Do Yankees eat biscuits?

[Char-Gar]

The Beloved Redhead and I over breakfast this morning asked the great question; Do Yankee's eat biscuits? Have no Yankee family, nor heritage neither of us knew the answer. I have avoided most social contact with Lincolnites most of my life and confess to my ignorance at this point.

So, do Yankees eat biscuits or are they "toast" people?

[Smoke4320]

only if they have unsweetened raspberry tea to wash it down ..

[badge176]

Having been born in the state of Tennessee, one might accuse me of southern heritage, but since my folks were both from MN, and I was birthed in the hospital on the Federal/Union Naval AirStation (occupying forces?) I can't claim "southerner". That and the fact that I was promptly wisked back to MN for rearing...

NoneTheLess, my Northern Yankee family does enjoy biscuits (especially since I learned to make them with at least 1/2 cake flour and to crowd them on the sheet pan so they have higher centers and softer edges!). We eat them plain with honey and butter, with heaps of sausage gravy, and with jam as well. Can't say that my grandparents ever ate them or even spoke of them, so it may have been my parents time in TN and FL that infected them with the idea. We were raised to try lots of regional and ethnic foods, heck- while afield with FEMA I even tried and enjoyed SCRAPPLE!

[Janoosh]

This Noo Yawker loves biccuits....warm with honey and butter, w/gravy, w/sausage gravy, w/eggs and grits, and especially with CAWFEE....Black n sweet. Only problem is finding a place that makes them "Southern" Style. Got some Good Ole Boys running small diners transplanted from down south, just need to know where...and if I tell ya....Well.....

[wch]

Yep, biscuits and/or French bread for breakfast.

[lancem]

Yep on the biscuits, grits, now that's another thing... :)

[Char-Gar]

I get the idea that biscuits are not traditional Yankee cooking, but enjoyed when they can be obtained or made. It this more or less correct? Lots of cooking has crossed traditional lines and become part of another diet. Chinese or Mexican food are good example of non-traditional foods that have taken root in strange places.

[Browningshooter]

Took my FIL to Waffle House while was visiting from the great state of Oregon. I learned he had never ate grits so I promptly remedied that! Lots of butter and he cleaned the bowl. Never knew what he was missing.

[SwedeNelson]

Heck
I thought it was a cowboy thing
Eat them 3 or 4 times a week
Great big tall and fluffy

Swede Nelson

[gwpercle]

Yep on the biscuits, grits, now that's another thing... :)
Do Yankees eat grits?

[Moonman]

Nothing wrong with GRITS, Biscuits too, especially Southern ones, they sure beat the CANNED VARIETY.

[Char-Gar]

I continue to be astonished how the North won the Civil War with no biscuits and no grits!

[Sensai]

I'm just plain weird, in more ways than one, but I like my biscuits flat and a little hard around the edges. It drives my wife crazy, because she was always taught that the perfect biscuit was as tall as it was round and soft inside and on the edges. Lets not even start on the pancakes!

[lancem]

Do Yankees eat grits?

I didn't even know what grits were till I was stationed down in Biloxi and a fellow I was stationed with and his wife took us out to breakfast. Waitress looked at me like I had come from another planet when I ordered hash browns (finally figured out they didn't have any kind of fried potatoes for breakfast). When the food came this fellows wife crunched up her bacon on the plate then commenced stirring the bacon, sunny side eggs, and grits into one big yellow mess on her plate then started in with her toast and a fork... Didn't try the grits then and 40 years later living in south west Texas I still haven't, sure do like my hash browns though :)

[Janoosh]

If I'm lucky...and the stars and planets are aligned correctly...and it's the "right" phase of the moon....I eat biscuits and/or grits twice a month. Do you know that some peolpe shoot gree-its out their gun? Sacriledge!,,

[dtknowles]

I grew up in Maine and my mom was born in Mass. and my Dad was born in Maine, you don't get more Yankee than that. Growing up we had biscuits until my Dad said he could make better biscuits than my Mom and that she was using the wrong brand of baking powder. She never made "Baking Powder Biscuits" again. Yeah, Yankee's were loving biscuits before the USA was a country.

