Old is New Again!

Old ham on beaten biscuits is a Kentucky tradition that now is a rare treat.

Today’s country ham is cured for about nine months instead of two years, and the crumbly beaten biscuits have been replaced with soft and fluffy biscuits, that are ready in minutes.
The modern day version of this popular party food doesn’t even come close to the taste of the old ham on beaten biscuits. A really good beaten biscuit is dry and crumbly and bland, which complements the strong salty taste of an old country ham.

Beaten biscuits are still made in Central Kentucky by Jackson Biscuit Company in Winchester and Irene’s Beaten Biscuits in Paris.
For 29 years, Judy and John Jackson have been making the biscuits by hand using a recipe that belonged to Nancy Eleanor Jones, who had made the biscuits for 40 years prior to sharing it with the Jacksons. The Jacksons bought her business in 1976.

The Jackson’s son John David Jr. stepped up to carry on the tradition after Judy Jackson suffered a stroke. She has now recovered and is back in the kitchen. Jackson biscuits are available under private labels at gourmet shops as well as Browning’s Country Hams in Paris, Moore’s Meats in Versailles, Liquor Barn stores in Lexington, and Gaunce’s Deli in Winchester.

Beaten biscuits are “a rough form of puff pastry,” Judy Jackson said. Up close, you can see the tiny layers.

The biscuits are hand cut from a dough made with flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and lard (Jackson does make some with vegetable shortening on request.) They are beaten to push out all the air. Early American settlers would place the dough on a hard wooden surface and beat it with the flat side of an ax, mallet, rolling pin or the heel of the hand. Later, enterprising cooks developed the beaten biscuit machine that has been called the Southern version of a hand-cranked Italian pasta machine.

Jackson’s machine is the old Lincoln dough break and looks like an old-fashioned washing machine wringer mounted on a marble slab attached to the base of an old treadle sewing machine. An electric motor turns the rollers. The dough is folded in half and fed, folded end last, through the rollers about 12 to 15 times. The dough is ready for cutting when the folded end emits a popping sound as it passes through the rollers.

In Paris, Marilyn Campbell and her father, Harry Campbell, still make beaten biscuits using her mother Irene’s recipe. Irene’s Beaten Biscuits are available at Critchfield Meats and Slone’s Signature Markets in Lexington, Kroger stores in Lexington and Louisville, Doll’s Markets and Paul’s Markets in Louisville and Ken’s New Market in Paris.

Irene Campbell started the business in 1960. Marilyn Campbell recently found old papers that showed her mother had made 10,000 dozen beaten biscuits for Christmas in 1966 and sold them for 50 cents a dozen.

Call Jackson at (859) 745-2561 and Campbell at (859) 987-5164.