Well-known Southern cookbook author Jim Villas determined that “cathead biscuits must be shaped by hand, not evenly cut with a biscuit cutter. Because it was so inconclusive, I thought perhaps preparation method isn’t the defining factor when it comes to cathead biscuits - rather it was the baking method. Most of the anecdotal research I found leaned toward the drop method as the cathead standard. According to Southern Living’s The Southern History of Biscuits, cathead biscuits must be drop biscuits, stating that cathead biscuits were “born out of necessity they had to get things done quickly, do it simply: Make your biscuit dough, and then pull and drop huge clumps of the buttery dough onto your baking sheet.” Our super scientific Google search, however, found that 7 out of 10 cathead biscuit recipes called for rolling them out. That’s where things get tricky - and debatable.Ĭhef Jeffrey Gardner and I talked at length about this, and we agreed that most Southerners would equate cathead with the drop or the “roll a ball of dough in your hands” method. So, are cathead biscuits rolled or drop biscuits? These biscuits can also be uniform (if you’ve got a good eye), and are often crunchier on the outside, more crumbly than flaky. The other type, drop biscuits, are formed by dropping a rolled ball of dough onto a baking sheet or cast iron skillet. This process is what most people picture when they imagine biscuits being made, and the result is typically uniformly-cut, round, crispy-bottomed, golden brown, fluffy biscuits. Rolled biscuits are just that - biscuits that are rolled out with a rolling pin, cut with a biscuit cutter and baked. Essentially, there are two ways to make biscuits: rolled or drop. To understand where this question goes, we need to first understand a bit more about the biscuit-making process. I was about to discover that the answer to my question is … a bit unclear. I decided to do a little digging to find out what a cathead biscuit actually is, where its name came from and if there are any other interesting tidbits about this mysterious biscuit. (Probably because you’re too busy enjoying one to question it.)
If you’re like me, however, you likely never thought to ask why it’s called what it’s called, or even what defines a cathead biscuit in the first place. If you’re from the South, or have visited the region, you’ve undoubtedly heard of or had a cathead biscuit.
Most biscuit types come with distinct descriptors of what make them so - buttermilk biscuits are obviously made with buttermilk, cream biscuits with cream and angel biscuits are yeast-risen and “light enough to taste like they came from heaven,” as they say. Angel, cream, buttermilk - there are several kinds of Southern biscuits, all of them delicious when made properly and, of course, with love.
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