Tim

I have been in the south for decades and I still don't eat grits but I never liked oatmeal or cream of wheat either.

[Hickory]

I spent enough time in the south while in the service to appreciate everything about it, except grits.

[dbosman]

This Michigander loves bisquits.
Grits = yuck! Perhaps due to my first and only exposure to grits being an all you can eat breckfast truck stop in Kentucky?

[Char-Gar]

Grits by themselves have the taste of library paste. Add a little butter, salt and pepper and they are very good. Grits are not part of the breakfast menu down here in deep South Texas. Here is it "Machacado con Juevos, Migas, Chiliquilas and all sorts of weird stuff wrapped up in a flour tortilla. They call the weird stuff in a flour tortilla a "breakfast taco" or a "beakfast burrito". I detest these things, but they have spread like Johnson Grass and lice all over Texas.

I do like Migas and Chiliquilas, but you can have all of the rest of the Mexican breakfast eats. I think I will throw up if anybody sticks Manchacado con Juevos under my nose again. When it comes to breakfast, I am a Pinche Gringo of the Southern variety.

Breakfast = bacon/ham/sausage, grits, biscuits, sawmill gravy and pancakes.

[xacex]

Biscuit=roll to a yank. I missed boiled peanuts. You can not find a green peanut up here to save your life. Grits,good bbq, collards, catfish, crawfish,or any other good southern cuisine can be found, but good luck with the boiled peanuts.

[sundog]

Charles, I was born and raised on Long Island, with a year or so in Maine. YessirDamnYankee. We ate a lot of biscuits. Had grits, too, but not as often as folks in the South. AND! We also had scrapple --- Mmmmm.

[horsesoldier]

Smother them in gravy and its on!

[gwpercle]

Char-Gar I have to agree with you on what constitutes a proper breakfast. Although I like Mexican food in general, I also do not care at all for the "breakfast burrito". Whom ever came up with that abomination needs to be punished. Eggs benedict are nice, but eggs over easy with sausage, ham, bacon , cheese grits and biscuits will do just fine. Also a stack of waffles or pancakes sometimes is good. Thinking about all this is making me hungry.
Gary

[chboats]

What I think is comical is that many northerners and westerners don't like grits but love polenta.

Carl

[Char-Gar]

Corky...I never heard of Scrapple until about a year ago when it was mentioned by our Rector (Episcopal) at breakfast one Sunday morning. He is from Pennsylvania where they eat that kind of stuff. He said it was wonderful, but I am not anxious to try it.

I don't eat sheep either in any way, form or fashion. I got sick as a dog on mutton stew at a Navajo wedding a few years back and that sealed the deal on not eating sheep for me.

[smokeywolf]

I grew up eating biscuits, grits, hog jowl, juevos rancheros. Got milk, cheese and cottage cheese delivered by the milkman. Milk was in glass bottles with paper bottle cap; cream at the top.
The MGM Studio Commissary used to have the best biscuits & gravy you could find anywhere.

smokeywolf

[sundog]

Charles, I was born and grew up on Long Island, spent a year or so in Maine. YessirDamnYankee. We ate a lot of biscuits. We had grits, too, but not as often as our Southern Friends. AND ! ! ! We also had scrapple. Mmmmmm.

[arkypete]

Heavens NO young'un if they learn how good they are they might stay. Give them the two-three day old un's, you know those round pavers.

Jim

[Reverend Al]

Do Yankee's eat biscuits?

Do Yankee's eat biscuits? What do you mean? Even CANADIANS eat biscuits ... and we live even further North than those Yankee's yer talkin' about! (...and they're Buttermilk Biscuits too!)

:bigsmyl2:

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits001Large_zps46123e69 .jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits001Large_zps46123e69 .jpg.html)

... and we've even been known to eat CORNBREAD too!

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits002Large_zpsccfba392 .jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits002Large_zpsccfba392 .jpg.html)

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits003Large_zps6e947fda .jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits003Large_zps6e947fda .jpg.html)

The Reverend Al’s Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

3 cups of all purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
¾ teaspoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon of Garlic powder (optional)

¾ cup of any suitable type of shortening (such as Crisco, bacon grease, lard, margarine, etc.)

