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It was always my understand that a biscuit in America was something savoury you had with gravy...yet I've also seen it apply to snacks.
So what the hell does "biscuit" mean over there?

Its like a fething savory scone you get served with gravy.

Pretty good actually. To me its like, dense stodgy bread with gravy on, nice to eat.

Over there, all biscuits are cookies. England cookie is a type of biscuit, but feth knows what we would call a Yank biscuit.

Maybe a large wet scone?

From watching shows like Man v's Food, the closest equivilent I can put it to is a scone.. but not a scone.


edit by matty.

Well, theres dog buscuits. not exactly a people snack tho...

its a semi soft buttery roll that is kind of dry

So just a scone then?

n0t_u wrote:So just a scone then?

softer, scones often times here are crunchy... for us anyway

Biscuits are soft like a slice of bread minus the crust

n0t_u wrote:So just a scone then?

No. scones are much more dense. A properly done biscuit (and must be steaming hot) is soft and much much lighter. Think more like a soft bread roll.

I like em, Ive ate loads, every time I go to Longbeach I would eat one pissed, but I dont think we have them in the UK because that market has been taken.

If you want a snack, with gravy, thats flour based, then this is much better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit



on the left is what you will most commonly find in the US, while the right is what British are accustomed to. on the right we call these crackers or cookies depending on if they are sweet or not.

mattyrm wrote: Its like a fething savory scone you get served with gravy.

Pretty good actually. To me its like, dense stodgy bread with gravy on, nice to eat.

Over there, all biscuits are cookies. England cookie is a type of biscuit, but feth knows what we would call a Yank biscuit.

Maybe a large wet scone?

This was my impression too.
But behold, this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DBRU4O
and others like it.
Clearly not a savoury scone served with gravy, what gives?

These are buscuits, or breakfast biscuits, that most Americans would identify and serve with either gravy, or butter, or butter and jelly (what you call jam, not Jello).

Joey wrote:This was my impression too.
But behold, this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DBRU4O
and others like it.
Clearly not a savoury scone served with gravy, what gives?

That looks like a fluffy cookie or shortbread to me.

They are warm and soft with a slightly crisp outside. Very similiar to scones over there (scone here is a little different as well) but not as dry, essentially.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2_Dgyvd_Jo

Why did Americans have to rename everything? It confuses me.

n0t_u wrote:So just a scone then?

Biscuit and scone dough is very similar, though biscuits typically have more butter and no sugar. Biscuits are eaten hot/warm while still soft, and are often served with breakfast. You can eat them plain, with butter or jam, with gravy, or like a sandwich (with sausage, egg, etc).

In Southern cuisine, biscuits can accompany lunch and dinner as well.


It doesn't take a lot of work to make biscuits from scratch (just as easy as making scones, though biscuits require a little more attention when combining the butter and flour), and they taste a lot better than any of the factory-made "biscuits" you can buy from the store.

"A biscuit is a small thing made out of bread. Usually it's got butter or something, but sometimes not."

That's pretty much it, the term is used for a lot of items, but those KFC biscuits pictured above are most common.

Joey wrote:
This was my impression too.
But behold, this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DBRU4O
and others like it.
Clearly not a savoury scone served with gravy, what gives?

"Biscuit" is sometimes used to describe cookies/crackers, but I usually only see this on Australian/British products.

American biscuit on left, British biscuit on right.

Oh man, have you had a Bourbon before Mel?

They are sweeeet.

Like Oreos but without chemicals in them.

I mean, I fething love both, but I like Bourbons more because they actually filll me up. Once ive dunked about 8 im done.

But Oreos? No gak, I once got one of those big 4 trays in Santa Barbara, made a cup of tea, and then knacked the whole thing, it took me about ten minutes, and my missus flatmates were going

"gak! He's a cookie monster! 2 at a time? Right up to the knuckle?!" (dunking)

I love them, but they frighten me, what's in them that they dont fill your stomach up!?

It's probably what's NOT in them that's more important.

Oreos are fairly empty as far as calories go. I can't really stand them myself, but then again I'm the kind of person you might catch eating FIg Newtons, so...

mattyrm wrote: Oh man, have you had a Bourbon before Mel?

They are sweeeet.

Like Oreos but without chemicals in them.

I mean, I fething love both, but I like Bourbons more because they actually filll me up. Once ive dunked about 8 im done.

But Oreos? No gak, I once got one of those big 4 trays in Santa Barbara, made a cup of tea, and then knacked the whole thing, it took me about ten minutes, and my missus flatmates were going

"gak! He's a cookie monster! 2 at a time? Right up to the knuckle?!" (dunking)

I love them, but they frighten me, what's in them that they dont fill your stomach up!?

Crack.

I feel sick before I feel satisfied

Less commonly than what was already pictured above:



AKA "Drop Biscuits"

Castiel wrote:Why did Americans have to rename everything? It confuses me.

Because Brit's use a lot of extra, unnecessary letters in spelling. So once we get done pulling out all the redundant letters, we might as well re-name a few things while we're at it! Just to keep things "fresh", you know?

Technically, the Brits renamed it, not the Americans. "Biscuits", traditionally, were closer to the American definition than the British one.

Gitsplitta wrote:

Castiel wrote:Why did Americans have to rename everything? It confuses me.

Because Brit's use a lot of extra, unnecessary letters in spelling. So once we get done pulling out all the redundant letters, we might as well re-name a few things while we're at it! Just to keep things "fresh", you know?

LEARN THE LETTER 'U', YOU CRAZY YANKS!

*looks*

Didn't recognize your new Avatar Mel. Gone over to the dark side eh?


@Blap: LOL! Well played sir.

Common type of scone in America

Anyway, as far as I can gather, a Biscuit in the US is a type of bready Scone, and British are Cookies (i.e Bourbons, Custard Creams, Ginger Nuts, Hobnobs...)

Those American biscuits look lovely. I may try to make some one day.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Melissia wrote:Technically, the Brits renamed it, not the Americans. "Biscuits", traditionally, were closer to the American definition than the British one.

We also used to call Autumn "fall". There a quite a lot of "American words" that are actually British words that they ditched.