kimchi cheddar biscuits
one of my fondest memories growing up was helping my mom in the kitchen, especially during kimchi making weekend.
by helping, i mean performing crucial qa/qc tests on all the kimchi by stealing pieces as soon as they were coated in spicy paste. my mom would always scold me — “you’ll get a stomachache from consuming so much kimchi,” and “you should wait until the kimchi has a chance to ripen/ferment.” upon realizing I was an unstoppable force and she needed to mitigate the inevitable doom my stomach was facing, “you should pair it with a bowl of rice or glass of milk.” i never listened and always got a crippling stomachache/hated life for the rest of the day. but children are surprisingly resilient - by the time kimchi weekend rolled around again, my stomach had recovered and i was back to my old shenanigans.
now that i’m much older and slightly wiser, i’ve come to realize my mom was right about some things (ok, almost everything). if i could go back in time, i would tell my stubborn younger self to heed umma’s advice because mother really does know best. while i’m there, i’d also tell younger joyce to wait for the kimchi to ripen because better things are yet to come. and you can then use it to make these delicious kimchi cheddar biscuits, without the unnecessary stomachache and heartburn (unless you eat a whole tray of these in one sitting, which is a very likely scenario because they’re just that good).
one of the biggest baking gamechangers for me was switching to using a kitchen scale to measure ingredients. this is especially important with flour, because the measurement can fluctuate drastically based on how compressed it is. if you don’t have a kitchen scale, make sure you aerate the flour before measuring by mixing it in the bag a few times with a spoon. to measure, gently spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off the top with a knife.
i like to save a portion of the biscuits at step 7 and keep them stored away in my freezer for a rainy day. but really, this is to prevent me from eating the whole batch in one sitting. they’re just as good days (or even weeks if you make it that far) later, whether on their own or as a biscuit sandwich with a fried egg in it.
KIMCHI CHEDDAR BISCUITS
base recipe adapted from bon appetit
ingredients:
dry ingredients
3½ cup (448 g) flour, plus more for rolling out the biscuits
2½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp granulated sugar
¼ tsp baking soda
wet ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces, plus more for cooking the kimchi and some melted for brushing the biscuit tops
1 cup buttermilk, chilled
⅓ cup sharp cheddar, shredded
⅓ cup kimchi, diced
2-3 tbsp kimchi juice, optional
for topping, optional (kinda)
everything bagel seasoning
sliced green onions
instructions:
prepare the kimchi: heat two tablespoons of butter in a pan over medium high heat, then add the chopped kimchi. fry the kimchi, stirring occasionally for 6-8 minutes or until it has caramelized. remove from heat and let it cool down while you prepare the biscuit dough.
add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and baking soda to a food processor and pulse to combine. add chilled butter and continue to pulse just until the chunks of butter are pea-sized.
transfer the flour and butter mixture to a large mixing bowl and gradually drizzle in the chilled buttermilk, gently tossing the mixture with a fork or wooden spoon. add in the shredded cheddar, cooled kimchi from step 1, and drizzle some kimchi juice if you have some for an extra punch of kimchi.
carefully knead the mixture a few times in the bowl just until a shaggy dough forms (it will look too dry, but trust the process and resist the temptation to add more liquid), then turn out onto a clean, floured surface.
preheat oven to 425°f and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. pat the dough into a 1” thick square. using a knife or bench scraper, push in the edges to get them as straight as possible, then cut the dough into 4 equal pieces (2 cuts - one lengthwise, one widthwise).
stack the four pieces on top of each other, placing any stray scraps of dough between the layers. once stacked, flatten the top and dust it lightly with more flour. using a rolling pin (or clean wine bottle if you don’t have one), roll the dough into a 1” thick rectangle. use the bench scraper or knife to trim the edges so you have a nice, clean rectangle. cut the dough into a 4x3 grid for 12 biscuits.
place biscuits at least 2” apart from each other on prepared baking sheet and place the tray in freezer to chill for 10 minutes.
After chilling the biscuits, take the tray out of the freezer and brush each biscuit with melted butter. top each biscuit off with a generous shake of everything but the bagel seasoning and/or a few sliced scallions. place in oven and reduce temperature to 400°f. bake biscuits until bottom is golden brown and top is golden, about 20-25 minutes. enjoy while hot!
you can prep these in advance and save them for baking fresh another day - after step 7 transfer the biscuits to an airtight container or plastic bag (make sure to get all the air out before sealing). when you’re ready to bake, carry on with step 8. you don’t need to defrost the biscuits, just add a few minutes to the baking time.
photography by emily lai.
