Biscuits For Dinner?
Top a humble braise to make it a showstopper
I once stayed at a Holiday Inn for a week in Morehead, Kentucky. This was back when I was a reporter covering Kim Davis, the county clerk and self-proclaimed Christian who was refusing to issue marriage licenses. To her, Jesus was very clear about his objection to gay weddings.
The hubbub around her exploded and my quick work trip got extended day after day. And while parts of the trip were nice, like watching Davis get arrested by US Marshals, the food nearby — I want to be diplomatic here — was not great.
The “fancy pizza in town,” as described by the front desk guy, was Papa John’s. The sit-down Mexican place served chile rellenos stuffed entirely with Kraft singles. And the hotel put out a complimentary breakfast of cereal and crumbly wet eggs — but the buffet also had one of the best things I’ve ever eaten: perfect, warm biscuits.
It turned out, unlike the other pre-fab feed in the breakfast trough, every day one of the employees made biscuits from scratch in a little room off the lobby.
“Oh, honey, they’re easy,” she told me.
That lady saved my trip, and as a kid from Seattle, eating a fresh biscuit with gravy hit harder than getting my first flannel.
But it was honestly intimidating to bake them myself. During the covid lockdown, I was hunkered with friends in the Catskill Mountains, and while everyone was strapped to their laptop, I wanted to try. The fact that one of them was my friend Bryan, a preternatural baker and writer from South Carolina, didn’t help my confidence. But I followed the recipe and, sweet heavens, Bryan approved.
Like a lot of classics, a biscuit can remind you that a simple, unexpected comfort can be the best. That memory drove David and I when we were trying to give a classic French dish a down-home American twist for a crowd.
A simple, unexpected comfort can be the best
In developing our coq au vin recipe, we originally tried the dish over noodles. It turned out to be a handful to make pasta, ladle it at the table, and garnish everything while guests were buzzing about and the food got cold. It also lacked a wow factor. So we thought maybe we could riff on a pot pie and top it with biscuits — an unexpected combo. Plus, pulling up to the table with a piping hot coq au vin with a golden biscuit crust is always gonna be a showstopper.
Naturally, I consulted Bryan, who said he’d do a drop biscuit. “I’d want that slightly rustic vibe,” he texted me back, “and it avoids the complication of rolling out any pastry.”
So here we’ve done that: It’s a simple dough, spiked with cheese and pancetta, that’s scooped onto the coq au vin while it’s ripping hot. We brushed it with butter for a golden finish, and I couldn’t stop eating it. The cheese stretches as you pull apart the biscuit, which then sops up the sauce. You can top virtually any stew or braise to make it a complete dinner for a crowd. It reminded me that as a teenager, I joined a theater company called Anything for a Biscuit, and I didn’t realize it’d be a prophecy. I still would do anything for a biscuit, because in addition to being good… honey, they’re easy.