Mind your Biscuits

There’s no doubt the biscuit is the centerpiece of today’s Southern breakfast. But it didn’t start out that way; around the mid–18th century, biscuits were more a staple at a Southern supper table. And it came in many varieties—the labor-intensive beaten biscuit, the fluffy buttermilk biscuit and the minimalist drop biscuit.

As the biscuit has evolved over time, so has the process of making them, but not the recipe: it’s simple flour, baking powder, salt, butter and milk. Like snowflakes, each biscuit is never quite identical–some flaky, soft, crumbly or cakelike. It’s time to find your favorite. Pass the jelly.

State Farmers Market

State Farmer’s Market Restaurant

Every meal starts with what they call “Real Biscuits”—the recipe a tightly-held secret. We do know they’re handmade with N.C. self-rising flour, real buttermilk and lots of tender loving care.

Rise Biscuits and Donuts

Rise Biscuits & Donuts

The newest biscuit eatery on the list, this take-out only spot credits a combination of ingredients and technique. Rise uses fresh local eggs from Hillsborough and Snowflake flour from Sanford along with real butter.

Big Ed’s City Market Restaurant

Big Ed’s City Market Restaurant

They say the secret to Big Ed’s famous homemade buttermilk biscuits is the biscuit maker. While they won’t share their recipe, they say there’s nothing unique about it; it’s technique. Big Ed’s serves between 8,000 and 10,000 biscuits each week.

Flying Biscuit Cafe

Flying Biscuit

These biscuits are loved across three states from North Carolina to Georgia and Florida. Their biscuits have a sweeter flavor that comes from the butter and sugar that tops each biscuit. You can make these biscuits at home; the recipe is in their cookbook, but not the technique. You’ll have to wing it.

Biscuitville Biscuits

Biscuitville

Identifiable by their broad, flat shape with a drier, more crumbly consistency, they’re made with three ingredients: flour, buttermilk and shortening. Biscuitville doesn’t coat their biscuits with butter, margarine or salt prior to baking.