1 cup of grated cheese (Cheddar or your choice of mixed cheeses)

1 cup of buttermilk

Pre-heat oven to about 375 degrees.

Sift the flour to make sure that there are no lumps. Add the baking powder, salt, baking soda, and Garlic powder if you’re using it. Mix the dry ingredients well. (I use a whisk or the pastry blender to stir the dry ingredients together in the bowl until they’re all well blended.) Add the shortening and work it into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until the entire mix resembles coarse cornmeal. Add the grated cheese and mix well again.

Next, add the buttermilk, working it into the mixture with a large, solid spoon. After everything is thoroughly mixed, roll it out onto a floured board or counter top. Knead the dough as little as possible, adding more flour if it’s too wet, or a bit more buttermilk if it’s too dry, until the dough doesn’t stick to your hands, and has a “satin” look to it.

After it has the right consistency, roll or pat out the dough to about ¾” thick, and cut out the biscuits with a 2” to 3” biscuit cutter, or if in camp use the end of a soup can with the top and bottom cut out. If you lightly flour the end of the biscuit cutter or soup can as you cut them, the biscuits won’t stick to your cutter plus they will rise in layers as they bake, yielding a nice, light and fluffy style of biscuit.

I use a flat cookie sheet for baking biscuits and use baking parchment paper or silicon baking sheets on the bottom of the cookie sheets to prevent the biscuits from burning on their bottoms.

In our oven about 10 to 12 minutes is just about right for light, medium browned biscuits. If they are too dry in the middle, bake for a slightly shorter time, as they should be slightly moist in the centre when finished.

[onceabull]

My Bride of 46 yrs,(second turn at the plate for both of us) is a Texan from most everywhere there (Amarillo, Kerrville, Pfarr,Bay City),,She makes the biscuits, I eat them..Earned most of my college $ in an Oregon Sawmill,but we didn't know "jack" about "Sawmill gravy" either there,or in the Sierra Nevada..Can You elaborate,Char-gar ?? . Oh yeah,she doesn't cook or eat Lamb (or goat) either.. Onceabull

[onceabull]

I think it was Cap'ts Call and McCrae who took biscuits north to Montana,and shortly thereafter,the Canadians realized what they had been missing, eh ?? Onceabull

[bear67]

This is not to brag, but I am known for cooking good biscuits either at home in the oven or in camp in a Dutch Oven. I have competed in chuck wagon and Dutch Oven cooking for years and often cook for 50 to 100 over coals.
But this story is about biscuits! When we were farming in the rolling hills between Abilene and San Angelo Texas, I had 11+ sections of land leased and hunting access to several thousand additional acres. Needless to say on opening day of West Texas quail season, I had 7-10 of my East Texas buddies sleeping on my den floor in readiness for opening day. I got up about 4, mixed 3 big pans of biscuits and started cooking bacon and sausage (we were hog farmers too.). Put first 2 pans in the oven and I sorta smelled something burning in the oven and thought Mama Bear ran something over in the oven and it was burning. At the proper time, I opened the oven and a really strong smell greeted me. The guys were up and drinking coffee while donning boots and stuff. Pulled the first pan out and they were the color of good boot leather and about 1/4 inch high--did I say that they stunk, bad.

Trying to figure what went wrong and looked over on the counter--at this time we lived 60- 70 miles from a supermarket and we bought everything in case and large containers and only went to store once a month. This included baking powder and when I looked good, I had made all my biscuits with garlic powder instead of baking powder. Of course everyone was awake, including my wife and kids, so I could not hide the results. I threw these cooked biscuits out in the chicken pen and even the chickens never touched them--took about a year to melt in the low West Texas rainfall.

That was '83 or '84 and those guys still tell that story on me. And I always smell my baking powder before I mix those good "cat head biscuits."

[John Allen]

There is nothing better than biscuits and gravy.

[John Allen]

Do Yankee's eat biscuits? What do you mean? Even CANADIANS eat biscuits ... and we live even further North than those Yankee's yer talkin' about! (...and they're Buttermilk Biscuits too!)

:bigsmyl2:

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits001Large_zps46123e69 .jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits001Large_zps46123e69 .jpg.html)

... and we've even been known to eat CORNBREAD too!

