Joseph’s vs. Taylor’s Biscuits
Our family took Heirloom Restaurant Group’s great biscuit showdown challenge. Here’s the summary (tl;dr at the bottom):
Mixing ease
Taylor’s biscuits were easier to make: dropping vs. rolling and a higher oven temperature made for quicker to make and quicker to cook biscuits. I think Taylor’s biscuits came out 10 minutes earlier than Joseph’s.
Texture
Joseph’s biscuits had a flakier and slightly more buttery texture. At the 10 minute mark on Taylor’s biscuits, I could see the butter bubbling at the bottom of the biscuits, some of which eventually soaked in. Joseph’s biscuits cooked more evenly but required rolling and cutting.
Flavor
Some differences: we opted for buttermilk for Taylor’s recipe and heavy cream for Joseph’s recipe. The difference was plain to taste. Joseph’s biscuits tasted familiar to me and were comfortable to eat. Ana thought Taylor’s biscuits had superior flavor, but then admitted that she liked the texture of Joseph’s biscuits and preferred eating them.
A funny thing
Ana followed Joseph’s recipe and I followed Taylor’s; each of us liked the other’s biscuits better. Our children showed the opposite pattern: the two oldest (who express more of my genes) preferred Taylor’s and the two youngest (who express more of Ana’s genes) preferred Joseph’s biscuits.
Caveats
Some things we probably didn’t get right: Ana cut the butter a little too much and possibly let the dough warm up too much: the result was that Joseph’s biscuits raised fine but then fell slightly. For my part, I’m not handy in the kitchen. I noticed I could have folded the buttermilk a touch more (there was some unmixed flour on top of some of the biscuits) and maybe been more careful sizing the drops (my biscuits were of all shapes and sizes).
Things to try
Ana thinks she’d like to try Taylor’s recipe using Joseph’s method (rolling and cutting).
tl;dr
Our family was split evenly between the two, but because this is my blog, I’m giving Joseph’s biscuits the edge. If Ana cooks up Taylor’s recipe with Joseph’s method, I’ll update this entry.
