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There are quite a few videos online where British (or Commonwealth) people try American Biscuits and Gravy. They always say that American's just call scones "biscuits", and they usually confirm that understanding after they try the recipe.

However, we have scones in the United States, and the product is quite distinct from biscuits, especially if we are talking about buttermilk biscuits. If I get a scone here, it tends to be dense, drier, and a bit crumbly, and I would describe biscuits in pretty much the exact opposite manner: airy, moist, and flaky.

Is this difference just that they are failing to make proper biscuits in these videos, or is it that the American scones differ from the rest of the Anglosphere (or have I just had bad luck with scones)?

Nelson O
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A large part of the issue is how variable British scone recipes can be.

I looked at a good few recipes over the weekend, mainly for cheese scones, as that was what I was making, but also for plain scones (unsweetened, but little or no salt and no other savoury ingredients).

The recipes I looked at ranged from no egg at all, to 2 eggs for 200 g (7 Oz) of flour. That's enough to have a big effect on texture, with eggs adding fat, binding, and so reducing crumbling. They don't add moisture, as most recipes call for milk to be added, after the egg, until the dough comes together. The water from the egg therefore replaces that from milk.

There's also variability in the amount of baking powder, which will affect the rise. And if the butter softens while rubbing it into the flour, the texture becomes less crumbly and fluffy, so my daughter makes better scones than I do with my hot hands.

Overall, certainly the American biscuits I've had have been within the range of what's normal for scones here in the UK, but I've never tried American scones.

Scones also have quite a different texture freshly baked to fully cooled, and rewarming them only partially restores this.

There's another factor to consider as well - serving biscuits with gravy has a big effect on the mouthfeel, masking small differences in the texture of the baked item.

Chris H
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I think you’ve hit upon the main issue: British scones are not the same American scones. (And British biscuits aren’t American biscuits, either)

There are two items vaguely similar to a British scones: There’s what Americans call scones, which is a sweetened dough often with fruit added, and American biscuits, which are not sweetened

But there are many types of American biscuits… there’s flaky biscuits, drop biscuits, and a style that’s sort of in between.

A British person trying to find the American item closest to a British scone is likely going to say it’s the in-between (southern?) biscuit, or maybe a shortcake (if it’s even available.

I don’t know if Brits have a specific bread product that’s closer to the different types of American biscuits than a British scone. (We probably need a Brit to weigh in, as I’m not sure what baps, teacakes, and some of their other items are)

Joe
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Additional confusion comes if you consider "biscuits in gravy" tends toward what a commonwealth person might know as "dumplings".

From my experience in NZ, dumplings are basically scones cooked submerged in a stew, but added part-way through cooking. This results in a scone texture but very wet with savoury juices

A side thread might be the Yorkshire pudding, which is sometimes likened to the American Popover. Again both are served with meats, and often covered with a savory sauce or gravy or similar.

Criggie
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