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits002Large_zpsccfba392 .jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits002Large_zpsccfba392 .jpg.html)

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits003Large_zps6e947fda .jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/CornbreadandButtermilkBiscuits003Large_zps6e947fda .jpg.html)

The Reverend Al’s Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

3 cups of all purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
¾ teaspoon of baking soda
1 tablespoon of Garlic powder (optional)

¾ cup of any suitable type of shortening (such as Crisco, bacon grease, lard, margarine, etc.)

1 cup of grated cheese (Cheddar or your choice of mixed cheeses)

1 cup of buttermilk

Pre-heat oven to about 375 degrees.

Sift the flour to make sure that there are no lumps. Add the baking powder, salt, baking soda, and Garlic powder if you’re using it. Mix the dry ingredients well. (I use a whisk or the pastry blender to stir the dry ingredients together in the bowl until they’re all well blended.) Add the shortening and work it into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender until the entire mix resembles coarse cornmeal. Add the grated cheese and mix well again.

Next, add the buttermilk, working it into the mixture with a large, solid spoon. After everything is thoroughly mixed, roll it out onto a floured board or counter top. Knead the dough as little as possible, adding more flour if it’s too wet, or a bit more buttermilk if it’s too dry, until the dough doesn’t stick to your hands, and has a “satin” look to it.

After it has the right consistency, roll or pat out the dough to about ¾” thick, and cut out the biscuits with a 2” to 3” biscuit cutter, or if in camp use the end of a soup can with the top and bottom cut out. If you lightly flour the end of the biscuit cutter or soup can as you cut them, the biscuits won’t stick to your cutter plus they will rise in layers as they bake, yielding a nice, light and fluffy style of biscuit.

I use a flat cookie sheet for baking biscuits and use baking parchment paper or silicon baking sheets on the bottom of the cookie sheets to prevent the biscuits from burning on their bottoms.

In our oven about 10 to 12 minutes is just about right for light, medium browned biscuits. If they are too dry in the middle, bake for a slightly shorter time, as they should be slightly moist in the centre when finished.

Al, you are killing me with these pictures!

[dragonrider]

I've eaten plenty of biscuits, with/without gravy and I like them. I have eaten grits............once,...........never again.

[Reverend Al]

Al, you are killing me with these pictures!

Sorry about that ... (heh heh heh) ...

As an alternative we also make Sourdough Biscuits rather than Buttermilk too!

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/SourdoughBiscuits001Large_zpsb9c2df66.jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/SourdoughBiscuits001Large_zpsb9c2df66.jpg.html)

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/SourdoughBiscuits002Large_zps3d691c7e.jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/SourdoughBiscuits002Large_zps3d691c7e.jpg.html)

SOURDOUGH BISCUITS


Ingredients

- 2 cups of white flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt, more or less
- 1 Tbl of sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup of sweet butter
- 1 3/4 cups of sourdough starter

Preparation & Cooking

Sift dry ingredients together. With a pastry blender or blending fork cut in the butter until well mixed and crumbly. Add the starter mixed with the egg. Stir until well blended. Place dough on a lightly floured board and knead very lightly using a soft touch. Do not overwork the dough. Roll or press the dough to about 1/2 or 3/4 - inch thick. Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. (In hunting camp I use a soup can with the bottom and the label removed and then dipped in flour.) Place rounds on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at about 425 degrees for about 12 minutes.

[gbrown]

Northerners probably ate more biscuits than Southerners. I say that because corn was "King" in the south. Cornbread, corn pone, fritters, etc. Slaves usually had "Hoe" cakes for lunch. Water and cornmeal cooked on one of the big hoes they used "chopping" cotton. Lots of poor whites ate the same thing. Wasn't a race thing, more of a societal thing. White flour and wheat were "Northern" phenomenon. Down here, we ate pork and corn. Grits, the same thing, except in some of the border states. Penn/Md/Del/VA (DelMarVa) had scrapple, head cheese with cornmeal in it.

