Test Kitchen: Carriage House Biscuits

A recipe for an iconic Natchez breakfast bite, rediscovered. Recipe from Chef Bingo Starr of Stanton Hall's Carriage House.

It's the little things in life that really matter, and an exemplary microcosm of that principle would be the upcoming Sunday Brunch during the Natchez Food & Wine Festival. There you sit in Stanton Hall's Carriage House, on the third day of being fed in a manner that can only be described as pleasurably foie-gras-like, and a feast of brunch fare stretches out before you. Haute Southern cuisine will soon be on your plate,  but there on the table sits an offering of biscuits, keeping you company as you wait for your turn to tackle the brunch buffet. Not just any biscuits; these are Carriage House biscuits, and somehow the small bite-sized biscuits stand up to the more complex creations served at brunch—like the Creole Mirliton Slaw, Heirloom Tomato Hollandaise, Marinated Artichoke Hash, or Potatoes Clemenceau. Yes indeed, these little biscuits are memorable, and as a Natchez tradition they matter.

Daydreaming about the upcoming Natchez Food & Wine Festival, we went in search of a biscuit recipe in the archives, only to rediscover the Carriage House Biscuits recipe, published in Country Roads back in 2009. With a spring in our steps, we fetched the sifter and rolling pin and got to work! This recipe is super easy, and our only piece of advice is to look away from the nutritional table on the can of vegetable shortening when you get to that part. We followed the instructions exactly as stated, using about 3/4 cup of milk to make the dough, then baking the 2-inch biscuits for 13–14 minutes. Fresh from the oven, the biscuits split very easily and soaked up the brushed on butter. Served hot with some good preserves—life is grand. GET THE RECIPE...