I am even more excited than I usually am to share the July Biscuit of the Month with you. It includes a few of my favorite summer flavors in various forms and might be my favorite creation to date. The title was previous held by the super delicious May Biscuit of the Month, so I’d say this combination of corn, smoked chicken, and watermelon is a winner.
1. Inspiration Behind the Biscuits
- What sparked this month’s biscuit experiments?
- A few of my favorite flavors of the summer are grilled/smoked chicken (thighs, if we’re being super specific), grilled and buttered corn on the cob, and watermelon. And since July is my birth month, I feel like I owed it to myself to combine all three of these into a biscuit of the month.
- Connection to tradition or innovation?
- Growing up, I could count on having all three of these – watermelon, grilled corn, and grilled or smoked chicken – at almost every cookout, family function, church event that happened during the summer. Children usually have to graduate to the grilled chicken from hamburgers and hot dogs, of course, but once I had my first piece of a grilled chicken thigh, I was hooked. It still my preferred cut of meat to just “throw on the grill” really quick.
- Adding a watermelon barbecue sauce to the chopped smoked chicken is just a touch of experimenting, so we’ll see how it goes.
2. Recipe Development Process for the July Biscuit of the Month
- Challenges faced during development
- The biggest challenge I faced this time around was learning that Walmart doesn’t carry fresh whole chickens, but this was a blessing in disguise.
- Instead of a whole chicken as planned, cornish hens were smoked and used for the chicken-cue (chopped chicken tossed in barbecue sauce). They were smaller/more compact so they cooked more evenly and quickly.
- Ingredients you experimented with
- Watermelon – I turned the watermelon into juice and then cooked that down with a little sugar and lemon juice. Once that cooked down into something closer to a syrup, I added ketchup, sugar, maple syrup, worchestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, etc. to turn it into a barbecue sauce.
- Corn – the grilled and smoked corn went into the cornbread biscuits; I took another 2 ears of corn, removed the kernels, put them into the food processor with some milk and water then strained out the corn juice. This was then cooked down with sugar until it thickened a bit. Once this mixture cools down a little bit, I added some butter, poured the corn butter into a butter mold and let it cool completely.
- The corn butter is really just a garnish experiment so not a part of the biscuit of the month, but I think it will be a nice addition either inside or on top of the warm cornbread biscuits.
3. Biscuit Construction
- Assembly of the biscuit
- Top Biscuit: Cornbread swim biscuit (drizzled with honey and a sprinkle of finishing salt)
- (Optional) Corn butter spread under the top biscuit
- Watermelon rind slaw
- Smoked chicken drizzled with a mix of vinegar-based (Big M’s) and watermelon bbq sauc
- Bottom: Cornbread swim biscuit
- Textural details
- The chicken (juicy and tender) basically melts into the bottom of the cornbread biscuit. The top biscuit’s crunch and the crispness of the slaw are in perfect balance. The creaminess of the corn butter is surprisingly noticeable. The proverbial cherry on top.
4. The Flavor Profile
- Flavor balance
- Sweetness from the cornbread biscuit (honey and natural sweetness from the grilled/smoked corn), the corn butter, and the watermelon bbq sauce.
- The watermelon base of that bbq sauce gave it a slight candy flavor which was interesting and paired well with the vinegar and peppery flavors in the slaw.
- The notes of savory smokiness in the chicken and the grilled corn in the biscuit tied those two components together beautifully.
- The corn butter (pictured below). I’ve never tasted anything that tasted more like corn including fresh corn. The way it was prepared intensified the flavor and made it a great creamy complement to the crisper moments of the biscuit and the slaw.
5. Cooking Tips & Techniques
- Biscuit-making tips
- Use cold ingredients and utensils, if possible – cold butter makes for fluffy biscuits
- Avoid over-mixing and over-working the dough before forming biscuits. It’s okay if the dough isn’t uniform
- Brush with butter or buttermilk before baking for more browning
- More Biscuit Tips
- Additional tips for these specific biscuits
- Don’t overcook the chicken. I know sometimes we like the skin to be a certain amount of crisp/crunchy, but the skin isn’t really the focus for this recipe. I leave some pieces of skin when chopping up the chicken’s meat, but I remove most of it so there’s no point in overcooking the chicken just to get the skin right. And when using smaller cornish hens, it is easier to dry that breast meat out especially.