One of the staples of the Confederate soldiers was sloosh--cook your salt pork, and then cook cornmeal in the leftover fat. Probably loosened 'em up a bit, but they survived.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Charles, . AND! We also had scrapple --- Mmmmm.
now tell him what scrapple is. me i love it biscuits & gravy too

[Char-Gar]

My Bride of 46 yrs,(second turn at the plate for both of us) is a Texan from most everywhere there (Amarillo, Kerrville, Pfarr,Bay City),,She makes the biscuits, I eat them..Earned most of my college $ in an Oregon Sawmill,but we didn't know "jack" about "Sawmill gravy" either there,or in the Sierra Nevada..Can You elaborate,Char-gar ?? . Oh yeah,she doesn't cook or eat Lamb (or goat) either.. Onceabull

In southern parlance sawmill gravy is made with meat drippings and flour with maybe a little milk or water added and the color is white. Red Eye gravy is made from meat drippings and water and the color is reddish/brown clear.

[rockrat]

Guess I am a hybrid of both North and South. Love a good cornbread, good biscuits and yankee pot roast. Like grits too, with a little butter, salt and sugar(yeah, I know!!). Biscuits and sausage gravy, MMMMMm. Guess I am just a foodie.

Gonna have to try that buscuits recipie soon!!

[starmac]

Chargar, I don't do sheep, because of the Navahoes myself. I never tried it, just being around when they were cooking would make me somewhat sick. They sure love it though. They had a raffle at shiprock once, first prize was a sheep, second was a beef, figure that one out. lol

As far as goat, I think it is against the law to pass through brady without getting some barbeque goat. I love biscuits, cornbread. fluffy cornbread for buttering and eating, short panfried to mix in milk, but don't care for grits.

[Bzcraig]

Drop biscuits just a tad crispy outside with butter and honey and a glass of milk......don't get much better than that, and for dinner is even better than at breakfast.

[MaryB]

100% Minnesotan and I love biscuits. Make them at least once a week. Would make them more but have to watch the calories.

[gwpercle]

My Uncle , Howard Sanders, from East Texas, made wonderful biscuits and I got him to show me how.....the secrete ingredient was Lard, good old fashioned hog lard. Crisco shortenening just is not as good as hog lard.

[Okie73]

My wife is from PA and calls them rolls. She wont eat gravy on anything but will eat scrapple. For those of you that don't know what scrapple is just imagine taking all the stuff that wasn't good enough for making sausage or hot dogs and that's what you make scrapple with.
Mix in some corn meal and hair then you have scrapple. Apparently it's great if you fry it up and put maple syrup on it.
I will stick with my biscuits and gravy!

[Char-Gar]

My Uncle , Howard Sanders, from East Texas, made wonderful biscuits and I got him to show me how.....the secrete ingredient was Lard, good old fashioned hog lard. Crisco shortenening just is not as good as hog lard.

Nothing works as well and tastes as good as hog fat. I think it was Emaril that said: "Pork fat rules!". However you might want to put a skull and cross bones sticker on your food, if you cook with too much of it. Sometimes we have to sacrifice a little taste for the sake of our arteries. It may not matter now, but it will when the Dr. comes in to see you with a concerned look on his face and your test results in his hand.

[Char-Gar]

My wife is from PA and calls them rolls. She wont eat gravy on anything but will eat scrapple. For those of you that don't know what scrapple is just imagine taking all the stuff that wasn't good enough for making sausage or hot dogs and that's what you make scrapple with.
Mix in some corn meal and hair then you have scrapple. Apparently it's great if you fry it up and put maple syrup on it.
I will stick with my biscuits and gravy!

I take it you did not marry up with her because of her food choices. She must have other good qualities.

[43PU]

I dunno maybe if it is organic with free range bee honey...

[bob208]

just as fast as you can make them also like corn bread. I make them in the yard in the duch oven.one of projects is to build a beehive oven. I have never tried grits. wife likes them.

[merlin101]

My wife is from PA and calls them rolls. She wont eat gravy on anything but will eat scrapple. For those of you that don't know what scrapple is just imagine taking all the stuff that wasn't good enough for making sausage or hot dogs and that's what you make scrapple with.
Mix in some corn meal and hair then you have scrapple. Apparently it's great if you fry it up and put maple syrup on it.
I will stick with my biscuits and gravy!

