Aunt Jo… What’s a Biscuit?

Just how could these words actually have come from the mouth of a Proctor? What’s a Biscuit? Seriously? This however happened one time my cousin Jo was visiting her niece and her family in Ohio, when her great nephew asked this question as Jo was making biscuits. Jo proceeded to hug and explain to the youngster our love of biscuits; afterwards proceeding to scold her niece on the etiquette of breakfast, biscuits and heritage. You see we, I mean we as in every West Virginian (or born West Virginian) breathing oxygen, eat biscuits, especially for breakfast, sometimes at lunch and then sometimes but not always for supper. So just what is a biscuit? Defined by Merriam-Webster as a small quick bread made from dough that has been rolled out and cut or dropped from a spoon. In my Reed family, I remember dropped biscuits over rolled biscuits that my Proctor family makes. My favorite meal and my must have final meal before leaving a visit to West Virginia is usually breakfast at my Aunt Corky’s house, or if I’m visiting my Reed family, a stop at Tudor’s on my way out of town! An Aunt Corky breakfast always consists of huge hot fluffy in the middle, golden brown on the outside

biscuits (which Aunt Corky says the secret to perfect biscuits is a very hot oven, 400°F) accompanied with fried apples, gravy, over easy eggs, bacon and most often a freshly opened jar of apple butter. Oh my goodness I’m salivating just thinking about it as I try and type this, sorry for the drool keyboard. Biscuits are a way of life for Appalachian Americans and especially for West Virginians. Hudson Cream Flour, the self-rising variety can be found in – I’m betting, in almost every kitchen cupboard, pantry or flour canister south of the Ohio River in West Virginia. Why Hudson Cream Flour, a Kansas Mill, you may be asking, I searched their website looking for the connection to West Virginia and discovered that the flour made its first appearance in West Virginia in 1922 and I found the following,
“Never underestimate the influence of a good lady” Leila English Reid, who was born and raised in Stafford County, (Kansas) moved to West Virginia and was not satisfied with any of the flour she found on the shelves there. She convinced her local grocer to accept one train car shipment of Hudson Cream Flour, and, as they say, the rest is history. Today, a majority of Hudson Cream Flour is sold in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.
There is even a Biscuit Bakeoff where Hudson Cream must be used and is held annually in Marlington (Pocahontas County) West Virginia, this year it will be held on September 30th. I know my family uses it and it is what we use each year for our Hillbilly Breakfast during our annual Proctor Family Reunion, The Hillbilly Hilton. Every Saturday following Labor Day the aroma of fresh baked biscuits fills the air in North Central Ohio as the Proctor Family converges for a weekend reunion at Camp Conger (a 4-H camp) near North Fairfield, Ohio. Around 5am the cousin generation, my generation gathers in the hall kitchen to start cooking breakfast for the 100 plus Proctor’s. Biscuit making is always led by my cousin
Jo, and every year she is a trooper in the production of around 200 biscuits! Yes that’s right, at least 200 sometimes more and never less than that amount. Everyone is always happily biscuit satisfied by the time they have consumed them covered in sausage gravy or smothered in apple butter, or alongside fresh sliced tomatoes! It’s simply our way of life and one of the most loved and anticipated family reunion traditions! I simply can’t pay homage to biscuits without paying respect to the biscuit heaven of Tudor’s Biscuit World. Bill and Mae Tudor opened the first location in 1980 on Washington Street in Charleston, ]Tudor’s quickly there after became a West Virginia institution just like slaw and chili on hot dogs and pepperoni rolls. Today there are locations all over West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southern Ohio and even one as far south as Panama City, Florida. My two favorite combinations are The Herd Biscuit (egg, sausage, hash brown, cheese) and The Politician (egg, bologna and cheese), however I would gladly devour any biscuit offering they have and do it very happily! Then there is the most heinous crime to two biscuit lovers ever carried out by, we shall just call them the “DILLARD Girls”. A couple years ago my cousin Terry who lives in Georgia and myself both received via mail a box, within that box was what promised to be a gift of love, wrapped in Tudor’s biscuit paper and appearing to be the real deal were biscuits, no doubt taken straight from the Eleanor Tudor’s dumpster. Now mind you for two biscuit loving cousins upon first opening the packages we were both excited beyond words; however, because of the DILLARD Girls that happiness was soon gone as we discovered mold covered, hard as rocks biscuits! You must remember for Terry and myself, we have NO Tudor’s near us…this was the most horrible and cruel crime ever played upon two cousins by so called family! Have we forgotten the DILLARD Girls act….oh no, we haven’t! They both swore that the biscuits were good when mailed, mailed? Really? Who mails biscuits? If you had truly loved us, there are these two companies, FedEx and UPS! The one family trait my mother nor I inherited, was the ability to make biscuits, my moms came from a can and mine come in a blue bag located in the frozen food aisle at Walmart!
So, yes Jonathan a biscuit is a part of who you are, where you came from and a tradition that makes and unites us as family!

Go and make some biscuits, homemade is best but in a pinch, Pillsbury Grands are good as well and serve them smothered in butter and with my recipe for Fried Apples.