Week 6: Callie's Hot Little Biscuit
/Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit
Fifty States of Biscuits has been drawing you a map of great biscuits across the US. So, when it came to drawing the food belt that stretched across the South, stretched from both great food and happy bellies, the buckle landed right in Charleston, a hotbed of culinary creations. That being said, of course the official South Carolina biscuit is in the shiny buckle of Charleston, specifically King Street.
Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit is exactly what it sounds like, a restaurant devoted to the masterpiece that is the biscuit. Being in the town of Charleston for a short while you are bound to hear whisperings of biscuit talk about this small storefront in the middle of the revitalization of Upper King. What started as a frozen product line available online transformed into the lovely brick-and-mortar space it occupies today.
Callie’s Biscuits realizes the wonder that is Charleston. Carrie Morey, owner of the shop, shows her appreciation and pride of the city by using local ingredients from farms and restaurants. The relationships that result from the food love shared among the inhabitants of Charleston becomes obvious in the biscuit offerings of Hot Little Biscuit.
If you eat at Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits, you are essentially tasting Charleston in every bite of that cheese and chive or black pepper bacon or ham biscuit.
That is to say, there is no wrong choice when it comes to Callie’s, and there can never be a wrong choice with specialty biscuits when the basic biscuit itself is amazing. That’s why when asked what makes their biscuits especially special, Alex Rowe, marketing director of Callie’s, emphasized the importance of basics, “At Callie’s Biscuits, we use only the finest ingredients and our favorite tools are our hands. White Lily flour, whole buttermilk, cream cheese and butter combine perfectly to make mouth-watering, fluffy biscuits.”
One of the best biscuit things Callie’s commits to is the personal principle of getting to know the biscuit with your actual hands. That’s homemade. That’s real southern cooking. You can be sure that this is how it’s done every time at Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit because the exposed kitchen allows you to watch the staff as they make the hot little biscuits.
If you would like to make your biscuits the way they do at Callie’s behind that marble counter, well you’re in luck because we asked Alex just how it’s done. “We start with our White Lily flour in a large mixing bowl, with our hands we then incorporate the butter and then cream cheese. Then we like to create a well for the buttermilk in the center of our mixture. We love a wet and messy dough! Sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough and all over the workspace and you’re ready to roll out the dough. Using a biscuit cutter, we start from the edges and stamp out the biscuits. We always make sure the biscuits are touching when we place them on the baking sheet—biscuits love each other and this makes them rise perfectly! Finally, we brush the tops with butter, and it’s time to bake. To make sure the biscuits are baked evenly we advise rotating the pan once during the 15-20 minutes in the oven.”
Now that you are aware of the inner workings of the shop and by following that little diagram and are currently considering a career change to biscuit baker at the Hot Little Biscuit, it’s time to switch gears and be the customer. Callie’s biscuits offer seven biscuit choices a day, six consistent classics and one specialty biscuit. According to Alex Rowe, “One can never go wrong with a pair of buttermilk biscuits with savory thyme butter!”, but you may even venture to the store exclusive blackberry biscuit. If you can’t decide, get them all! Or even a bag of freezable biscuits to take home and share with your friends. And if you are very concerned that you may never make it down to Charleston to partake in this glorious opportunity that is Hot Little Biscuit, you can purchase their cookbook, Callie’s Biscuits and Southern Traditions.
However, we strongly suggest getting there in person. If you want lend some love to these happy faces and your future very happy biscuit belly then get down to Charleston and order a biscuit, or twenty.
Callie's Hot Little Biscuit
476 King St, Charleston, SC 29403
843.737.5159