Species 003: Crispy Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Jalapeño Biscuits

A hot grilled cheese sandwich is one of my ultimate comfort foods, and I’ve made a handful or two over the years. Sometimes they’re the desperate “I need melted cheese right now” kind, while other times they’re the “I’m going to treat myself to a cheesy spectacle” kind. When I really feel like I want to do it right, I get some crusty bread, grate some cheese fresh from a block, and for the clincher, I sprinkle some cheese on the pan before the bread goes down, so that the sandwich is crusted in crispy cheese.

I had a debate with a friend about the merit of such a tactic—I suppose the question was about whether having that much browned cheese flavor was actually good for a grilled cheese, or if it was a distracting and unnecessary addition to the classic, oozy, creamy sandwich. I tend to prescribe to Chef Anne Burrell’s mantra, “Brown food tastes good”, but to each his own. Let’s just say that after a friendly yet lively discussion, we agreed to disagree.

I recently had biscuits on my mind—as I often do—and I couldn’t help but wonder how I could take the deliciously crispy edge of a cheese biscuit and turn it up to eleven. My grilled cheese failed to impress at least one, but maybe a biscuit could be the right canvas to highlight the beauty of burnt cheese. Out of deference to the secret ingredient, or perhaps out of stubbornness, I decided to create a biscuit that was an ode to burnt cheese.

Species 003: These fluffy biscuits include two types of cheese—cubed Monterey Jack for the soft ooziness and crisped cheddar for the unmistakable crunch and flavor of burnt cheese. The jalapeños cut through all that cheesiness with a hit of heat.

Primary Traits

I set out to design a biscuit recipe that would highlight the difference in both the flavor and texture of a cheese that has been crisped versus one that has been left to melt to a more moderate degree. But I knew I would have to start with a solid biscuit, because no amount of cheese can save a tough, flat, or dense biscuit.

Don’t feel guilty, sometimes you have to get down to business…

Jump to Recipe

Trait #1: Old Fashioned Drop Biscuits

When it comes to biscuits, there are quite a few forms. The two most notable ones are the rolled biscuit, which consists of a soft dough with chunks of butter that is rolled out and folded multiple times before being cut and baked, and the drop biscuit, which consists of a thick batter that is scooped onto a sheet and baked. The rolled biscuits are heftier—they sport thick flakes of dough separated by those flattened butter chunks and are usually sturdy enough to be split and used as in a biscuit sandwich. The drop biscuits are usually fluffy and light with a contrastingly crunchy crust. With the idea that I wanted to highlight crispy cheese in these biscuits, I decided to go the drop biscuit route, so that the crispy cheese really stuck out in the fluffy biscuit. I started with Cook’s Illustrated Cheddar and Scallion Drop Biscuit as my base and adapted it from there.

For a while, I was dead set on having square biscuits, so that the corners would get extra crunchy and add to the textural festival put on by the crispy cheese, but after struggling with the idea of cutting a soft drop biscuit dough, I decided to compromise. Instead of using a cookie scoop like I normally do with drop biscuits, I decided to use a greased measuring cup. A trivial difference, you might think, but the 90-degree edge of a measuring cup gives the biscuits a crisp edge on top and bottom, while the domed cookie scoop leaves you with a uniformly golden crust on top and a single edge on the bottom. Splitting hairs, you say? Just try it and see the difference.

Trait #2: Crisped Cheddar & Cubed Monterey Jack Cheese

I won’t lie here, the cheese crisping process I had in mind was rather different than the one that ensued—but kitchen accidents often yield beautiful results. My plan was to freeze thick slices of cheese, then sear them quickly in a pan over high heat. This works well with very hard and dry cheeses—halloumi is a classic example. I was hoping to push the boundaries and sear Monterey Jack—a softer cheese. That way, my biscuits would have a seared crisp on a cheese that still maintained its gooey quality. Seared cheddar was my backup plan, and I was more confident that the harder cheese would sear nicely. I tried both cheeses side-by-side, and let’s just say I had to think on my toes a bit here.

Things didn’t go quite as I expected, and I ended up crisping the cheddar by melting it completely in a pan until it was a crispy cheese pancake and leaving the Monterey Jack un-seared. The Monterey was far too soft to achieve any kind of sear—even the cheddar melted down rapidly after being frozen solid—and it dawned on me that having two types of cheese in the biscuits would offer nice variation.

Crisping cheddar with this method will seem a scary thing—like an exploration gone awry—but just when you start questioning every life decision that brought you to this moment, something magical happens. After the cheese melts in the saucepan, it turns into a crusty, albeit oily, pancake. After tossing the cheese a few times, you end up with a disk of fully crisped cheese. Once cooled off heat, you can chop up the disk to get marvelous, crunchy, burnt cheese bites. These, combined with the unadulterated Monterey Jack cubes, made for a cheesy, crispy, creamy combination of cheeses to go into the biscuit. I decreased the salt in the biscuit recipe just slightly, as the crisped cheese adds a naturally saltier flavor.

Trait #3: Sliced Jalapeños

The final touch I threw in there was a healthy dose of sliced jalapeños to help balance the richness of the cheese mixture. I preferred actual slices of jalapeños in this recipe as opposed to diced pieces, because with all that cheese, you need concentrated hits of heat to cut through the richness. You can dice them up if you want more subtle, distributed heat, but I feel that the spice simply gets muddled up with the cheese that way—almost as if you’re eating a pepper jack biscuit. If you’re not a spice person, that’s okay too! You can substitute some sliced scallions for the jalapeños, though I don’t think they do as good a job of cutting through all that cheese.

Resulting Species

The resulting biscuits are cheesy, spicy, crispy, fluffy, and creamy all at once. The star is the cheddar—crispy, crunchy, and full of that delightful umami flavor that is so addicting—while the Monterey Jack plays a supporting role, simply ensuring you get some soft, creamy cheese in there. The jalapeño helps balance the richness of the buttery biscuit and cheesy fixings. These biscuits are great on their own (and make a great breakfast) but also make an exciting accompaniment to a piping hot pot of chili. Hope you enjoy!

Until next time,

The Culinary Darwinist