Oh heck yeah, biscuits and gravy!! Toss in the scrapple too! But leave the hair, We use buckwheat flour (hard to find in NY sometimes) and serve with grape jelly YUM!

[xacex]

Rolls are NOTHING like biscuits!

Agreed! You don't put country gravy on a roll do you? I dont....

Something I noticed when I was in Southern California, they call it southern, but try finding a pecan pie. I looked all over for them come thanksgiving. Good thing there are some gold old boys that brought the food to Oregon. Besides some of the really local fare you can find most everything you would want for some good home cooking. Someone even brought me some Boudin sausage from Louisiana last year.
If you ever go near Tacoma Washington there is a little place called Southern kitchen on Division street that you should try. I think that Gay Featte guy with the classic Camaro even went there for lunch. The Greek place across the street is good to. I would take your sidearm, the neighborhood has a thug element.

[429421Cowboy]

Aww heck cowboy's been eatin' biscuits here and the mountain men before them, most of the miners lived on them and salt pork a lot of the year. I've heard where it was the taste for biscuits that nearly wiped out the Ponderosa pines on this side of the divide for a good many years. See, the Indians liked the inner bark of the trees and would strip off big slabs of bark to harvest it, which is just as time consuming as you would think, and only a little less fun. Then along came the hairy biscuit eating mountain men, leaving behind empty baking soda cans, which when opened up made the perfect thin knife to slice off bark, then the harvest went up greatly. So I would say that is some measure of proof that biscuits have been out west here awhile!

I do love them with almost any breakfast meal or good stew, and especially with sausage gravy. Now as for grits... well I can see how people living on that stuff might have been persuaded to end the war a lot sooner in exchange for a flatcar of good hashbrowns!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The Beloved Redhead and I over breakfast this morning asked the great question; Do Yankee's eat biscuits? Have no Yankee family, nor heritage neither of us knew the answer. I have avoided most social contact with Lincolnites most of my life and confess to my ignorance at this point.

So, do Yankees eat biscuits or are they "toast" people?


I never really considered Minnesotans as Yankees, BUT I probably should...
http://www.minnesotahistorycenter.org/exhibits/minnesota-and-civil-war
"The intense divide between North and South in the 1850s—an explosive mixture of politics, beliefs, and economics—turned to war in 1861. From a new state flush with patriotism, Minnesotans were the first in the Union to respond to the call."

AND
Biscuits were so seldom served in my parents home while growing up, I don't even recall ever having them as a child, But odds are that I did. AND what's crazy about that is Minneapolis use to be known as "The Mill City" for all of it's grain Flower mills that would mill the thousands of acres of wheat grown in the red river valley. AND that a Minnesota company was the first to 'market' a biscuit mix.
http://generalmills.com/~/media/Files/history/hist_bisquick.ashx

I do love toast !

I think I've had biscuits in gravy once in my adult life...while visiting in Texas. That was tasty :)

So Char-Gar, in my small world, your intuitions are pretty accurate.
Jon

[TenTea]

Yes, that is the answer in my Yankee experience.
I am the head biscuit maker in our ranch.
We like them with butter and apple butter and sausage gravy and honey and peanut butter and plain, etc., but usually not all at once.

ps: I'm not the chief cook but I am the bottle washer!

[Okie73]

Char-Gar I indeed married up! I give her a hard time about the scrapple but she has introduced me to many other foods I never had growing up.
Sauerkraut and pork just to name one. Or is that two? I'm getting hungry now.

Okie

[Pepe Ray]

Well now----
The short answer is YES, Yankees eat biscuits.
I'm closing in on "4 score" and can say with certainty that my Great grand parents and there kin never had sliced bread nor any bakery bread. It was biscuits or for special holiday meals a loaf of yeast bread or sourdough.

My mom, a pre depression child, had biscuits so often that as an adult, wife and mother, she swore to never put biscuiits on the table NOR in our brown bag lunches as it was POOR MAN's food and she was ashamed of letting her heritage show.
Only after she married my step dad did she condesend to allow them on the table, 'cause he made the best danged biscuits I ever tasted.

