey and molasses are also common toppers for a split, hot biscuit in the South. For me the best thing to put on a biscuit is orange marmalade, but I must admit my neighbor Marion’s white peach jam from the garden is pretty wonderful with them as well.
Ron, who lived in Charleston many years but is from ‘off’, is nevertheless an enthusiastic biscuit convert. He has tried to train me to get up with the chickens every morning and make a batch so that the aroma of baking biscuits wakes him up. To this I say, Fat Chance. But I do indulge him from time to time.
RECIPE: Lynn’s Southern Biscuits from the Heart, slightly Frenchified
2 tips: you can mix in the butter with your fingers the old fashioned way, but for truly great biscuits, I must admit that a food processor is the way to go. And if you avoid making them due to the messy clean-up, try this neat trick: sprinkle a little water on your countertop, then cover with a large piece of plastic wrap. Flour it and turn your dough out onto it to work it. When you’re done, just fold it up and pitch it. Voila, a clean counter.
Oven: 400 degrees F, (200 C)
- 2 c. flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- (If using buttermilk or sour milk, add ½ teaspoon baking soda to dry ingredients)
- 1 stick (113 grams) cold unsalted butter, diced
- ¾ cup liquid: stir together about half milk & half crème fraiche (or sour cream), or use buttermilk
- Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 T milk)
Put dry ingredients in food processor, pulse to blend. Add butter, and give it about 10 one-second pulses until mixture is like a coarse meal. (or, knead butter in with your fingertips). Turn out into a bowl.
Make a well and add liquid all at once. Stir quickly with fork, just until dough comes together in clumps, there may be a bit of flour left that you can mix in as you knead the dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface. With floured hands, knead and fold dough just a couple of times until it comes together nicely into a ball, then pat out into a circle about ½ inch thick. Use heart-shaped or round cutter to make about a dozen biscuits (try Kaiser Bakeware Heart Cookie Cutter, Set of 6). Place on cookie sheet, on a Silpat Non-Stick Mat
Making biscuits ahead: cooked biscuits can be wrapped in foil, frozen, then thawed and re-heated in a hot oven. I prefer to freeze them before cooking: after cutting them out place them on a small cookie sheet or pie plate, close together, and cover the dish with plastic wrap or foil. When they’re frozen into little rocks, you can remove them and put them in a freezer bag. Thaw and bake as in recipe. This way you won’t have to get up early to please your Sweetie!
If you missed last week's post, you can read it this week at Your Garden Show, where Southern Fried French is a guest blogger!
