I usually don’t mess around with my recipe for southern biscuits, but once I thought about a biscuit with the popular flavors of the beloved Italian pasta dish, Cacio et Pepe, I knew I had to do it. It’s a cross between a biscuit and a cheese straw, with the flavors of Cacio et Pepe, a.k.a. Cheese and Pepper.
I could tell when they were was baking—just by the smell of it—that it was going to be one of those ethereal first bites.
The recipe includes classic southern biscuit ingredients including lard, buttermilk, butter and … [+]
In keeping with the cheese and pepper flavor theme, I added two kinds of cheese to my classic Southern biscuit recipe. Pecorino Romano for the sharp, salty and authentic Italian flavor, and chopped Gruyere cheese for its meltability, browning and universal cheesy appeal—who doesn’t like the top of French Onion soup?!
For the pepe, I used a scant tablespoon of course ground pepper. It looks like a lot but because it is course-ground and not fine-ground, it has all the flavor of pepper but very little heat. Interesting fact is it’s actually the fine pepper dust that packs a punch and not the larger flakes of ground pepper—that means the finer the grind, the more peppery it is.
The four steps of making these biscuits are cutting the fat into the flour until it resembles coarse … [+]
Because I wanted the cheese and pepper to be integral through the whole biscuit, I made a kind of cheese and pepper spread borrowing from way you make pimento cheese. That means that I mixed the two cheeses and pepper with a little mayonnaise. I did this first so that the mayonnaise would hydrate the cheese and pepper a little as it sat before I mixed it in with the flour mixture. The mayonnaise that I used to bind the cheese and pepper adds a little extra fat and makes a big difference in the final biscuit. I would not skip that step.
This is not a featherlight southern biscuit, instead it is a denser, almost short bread like biscuit with cheesy peppery notes in every bite and a lot of depth of flavor which means that you don’t need to add any extra butter or olive oil or anything. It is a complete bite in itself and I can’t think of anything better to serve with a bowl of soup or on its own with a cocktail.
These homemade cheese and pepper biscuits fresh out of the oven are irresistible.
Cacio e Pepe Biscuits
Fresh homemade biscuits make my day, or any meal that much better! These “Cacio e Pepe” biscuits were inspired by one of my favorite Italian pasta sauces made from cheese—cacio is the roman dialect word for cheese—and black pepper—pepe. I use my family biscuit recipe as the base to carry the flavor and added a touch of Gruyere cheese to add deep toasty caramelized cheese notes.
In the South, biscuits have been traditionally made with either lard or Crisco. In my family, we use lard for a super tender biscuit that leans savory or Crisco and butter for flavor and flakiness. When making cheese biscuits, I almost always use lard. In the case of these “Cacio e Pepe” biscuits, the lard really makes a difference in the crisp tops and tender crumb that “eats” somewhere between a biscuit and a cheese straw.
Makes 10-12 biscuits
Ingredients:
½ cup shredded Pecorino-Romano or a mix of Parmesan and Pecorino
1/3 generous cup sliced and chopped Gruyere cheese
1 scant tablespoon Coarse-Grind Black Pepper
2-3 generous tablespoons of full-fat mayonnaise
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon kosher or sea salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup chilled Lard (or half Crisco shortening and half butter) 1 stick of butter = ½ cup
1/3-½ cup buttermilk
½ stick butter (1/4 cup) melted
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. In a small bowl, mix together both cheeses, pepper and mayonnaise until you have a dry-ish spread. You don’t want it to be oozing mayo, use only enough to bind everything together. Set aside and let the cheese and pepper meld and absorb the moisture while you get the biscuit dough together.
3. In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, salt and baking powder. Using a Blending Fork, pastry blender or two knives, cut the lard or shortening/butter into the flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add just enough buttermilk to moisten the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir until well moistened and the dough comes together in a bowl. Pat into a disc shape but don’t over mix. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill.
5. To Roll Biscuits: Turn dough out on a floured surface. Gently roll dough in a circle until it is a little less than ½ – inch thick. Brush liberally with the melted butter and fold over to cover butter. Pinch the edges to seal and brush the surface with more butter. Fold the dough over on itself and seal again. Pat into a disc and place back in the freezer for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from freezer and gently roll out in a 10 inch circle.
7. Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter or round cookie cutter (2 ½ -3 inches in diameter) as close together as possible to avoid wasting the dough. You can gather the scraps and gently re-roll them until you get 10-12 biscuits total.