Now I can't speak for the 'flatlanders' that have INVADED our homeland in the last 65 years and claim to be Mainers, but the genuine Yankees still put the biscuit HIGH on the preferred list of culinary art.

Pepe Ray

[MaryB]

As a 100% Minnesotan I grew up eating biscuits, they were a staple in my family. Background of German farmers and Norwegian loggers. Food is always part of any family get together.

[jaysouth]

Scrapple = Pon Haus, an old German pork pudding made with pork and corn meal. The French would call it a Terrine. My inlaws are Germans in the Midwest. In December the tribe gathers and kills enough hogs to have meat until next hog killing. They start about 3:00 AM and by midnight they have slaughtered and butchered dozens of hogs. The only part of the hog that does not get processed, as they say, is the squeal. My midnight they have made up several hundred pounds of bratwurst, country sausage, kielbasa, and other sausages. The blood is captured and made in to blutwurst pudding(a sausage that looks like a bologna)

Their version of pon haus uses only hearts and livers. They cook the hearts and livers in a large pot. The cooked meat is removed and corn meal added to the broth. When the meat cools, it is ground in a food chopper and added back to the pot. After cooking while constantly stirring for several hours, the mixture is poured into loaf pans and refrigerated. The pudding is seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper and a couple of other things.

When eaten, half inch slices are cut off the loaf and browned in an iron skillet. It is traditionally eaten at breakfast with eggs and potatoes served rosti kartuffel style.

Biscuits are a style of shortbread that came over from Ireland and Scotland. As best as I can figure, shortbreads mean no yeast or leavening agent. Southerners made a big deal about biscuits because the really poor only ate cornbread, cornmeal mush and whatever greens they could gather or raise. So having the means to make biscuits marked a family as having some means above the poorest.

In my family when I grew up in Eastern Arkansas, we only got biscuits on weekends when my mother had more time to cook or whenever we went to my grandmothers. She made them every day. In her house she had a flour bin that would hold at least a hundred pounds of flour and kept at least a hundred pounds of lard on hands. Her biscuits and pies made with real lard were VERY good. However, grits was not a local thing. I never saw grits until I went to Georgia.

[Char-Gar]

I am from Texas and I never saw or ate grits until the first week of June 1957 at a café in Chattanooga Tennessee. I was 14 years old, just 7 weeks shy of being 15. I did not like them!

[OnHoPr]

Biscuits and gravy; chicken & biscuits; biscuits with honey, butter, jam; dinner biscuits of sorts; biscuits with egg, ham, sausage, and cheese; and how ever else to eat them. Jim Dandy grits with real butter and salt & pepper. Never had scrapple. Don't eat to much corn bread. I do like Johnny cake, but my nephew says they don't eat Johnny cake in the south they eat corn bread.[smilie=1: My red eye gravy is made with ham pan scrape-ins after using the same pan for a few breakfasts and real strong black coffee simmered down thick and then poured over the ham slice and hash browns. Biscuits were probably brought over with the pilgrims.

[2AMMD]

When I first moved to NY State W/ my family, age = 7th Grade (58 now), you couldn't find scrapple in any store anywhere. When we came to MD to visit relatives MOM would take about 5 lbs. back with us. When I got older it made me wonder why because there were lots of hog farms in the area and scrapple is a typical product from butchering hogs. Everyone knows you use everything but the "SQUEAL" from hogs. However, when I went home to visit in later years scrapple was available. Enough on "SCRAPPLE", Love scrapple. By the same token, no one here (native to) Maryland (to this day) have never even heard of "salt potatoes" (small potatoes lots of butter, lots of salt, boiled and served "heart attack in a bowl)". They taste great, but arent very good for you. Different foods for different regions I guess.
2AMMD

[dragonrider]

As luck would have it, the roach coach that pull into where I work had biscuits and gravy, not as good as some that I have had but not bad from a roach coach.

[M-Tecs]

I never have thought of biscuits as southern. Biscuits have been around the Midwest since at least the cattle drive days of the 1880’s. As a Midwesterner grits and okra are the first two southern foods that come to mind when I think of southern food.

