Are all biscuits pretty much created equal? Can you tell the difference in a blind taste test between Jiffy drop biscuits and homemade drop biscuits?
There are pretty much three occasions we will serve biscuits: biscuits & gravy, with stew, or as a side with fried chicken. Are there any other times you serve biscuits?
Clarification for our Brit friends: I’m American. When I refer to biscuits I’m talking about these,
and not cookies.
Homemade biscuits are absolutely better than from a mix, at least if done well. In my experience (southern US) they’re most commonly served for breakfast. If not with gravy, often with butter, jelly, or honey. Also, fast food restaurants often serve biscuit sandwiches with sausage, egg, or bacon.
Just reminded me I’ve tried making biscuits for breakfast sandwiches before too. For some reason I found the texture of my own biscuits quite a bit more crumbly and broke apart much more easily than the McDonalds variety (and were therefore an inferior breakfast sandwich imo).
You can definitely tell the difference. Though, for a quick out of the freezer solution, the Pillsbury Grands aren’t bad.
In the South, biscuits as a bread option (not just for breakfast) is common.
I grew up in suburban northern Virginia. Whenver we took a trip to rural Virginia, I got a buttermilk biscuit if I could find one. I had them from many places over the years. For reasons I deeply do not understand, Popeye’s biscuits are by far the best I have eaten.
I am very aware that as a general rule, home made or made by a local restaurant from an old family recipe food is usually far superior to food that is mass produced. On the upside, you can find Popeye’s almost anywhere and they always have hot buttermilk biscuits.
All biscuits are not equal. I can tell the difference between my wife’s homemade biscuits and Bisquick biscuits and especially those Pillsbury biscuits that come in a pop-open tube.
The last have some added ingredient that definitely makes them stand out (sugar? MSG? Heroin?)
The best tasting biscuits for my money have been the biscuits you get at fried chicken restaurants. Like Popeye’s, Church’s, KFC, and the like. Not sure what they add that makes the texture so perfect and so consistent (well, it IS a commercial enterprise. They’d be in trouble if their product wasn’t consistent).
Someone mentioned Grands above. I’ve had Pillsbury Grands, and while the taste is…okay I guess, the texture always feels a bit, I dunno…rubbery? (particularly as leftovers the next day). This is one category, at least, where my homemade biscuits outshine the commercial competition.
Yep, you can tell the difference. Usually between homemade and can, and usually between commercial (restaurant) and homemade as well.
And yeah, having them with lunch or dinner isn’t uncommon at all.
Or sorghum syrup sometimes.
And the gravy can and does vary; sometimes it’s sawmill gravy (made with sausage), sometimes redeye gravy, sometimes regular old cream gravy (made from bacon drippings).
Are you using “all purpose” flour or a “soft” (reduced gluten) baking flour? You should be using the latter for ‘breakfast’ (buttermilk)-type biscuits. Else, try slightly increasing moisture content or reducing over temperature.
Stranger
I typically use All Purpose flour, and not bread flour, or cake flour, or any other specialty flour. Not sure how that scores in the protein department.
It’s an art form to make a biscuit which is tender, flaky, and bread-y. When I first started making homemade biscuits, some recipes emphasized handling and kneading the dough as little as possible. When I followed this rule, my biscuits were more crumbly and they rose unevenly.
Trial, error, and America’s Test Kitchen improved my biscuit-making. Nowadays I give the dough about ten seconds of kneading, roll it out, and fold it over on itself. I do the folding-over twice, with a rest in the refrigerator of twenty minutes between. Even after cutting out the biscuit pucks, I let the pucks chill for awhile, too.
Now my biscuits have more elastic structure while at the same time being light and tender. They rise up high and the folding-over process produces layers. I’m very proud of my new biscuit-making skills! But I haven’t used them to make breakfast sandwiches. Instead we butter them and I like to put honey or jam in them.
This is precisely the advice I’ve tried to follow and met with disappointing results at times. I have a subscription to America’s Test Kitchen. I should look there to see their advice on biscuits.
You need to use ‘biscuit’ or ‘soft baking’ flour, and avoid ‘self-rising’ (containing pre-mixed baking powder and salt) flour. Baking is literally a science and consistency demands precise control of ingredients and conditions.
Yeah, not ‘overworking’ the batter and letting the dough ‘rest’ for a measured period of time is crucial to getting a consistent product. The quality of the water (dissolved solids), peculiar heating profile of the over, and ambient humidity can also be factors that require experimentation in a particular kitchen. Using filtered water, a baker’s stone, and adding a tray of water at the bottom of the oven are all ways of getting better control over the baking process for greater consistency.
Stranger
Alton Brown is the only thin chef I trust for exactly that reason. The man is a scientist and it shows.
Plastic.
You get them for the same reason you get frozen bagels. For the convenience, not for the expectation of greatness.
Popeyes are so decadent when fresh & hot. It’s best to eat them fast before you notice they basically cool into crumbly shortening candles.
The frozen bagged ones are an occasional treat but be aware they’ll seep quite a bit of, well, shortenting again. Use a rimmed sheet! I’m especially vulnerable to buying them when they turn up cheap at Aldi.
The tubeypop ones are just OK. If we get to pick, I’ll take cresent rolls (or even cinnamon) in that format.
Whack biscuits(in the tube) are a quick convenience. The grand kids love them.
Not to brag, but my bicuits are the best. Never have I made them they weren’t gobbled up in short order.
I ain’t doing no science (Saint Alton, is a great chef, tho’).
I’m doing exactly what my Aunt Nell-rose taught me to do.
Mix fast and light. Knead. Chill. Shape, bake hot and fast. (In a iron skillet)
I hate Popeyes bicuits. They are an abomination.
It’s chicken fat. Chicken fat! That’s what you are tasting.
FWIW, I prefer all-purpose (like King Arthur) to soft flour (like White Lily) for biscuits. The layers are more distinct, and the bit is a little more substantial without being chewy. But like everything it’s a matter of opinion.
Last weekend I made about 200 drop biscuits for a big event. They were all gone, and several people told me that they were something they looked forward to all year. I do 'em with cheddar and spices, and they’re a great accompaniment to soup. Best when they’re hot, and the butter and cheese are still a little melty, but still tasty when they cool.
Precision can matter in baking, but it doesn’t need laboratory conditions. When I make these Herby cheesy biscuits, I measure the white powders and the butter and buttermilk, but I eyeball the cheese and the spices. A little variance will affect the results, but not necessarily for better or worse, just different.
There’s no comparison between homemade biscuits and mix biscuits, in my opinion.
For me the big difference is with how dry they are.
There is a local diner that’s somewhat famous for their biscuits but I hate them. They are so dry, it’s like eating pucks made of chalk. They’re also extremely dense. The only reason I can imagine anyone liking them is if they’ve eaten at this diner for years and grown accustomed to bad biscuits. (The other food there seemed fine to me, just the biscuits were awful.)
It also depends on if they are flavored. “Cheddar Bay Biscuits” from Red Lobster are like crack (though I know some people don’t like how salty they are). Many times, biscuits don’t taste like much of anything until you add butter, jam, and so on.