# Serving Biscuits **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [May 1, 2025, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749 "2025-05-01T12:36:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/141 "2025-05-05T23:36:03Z")
Has anyone ever tried half butter and half shortening (lard included.) The recipe I use for snickerdoodles is like this and makes for my absolute favorite snickerdoodles. Wonder how it would work for crust. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/142 "2025-05-05T23:37:09Z")
I have done it but still prefer lard. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/143 "2025-05-05T23:46:29Z")
I grew up on Southern biscuits, pie crusts, etc. all with Crisco. I am sorry to be a snob but butter really is better. I feel like Southern cooks came to over-rely on Crisco after it outlived much of its usefulness. It was such a boon to their parents and grandparents, being cheaper than butter, and something that keeps on the shelf forever whether or not you have a working fridge. These are great things, and Crisco biscuits are far FAR better than no biscuits, but now that we (mostly) all have refrigerators and can (mostly) all afford butter (for now), it seems like the obvious way to go. I use a food processor; I can see how it’s much easier to mash Crisco into the flour with a fork, if you don’t have a processor. Southern cooks tend to also swear by self-rising flour (for my mom it was Martha White; she used to pack a suitcase full of it whenever she came back from visiting her folks) but it too isn’t magic, it’s just a convenience. Perhaps the magic is in the specific variety of flour, but baking powder/soda and salt are the same whether pre-mixed or added at home. As others have noted, the thing I really had to teach myself was to work the dough a bit. There’s the totally valid idea that overworking pastry is bad. Take this to an extreme: therefore the less handling the better; therefore the ideal is NO handling. Wrong. This produces biscuits that don’t hold together. It needs a little gluten development, just not a lot. I’m finding that folding/patting a specific, counted number of times (YMMV) is an easy way to impose mindless control over that part of the process. 4 pats/3 folds seems to be the right number for me. @Beckdawrek I knew you’d be all over this thread before I popped in. May I ask, do you pre-heat the skillet, or put the whole thing in cold? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/144 "2025-05-05T23:47:48Z")
I used to do that but prefer all butter ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/145 "2025-05-06T00:37:58Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Crisco is vegetable shortening. Sorry, I know that _now._ I didn’t know it when I was a kid. But thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/146 "2025-05-06T00:48:04Z")
Pre-heat with about a teaspoon of lard Not much. Or your bisciuts will be greasy. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/147 "2025-05-06T00:48:46Z")
Oh. Sorry..didn’t mean to offend. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/148 "2025-05-06T00:52:27Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > My biscuits haven’t been rising as well, so I need to do one of two things. I use Irish butter for almost everything, but I think it’s too creamy for biscuit making, There’s my problem! We recently moved to an Irish butter and the rising issues started then. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/149 "2025-05-06T04:26:49Z")
also Missouri ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/150 "2025-05-06T04:32:01Z")
I thought McD switched from beef tallow because of lawsuit? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2025, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/151 "2025-05-06T16:27:33Z")
No offense. Didn’t want you to think I was an ignoramus! ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/152 "2025-05-11T14:37:08Z")
Saw this article and thought of your post as it has a recipe for biscuits with Irish butter. > **[The flawless biscuit that took years to master](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250509-the-flawless-biscuit-that-took-years-to-master)** > > Acclaimed musician Rhiannon Giddens spent years perfecting a flawless recipe for the iconic Southern food. Now, a new festival reveals the similar journeys of Black music and cuisine. And I also use a food processor for pie crusts. I make 3 at a time and freeze the other two, so it makes it worth it for making a mess of the food processor. Because the butter here (Switzerland) is different than the U.S., I usually decrease the butter a bit, if I’m using a U.S. recipe. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/153 "2025-05-11T14:40:42Z")
I usually make two crusts at a time, top and bottom. The idea of making 4 or 6 at a time is interesting. I suppose i could freeze it at the “form a half to ¾ inch disk and allow to rest in the fridge” stage. I wonder how big a batch i could make in the food processor. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/154 "2025-05-11T14:42:37Z")
Also, that last strawberry rhubarb pie was so good that i made another, yesterday. I’ll try it after lunch today. But the crust cookies (scraps of leftover crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and baked above the pie after i turn down the heat) were excellent, so i think this crust will be better. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/155 "2025-05-11T15:48:50Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > Saw this article and thought of your post as it has a recipe for biscuits with Irish butter. Thanks. She has a good technique. My biggest problem with it is that I have no freezer space, although I suppose I could take things out temporarily while refreezing the butter. Interesting that she preheats to 475F instead of 450. I may try that and see if it solves my browning problem. Preheating the baking sheet is also a good move. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/156 "2025-05-11T17:12:31Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But the crust cookies (scraps of leftover crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and baked above the pie after i turn down the heat) were excellent, so i think this crust will be better. Before my mom went back to work fulltime, she’d bake pies occasionally. More than the pies, I _loved_ the cinnamon rolls she made from left over pie dough. Roll out the dough into a large retangle-ish shape. Spread with softened butter and a generous mix of cinnamon and sugar. Roll the dough from the long edge until you formed a tight dough “snake.” Prick it with a fork and arrange on a baking sheet to bake. When it has cooled slice the “snake” up into pieces about 1.5-2 inches wide. I’ve never had a cinnamon roll I’ve like more. Note: this is very similar to rugelach (which usually has raisins – blech), and my mom’s parents were Hungarian immigrants. So, I think this is something she saw her grandmother make. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/157 "2025-05-11T17:18:09Z")
I don’t rework the dough. I lay out the scraps, sprinkle some cinnamon and some sugar (sometimes i skip the sugar) on them, cut any large pieces into smaller ones, place them on a small cookie sheet, and put above the pie, after the initial hot temp cook. I love them. Also, today’s Mother’s Day pie is super. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/158 "2025-05-11T17:20:16Z")
I would never think that about you! 😄 Peeps get mixed up about lards, oils and fats all the time. I found my daughter melting a whole box of _real_ butter one time She was tryna fry some frozen tater tots in it. 🫤 Eh. She was young and dumb. She had a lesson in the subject of what to fry or sauté something in, that afternoon ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/159 "2025-05-11T17:27:24Z")
Sprinkle crushed pecans on that dough before you roll it into a snake. Do the next steps. You now have a southern specialty…Pecan rolls (That would be “PEEE-CON” not _pee-CAN_, just sayin") ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749/160 "2025-05-11T17:43:35Z")
Nah. I prefer my pecans on sticky buns. I’m a cinnamon role purist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-biscuits/1017749.md?page=9)