[Lloyd Smale]

born and raised a yankee. Bisquits and sausage gravy is my favorite breakfast. Cant have stew without biscuits or dumplings. It has been since i was a kid. But then this yankee even eats gritts. Love them with bacon grease poured over them. Grits are no doubt a southern thing but biscuits sure arent. I think there ate in every part of the country.

[ElDorado]

My father’s family comes from the south, and we always ate biscuits, cornbread, and grits. My grandmother’s cornbread was savory, a little salty, and was great with a dollop of butter on top or in a bowl of ham hocks and beans.

My wife’s mother came from Boston, their cornbread is so sweet that it’s almost like eating cake. It’s a travesty. I’ve had similar in restaurants out here. I don’t mind eating yankee biscuits, but I don’t like yankee cornbread.

I had a co-worker who lived in Maryland as a kid, and he used to always talk about scrapple. I’m going to try it if I ever come across any. I love spam, too. Fried spam slices is one of my camping staples.

[gbrown]

My father’s family comes from the south, and we always ate biscuits, cornbread, and grits. My grandmother’s cornbread was savory, a little salty, and was great with a dollop of butter on top or in a bowl of ham hocks and beans.

My wife’s mother came from Boston, their cornbread is so sweet that it’s almost like eating cake. It’s a travesty. I’ve had similar in restaurants out here. I don’t mind eating yankee biscuits, but I don’t like yankee cornbread.

I had a co-worker who lived in Maryland as a kid, and he used to always talk about scrapple. I’m going to try it if I ever come across any. I love spam, too. Fried spam slices is one of my camping staples.

From what I have seen, scrapple is a regional food from the DelMarVa area. I've never seen it around here in the South. Maybe it is in the North or Northeast, also. Never spent time up there, can't say. If you want to try to "approximate" it, it is like a good hogshead cheese with cornmeal mixed in it. Just allow a thick slice (1/2"?) to warm to room temperature, crumble it, and mix 3 or 4 tablespoons of cornmeal with it. Fry it up in a little oil or bacon grease. Fry until the cornmeal is good and "crusty." It won't be exactly the same, but you get the idea.

[Lance Boyle]

Born and raised in NY. We had biscuits all the time growing up with dinner. We also had parker house rolls or crescent rolls with dinner. No so much biscuits for breakfast unless you went to a diner. Corn bread was a damned rare thing growing up. As a yankee I like the sweet cornbreads over the savory ones. Although after Easter I'd carve up some ham and make some biscuits for breakfast and slap some ham on them.

I had a time with biscuit making. When i was just out on my own I could slap them together and come up with real good ones. Then for some reason I lost my touch and started making disgusting greasy hockey pucks. Finally got back on track and make a rather wet biscuit dough and am using the Alton Brown recipe online. Keep them on the wet side and don't over mix!

[Love Life]

Yankees are an odd lot. No sweet tea, buttered hamburger buns, sugar and syrup in their grits, and I even seen em' eat chili on their spaghetti!!!

[snaketail]

I live in Arizona, where all the snow bird come once it starts to cool off up north. Once that happens you can't get anything like biscuits, grits, messican food or salsa. I'm from Texas and may have to fly back just to get some real food. You ought so see what they call chicken fried steak here - enough to make you cry in your beer.

[The Dove]

I'm just plain weird, in more ways than one, but I like my biscuits flat and a little hard around the edges. It drives my wife crazy, because she was always taught that the perfect biscuit was as tall as it was round and soft inside and on the edges. Lets not even start on the pancakes!

Me and mine have had this same discussion! Even 'bout the damn pancakes!!!

The Dove

[dtknowles]

Biscuits and gravy? Well, I prefer that the gravy have plenty of chicken or smoked sausage in it, and then smother the biscuits with it. Most of what is passed off as "gravy" over biscuits is mostly water and flour, and tastes like it.

A few years ago, every once in a while I would go to the cafeteria for breakfast at work (Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East) for the sausage gravy and biscuits, it was the best ever, I would give it just one shake of Louisiana hot sauce and wish I have gotten two orders, yum. Thursdays they had the most delicious Dokie's Turkey and Sausage Gumbo, um, um ,um. They change contractors for the cafeteria and then we got the flour and water flavorless gravy no more Dokie's gumbo. Damn NASA for picking the low bidder.

Tim