Educating Bentley...

1st Official Post

    Ok, it is kind of food related, but I hope this section is still appropriate. The Biscuit Vs Scone Vs Cookie.


    Now you all have heard me talk about and even post pictures of American Biscuits. I know some have even said that you all would call that a scone. I let it go at that, but then started to think, is a scone always sweet? And I am having a hard time figuring out how to articulate what I want to ask.


    An American biscuit, maybe in West LA...but you are not going to find almonds, or blueberries, or chocolate chips or dates in them. It is flour, lard, baking powder/soda and water, savory? You will see folks have jam with it, or as my Dad would do, have some biscuit with his jam...


    We will have Ham biscuits, we will have biscuits and gravy, we will even use them for S.O.S., but to me (if bread can be one or the other) they are a savory item. In many parts of this country they are served in the place of a dinner roll (I am not even sure if this starts a whole new ball game), some folks will have them with just butter, some will have them at dinner with jelly or honey or Karo...


    In the 9 years I have known you all, I have not met many that enjoy biscuits n gravy so it is hard for me to come up with an analogy...Am I just getting hung up on the fact that some scones are made sweet and they are not all that way. Would a cook having a dinner party or someone having breakfast make a non sweet scone? And would they even be used like a dinner roll, or is it just not done...Ya know, ya aint gonna find a lot of Vegemite in US fridges...

    "‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’”

    Love That 1

    My mother makes awesome cheese and bacon scones, so whilst the vast majority of our scones are sweet and served with jam (jelly) and cream, we do, or at least I have had savoury scones.

    Smite The Shepherd And The Sheep Will Be Scattered!

    Can you post a photo or two of what you're talking about.


    It's potentially a difficult topic.


    If we were talking say back in the seventies when things like smoking was still socially acceptable and things like steak and three veg (vegetables) was commonplace a reply would be easier.


    Today food tastes are quite different.

    I would never consider a scone as part of dinner. Breakfast yes. With jam & cream. However I have seen plenty of Pumpkin scones but i would still put them in the same plate.
    My guess is that your biscuits are more thought of as our Damper which has a place breakfast & dinner.

    Jumbuck 7 burner with hood. Baby Weber kettle. 52" Kettle. Weber Go Anywhere. 5' SS Spit rotisserie. Offset smoker. Akorn Kamado. :) ASMOKE AS500N. Hibachi.:bbq:

    Im not the expert on scones or biscuits but looking back at the time of settlement, Australias main influences were predominatly European.
    English, Irish, Greek, Itallian for the most.
    It could just be a time era that was left behind.
    These days we do have more influence from American culture with Tv, advertising of popular food chains etc but its not our 'Australian' roots. Scones to me are a very 'English' tradition.
    This generation is more sensitive to fats and lards in cooking. Strange because id take some lard in a pastry over the multitude of chemicals and preservatives in todays common 'fast food'


    Feel free to post you're best biscuits and gravy recipe Bentley. Ill give it a go!

    Damper, that I have heard of and it and as I recall would be somewhat like a biscuit, but even coarser with no fat in it!


    Quote from Captain

    My guess is that your biscuits are more thought of as our Damper which has a place breakfast & dinner.

    I seem to have trouble with the things that have the least ingredients. Biscuits have flour, (All purpose, bread, self rising, cake should not matter, most use AP or self rising) fat, baking soda and powder and buttermilk. Pretty simple huh? I have never been able to master it. So I use this...



    But if you can pull it off:


    2 cups AP flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/3 teaspoon baking soda
    7 Tablespoons Butter (chilled)
    3/4 cup buttermilk


    Add all dry ingredients and mix, then cut the butter in to that mixm get it good and coated. Then add the buttermilk. This is where it starts to become an Art I cannot master. You want to mix it as little as possible. Just get the liquid incorporated into the flour, it should seem wet, dump on to floured surface and very lightly roll out till it is about 2cm high. Cut with a 7cm cutter. And this is another Art, straight down, no twist going down or at the end. Place on a baking sheet so they touch, put a thumb print in center of each biscuit and cook at 450°f for 12 minutes.


    The sausage gravy...pretty simple, fry up your favorite breakfast sausage, mine is sage based. About a 1/2kg, make sure it has at least 30% fat in it. Take out cooked sausage and add about 1/2 cup flour to grease and make roux, cook about 3 minutes, don't want any color, just want to cook the flour taste out. Add cold whole milk till it is the thickness you like your gravy, add sausage back, add a boatload of black pepper and salt to taste...and Viola!



    Quote from Geoffo

    Feel free to post you're best biscuits and gravy recipe Bentley. Ill give it a go!

    "‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’”

    Edited 6 times, last by Bentley Meredith ().

    • Official Post

    My impression is that Scone and Biscuit are similar. In the US, you seem to have both, but to me, Biscuit is flakier than a Scone?


    In Australia, Biscuit is a generic word for Cookie (Sweet biscuit) or Cracker (Dry biscuit).


    The reason for cutting strait down and not twisting is the twist can seal the edges and that stops the rise. It is the reason some go lopsided when baked, one side has been sealed by the twisting of the cutter and wont rise the same as the other side.

    Scones are soft. You can add filling like jam and cream. You have them at times like morning and afternoon tea. English tradition.


    http://www.taste.com.au/recipe…18-4701-8543-e79ac1f906d7



    Cookies and Biscuits are similar


    http://www.taste.com.au/recipe…s/cookies-biscuit-recipes



    At Christmas times you might have spicy fruit rolls which hs meat in them and in some countries they might be called a biscuit. Which I think also has an English heritage?


    http://www.mixingfoodandlife.c…-rolls-pillow-biscuits-2/


    Scone is more like short bread? Better question is what are the basic ingredients of a scone?



    So is that a chocolate chip cookie or biscuit? JaJaJa

    "‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’”

    i lived in Texas for a year and biscuits are the I miss the most. Can't seem to recreate them here. The are so vastly different from scones.they are much lighter and not doughy

    Quote from Urban Griller

    The reason for cutting strait down and not twisting is the twist can seal the edges and that stops the rise. It is the reason some go lopsided when baked, one side has been sealed by the twisting of the cutter and wont rise the same as the other side.

    Thanks Chris. That's a very useful piece of information. :thumb up:

    Very effin UDS, GMG Daniel Boone Prime

    A biscuit and a croissant are never going to be confused. Isen't a croissant Puff or Filo? I have never seen truly flakey layered biscuits (at least not flaky like a croissant), not true, no yeast in the mix biscuits. Them Pillsbury Hungry Jack "Biscuits" yes, but I guarantee you those are not true biscuits...You got Hungry Jack down there?


    "‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’”

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