April Kelly Editing and Writing

Why is it called a biscuit? IS THERE A MONSCUIT?

I saw this meme, laughed, and tried so hard to move on.

But I could not.

It remained inside my mind, like a little annoying worm, bugging me until I caved and googled the origin of the word biscuit.

Apparently they used to cook biscuits in a two-part process. The word comes from the Latin, bis, which means twice, and coctus, meaning cooked.

So I wondered… why would they cook them twice? I’m no biscuit-cooking novice… I KNOW I only cook them once.

I learned that back in the day, they’d cook them regularly, then cook them low and slow to dry them out so they’d keep.

I feel like this explains why the Brits call cookies, biscuits. Cause I’d imagine the drying out process left them crunchy, like a cookie (er, biscuit, whatever).

And because I know you’re dying to find out: technically, there IS a monscuit, and it’s the modern version of the biscuit, which we now only cook once. (and thus I have decreed it.)

Related: I suggest we change the “twice-baked potato” to “bi-tato.”