- Don’t skimp on the butter used to make the butter swim biscuits. I know it seems like a lot (and it is), but all that butter is the key to the biscuits’ flavor, texture, and no burning up on the bottom and sides. And since there is so much butter involved, you might want to share these with friends or family instead of eating the entire batch yourself in a single day (they are that good – you’ve been warned).
- Add a little (2-3 tbsp) watermelon juice right at the end of cooking down the bbq sauce. This will leave a bit of the fresher watermelon taste in the final product rather than it tasting just like every other sweet bbq sauce on the market.
- Grilling the corn kernels you add to the cornbread biscuits adds another, smoky layer of flavor to the whole experience. Not necessary, but I love how the hint of smoke in the biscuit complements the smoked chicken.
- Make sure to remove all the pink/red watermelon flesh before shredding the watermelon rind for the slaw. It will make the slaw sweeter and more watery than you intend.
6. Visual Appeal
- Presentation
- I tried to eat it as a sandwich and got through about 2.5 bites before it fell apart, so I think an open-face presentation would be best for this version with the softer biscuits.
- Once I formulate a more traditional cornbread biscuit with a sturdier base, we’ll run this back as a true handheld biscuit sandwich.
- Any garnish or final touches?
- I tossed the smoked chicken in bbq sauce, but also added another drizzle on top to finish.
- The corn butter spread is completely optional and a last minute touch for my biscuit.
7. Tasting Experience
- The first bite
- I was already impressed with the visuals. It gave country elegance and I love that. And biting into the country elegance did not disappoint. I enjoyed the individual components, but together? I’m obsessed. I will be working on making this biscuit as good as I can get it for the rest of my days.
- How do the flavors evolve as you eat it?
- You’re hit first by the sweetness of the honey in the cornbread biscuit and the watermelon bbq sauce, but then the sauce brings its savory elements and the smokiness from the chicken and the corn kernels in the cornbread biscuit. The vinegar and crunch from the slaw is there right on time just to cut each bite right before it gets too rich or heavy.
- Feedback from others
- “This balance between sweet and savory is…. witchy!”
8. Serving Suggestions
- How would you serve it?
- I put my corn butter *on* my biscuit, but I think in general, it would be great to serve more of that on the side.
- I wanted a cold glass of lemonade right after I tried the first biscuit.
- Something that reminds me of every summer in the NC mountains with my mom’s side of the family – Cheerwine – would also be a nice finish.
- What would you name it?
- This one’s getting named after one of my favorite aunts and a fellow July baby – “Lucy Nola” – she was just so full of life and always came with a little something you weren’t expecting, just like this biscuit.
9. The Verdict: Would You Make the July Biscuit of the Month Again?
- Would you tweak anything for next time?
- I am curious now about making more traditional biscuits (instead of butterswim biscuits) using cornmeal
- Everything else was just downright delicious. NO NOTES.
- I do wish I had made more chicken and slaw so I could have a few more biscuits.
- Just a touch more salt to finish/garnish. The sweetness balances the existing saltiness in the different components so a little extra on top is needed to kind of remind your taste buds of that salty note.
- Overall thoughts
- I really outdid myself and, of course, because July is my birth month and I wanted to go all out. Did that.
- Can’t wait for all the future versions of this pre-masterpiece!
10. Next Month’s Biscuit
- I haven’t done anything to highlight the beautiful tomatoes in season here in North Carolina, so perhaps I will find some inspiration for my next biscuit with that ingredient. Tomatoes in season are already so close to perfection, with a little salt on a sandwich or in a salad, that I usually don’t feel led to cook them, but I love a good tomato.
- I also feel like it’s time to do something sweet, so who knows where I’ll land.
