Biscuits, do you miss them?

Aww, thanks!   Here's the PM I sent Julia:

Here's an approximation of what I used/did:

2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar (I like my biscuits a bit sweet - you could easily leave this out)
6 tbps cold butter
3/4 c whole milk + 1 tsp cream of tartar (or 3/4 c buttermilk, or equivalent)

I chucked the dry goods into my food processor and pulsed then added the cold butter and pulsed until the butter was all cut in - but you can easily do this by hand.  Added the milk mixture and pulsed again until just mixed - then turned out onto a floured board and kneaded a couple of times into a rough ball, then rolled out to about 1/2-3/4 in thick and folded in half before cutting out.  Baked for approx. 11 minutes at 450.  That's it! Smiley

Good luck! x

Oh, I'm not reading through all the comments and this takes me back to early cultural irritation with my stay in the UK, but I could never understand how biscuits, the best part of a KFC or Popeye's meal, were not available in the UK. Mexican food, Greek diner food, edible pizza, proper Jewish chopped liver, fine, you don't have it, whatevah mates, I'll have some of that battered sausage or wow a bit of sushi now that it's here in droves, awesome! But a basic bread dish at the same fast food restaurant found all over a country of 300 million people can't be reproduced? Does Not Make Sense.

But a basic bread dish at the same fast food restaurant found all over a country of 300 million people can't be reproduced? Does Not Make Sense.

I think people here would find it strange, as an American biscuit is so close to a scone, which is something you wouldn't eat with fried chicken and things like that. Also, what would they call it? They couldn't really call it a biscuit. I guess I understand it, though, yeah, it does kinda suck.

But a basic bread dish at the same fast food restaurant found all over a country of 300 million people can't be reproduced? Does Not Make Sense.

It makes sense to me. And it's not that it can't be reproduced, just that it isn't. You may really want a biscuit when you go to KFC, but most Brits wouldn't know what to do with it. It's not part of the British food culture and would likely not be a big seller. If they thought it would be popular, I'm pretty sure they'd add it to the menu. Fast food restaurants serve different things depending where they are - not just from country to country, but even within the US.

It makes sense to me. And it's not that it can't be reproduced, just that it isn't. You may really want a biscuit when you go to KFC, but most Brits wouldn't know what to do with it. It's not part of the British food culture and would likely not be a big seller.

Yeah, I think this is what I was trying to say. 

It's not part of the British food culture and would likely not be a big seller.

See, I agree with the first half of your statement, but not with the second - I've said time and time again that if fluffy buttermilk biscuits were ever introduced properly in the UK - or even the easy-prep, refrigerator kind! - they'd be wildly popular.  C'mon - a quick bread, good for sandwiching meat or sopping up gravy/juices?  Up north, anyway, they'd be a smash hit!

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me at all.  I mean, biscuits are great!  Who cares if they are similar to scones?  There are like a zillion different chocolates and some are similar to each other, but people still prefer certain ones over others.  I understand it's not part of the culture and maybe Brits wouldn't know what to make of it at first, but all you'd have to do is taste it to realize the yummy goodness and then it'd be all over. 

But people, was fried chicken part of British food culture when American fast food hit the high street? Um, I have no idea, and whatever the case, fried chicken is absolutely ubiquitous in low income neighborhoods in London. If KFC et al had said to Brits, hey, have this biscuit with your chicken, would people have turned it down due to its similarity to the scone (which is surprisingly and unfortunately hard to find here in London)? Did they do market research and find people saying they would never eat bread with chicken? Damn, I am way too close to this subject. I remember moving to Chicago in the late eighties and finding that everywhere you had this soggy white bread with hot sauce with your fried chicken. DELICIOUS. And then there were Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in L.A., a very exotic treat for this New Yorker, and it took no time to get used to it! Here's a waffle with your chicken. Weird! Yum, thanks! Now, how about this biscuit/scone with your chicken? Why, I think I shall try that! Well done! Thanks for vent. Goodnight.

Agree with above comments. To blab further: What is Yorkshire Pudding? It's a bit of puffy bread with gravy served with meat. It's weird! I've eaten it a couple of times! It's not that great but it's not bad! If the Brits can eat something called yorkshire pudding in place of potatoes with meat (or is it served with the potatoes? blimey I guess so) then they CAN eat biscuits! Yay!

But people, was fried chicken part of British food culture when American fast food hit the high street? Um, I have no idea, and whatever the case, fried chicken is absolutely ubiquitous in low income neighborhoods in London. If KFC et al had said to Brits, hey, have this biscuit with your chicken, would people have turned it down due to its similarity to the scone (which is surprisingly and unfortunately hard to find here in London)? Did they do market research and find people saying they would never eat bread with chicken? Damn, I am way too close to this subject. I remember moving to Chicago in the late eighties and finding that everywhere you had this soggy white bread with hot sauce with your fried chicken. DELICIOUS. And then there were Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in L.A., a very exotic treat for this New Yorker, and it took no time to get used to it! Here's a waffle with your chicken. Weird! Yum, thanks! Now, how about this biscuit/scone with your chicken? Why, I think I shall try that! Well done! Thanks for vent. Goodnight.

LOL Amen!

Agree with above comments. To blab further: What is Yorkshire Pudding? It's a bit of puffy bread with gravy served with meat. It's weird! I've eaten it a couple of times! It's not that great but it's not bad! If the Brits can eat something called yorkshire pudding in place of potatoes with meat (or is it served with the potatoes? blimey I guess so) then they CAN eat biscuits! Yay!

I remember moving to Chicago in the late eighties and finding that everywhere you had this soggy white bread with hot sauce with your fried chicken. DELICIOUS.

Harold's Chicken Shack!!  The best ever!

All I'm saying is that KFC is a huge corporation and it's unlikely that they wouldn't have thought about exporting biscuits when they started opening fried chicken joints in the UK.

(I don't miss biscuits.)

See, I agree with the first half of your statement, but not with the second - I've said time and time again that if fluffy buttermilk biscuits were ever introduced properly in the UK - or even the easy-prep, refrigerator kind! - they'd be wildly popular.  C'mon - a quick bread, good for sandwiching meat or sopping up gravy/juices?  Up north, anyway, they'd be a smash hit!

It's probably no coincidence that every Brit I've ever made biscuits for has LOVED them, begged for more, and lamented that they can't buy them (ready-made or in a tube) here.

Sopping up juice/gravy/whatever with some sort of bread-product is extremely common and popular in the UK.  Saying that the biscuit wouldn't work at KFC doesn't make sense - they just need to call it an "American biscuit" and people would 'get it'.  I'm not proposing people would buy them in droves individually, since I'm sure 90% of KFC's biscuits consumed are as part of a meal - certainly makes more sense than coleslaw, ick!

(I also wish they did mashed potatoes & gravy [why not?!] and green beans at KFC here, but that's a whole 'another thread )

certainly makes more sense than coleslaw, ick!

Coleslaw is very popular here!

Coleslaw is very popular here!

Yep, I think coleslaw is almost the English equivalent to ranch dressing in Texas. It's used as a condiment or garnish for a lot of things - Hubs likes it on pizza, toast, sandwiches, and all sorts of other stuff. I wouldn't mind cole slaw, but I hate carrots, especially raw. I like the cole slaws I have had without carrots, but a lot of people say that ain't cole slaw. 

DH likes biscuits, and he even liked biscuits with sausage gravy, although he did argue the point that it isn't gravy - more like cream sauce. It was a huge debate over whether it could even be called "cream gravy".