On Food and Cooking

used for little sweet dry cakes, what
Americans call cookies. Modern French
biscuits are dryish cakes made from egg
foams, usually moistened with a flavored
syrup or cream.
Biscuits became something entirely
different in America, and early in its history
(see box below). American biscuits contain no
sugar and often no eggs, are made from a
moist dough of milk or buttermilk, flour,
pieces of solid fat, and baking soda, and are
cooked briefly into a soft, tender morsel.
There are two styles: one with a crusty,
irregular top and tender interior; another with
a flat top and flaky interior. The first is made
with minimal handling to avoid gluten
development, the second with just enough
folding and kneading to develop a structure
with alternating layers of dough and fat. The
simple recipe and short cooking mean that the
flavor of the flour itself is prominent.
English scones are similar to American