Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit with Over 70 Sweet and Savory Recipes

In this irresistible debut, Council, owner of the Bomb Biscuit Co., in Atlanta, spreads “the gospel of biscuits.” It’s framed as “a love letter to the African American women and men who have both inspired and taught me along the way,” and manages to be just that without ever becoming sappy. Indeed, Council’s frank sidebars about political issues like the erasure of Black women chefs and historical cookbooks like A Date with a Dish by Freda DeKnight, the first food editor of Ebony Magazine, are highlights. Council shares basic biscuit recipes alongside instructions for DIY dry biscuit mix (which, Council claims, also makes excellent pancakes), and innovative techniques, including biscuits made with duck fat and one that calls for 7UP for extra lift. There are also butter swim biscuits, made by dropping dough into a pan of melted butter; pull-apart biscuits; and sweet potato biscuits passed down from Council’s grandmother, the founder of the North Carolina restaurant Mama Dip’s Kitchen. Sweet variations include doughnutlike fried biscuit dough and lemony dumplings simmered in blueberry sauce, while savory treats include a fried chicken sandwich and pretzel biscuits filled with bratwurst and mustard. There’s even a quiche in a biscuit crust. This exhaustive and uplifting outing will have home cooks eager to get baking. (Aug.)