Different words for the same things depending on which country you're in.

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  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    SueSueDio wrote: »
    On the subject of cakes... this type of iced bun (if MFP will allow me to type it) is known as a "sticky willy"...

    pf6svaf8gjza.jpg


    And we also have this little gem... ;)

    f61p8p2tq6j1.jpg


    Okay, you can stop sniggering now...!

    The top ones look like hot dog buns which someone has iced.

    The dough is a little sweet... And the outsides have a crust (sort of brioche like, not squishy like a hot dog bun)
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,840 Member
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    Something else ... something I've had to get used to when I moved to Australia ...

    In Canada, when food is served, we put bowls on the table. A bowl of steamed veggies. A bowl of potatoes. A plate of meat. Or whatever is for dinner. Everyone sits down at the table and picks up the bowl closest to them, helps themselves to however much they want, and passes the bowl in the agreed upon direction. There's often discussion about which direction we're going. So there's a flurry of passing bowls and plates of food, and then the host asks if everyone has had a bit of everything. And we eat.

    In Australia, the host or cook plates the food in the kitchen, putting some of everything onto each plate, and then placing each plate onto the table in front of whoever is seated at the table.

    I found this difficult to deal with because I grew up in a family where we ate everything on our plates, especially since we took those things from the bowls in the middle of the table. If we took it, we must have wanted it, so we're supposed to eat it.

    With that in mind, I felt like I had to eat everything I was served here in Australia. And yet, often, there were things on the plate I wasn't fond of or there might be just too much. But I made a valiant effort!

    At home, my husband serves the food, and the quantities he'd serve up grew and grew and grew over the years. He'd tell me it was OK to leave some, but in my head you don't do that. So I was eating until I couldn't cram more in because that's how much he'd give me.

    It was a great relief to join MFP and to start weighing my food. Finally I could eat an amount that didn't leave me feeling uncomfortably full!

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    Something else ... something I've had to get used to when I moved to Australia ...

    In Canada, when food is served, we put bowls on the table. A bowl of steamed veggies. A bowl of potatoes. A plate of meat. Or whatever is for dinner. Everyone sits down at the table and picks up the bowl closest to them, helps themselves to however much they want, and passes the bowl in the agreed upon direction. There's often discussion about which direction we're going. So there's a flurry of passing bowls and plates of food, and then the host asks if everyone has had a bit of everything. And we eat.

    In Australia, the host or cook plates the food in the kitchen, putting some of everything onto each plate, and then placing each plate onto the table in front of whoever is seated at the table.

    I found this difficult to deal with because I grew up in a family where we ate everything on our plates, especially since we took those things from the bowls in the middle of the table. If we took it, we must have wanted it, so we're supposed to eat it.

    With that in mind, I felt like I had to eat everything I was served here in Australia. And yet, often, there were things on the plate I wasn't fond of or there might be just too much. But I made a valiant effort!

    At home, my husband serves the food, and the quantities he'd serve up grew and grew and grew over the years. He'd tell me it was OK to leave some, but in my head you don't do that. So I was eating until I couldn't cram more in because that's how much he'd give me.

    It was a great relief to join MFP and to start weighing my food. Finally I could eat an amount that didn't leave me feeling uncomfortably full!

    I don't think that's an Australian thing. When we have people for dinner I do it like you most of the time - serve yourself style. Most of the meals we have at friends are similar - if you aren't serving yourself, youre often asked how much you'd like...

    Ocassionally, if I'm being fancy, I'll make individual serve things, or meals that include ingredients tgat all go together - at those times, you'd get what I gave you.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    Pancake = Flapjack

    But I'm familiar with two types of pancakes, and I'm also finding two different dictionary definitions for flapjack. The second definition doesn't match either of the pancakes I know, so is a completely different item.
  • crabbybrianna
    crabbybrianna Posts: 344 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    Something else ... something I've had to get used to when I moved to Australia ...

    In Canada, when food is served, we put bowls on the table. A bowl of steamed veggies. A bowl of potatoes. A plate of meat. Or whatever is for dinner. Everyone sits down at the table and picks up the bowl closest to them, helps themselves to however much they want, and passes the bowl in the agreed upon direction. There's often discussion about which direction we're going. So there's a flurry of passing bowls and plates of food, and then the host asks if everyone has had a bit of everything. And we eat.

    I'm in Canada and I've never see it done this way. Usually all of the bowls/plates of food are on a separate table, or usually the kitchen counter. Everyone makes their plate there and then takes it to the table, like at a buffet restaurant. Wouldn't having all of the bowls of food on the table make the table overcrowded and awkward? :/
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    Something else ... something I've had to get used to when I moved to Australia ...

    In Canada, when food is served, we put bowls on the table. A bowl of steamed veggies. A bowl of potatoes. A plate of meat. Or whatever is for dinner. Everyone sits down at the table and picks up the bowl closest to them, helps themselves to however much they want, and passes the bowl in the agreed upon direction. There's often discussion about which direction we're going. So there's a flurry of passing bowls and plates of food, and then the host asks if everyone has had a bit of everything. And we eat.

    I'm in Canada and I've never see it done this way. Usually all of the bowls/plates of food are on a separate table, or usually the kitchen counter. Everyone makes their plate there and then takes it to the table, like at a buffet restaurant. Wouldn't having all of the bowls of food on the table make the table overcrowded and awkward? :/

    As the world becomes a smaller place, I interact with people of varying origins and backgrounds. I've seen it done many different ways.

    In England I saw everything on the table and the host carved the meat and put it on each plate, even if you helped yourself to the other things.

    Otherwise, both methods above are familiar to me. I've also seen where there are too many for sitting at a table and you help yourself from there and everyone goes back and sits somewhere else away from the table. Or everyone sits anywhere while all the food is brought in dishes and you help yourself from each one.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
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    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    Pancake = Flapjack

    But I'm familiar with two types of pancakes, and I'm also finding two different dictionary definitions for flapjack. The second definition doesn't match either of the pancakes I know, so is a completely different item.

    Flapjacks in the UK are like little sweet oat bars,kind of like a Granola bar.

    In Australia we have pancakes, which are thicker, or thin crepes, but also pikelets which are mini pancakes. Maccas sells "hotcakes".
  • Heartisalonelyhunter
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    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.

    201473-poutine.jpg


    Fish and Chips

    55983c6c6b6ebb72637456f8_codandchips.png

    I'm definitely from the south, because I was expecting white gravy. The kind you'd put on chicken fried steak. Which has no chicken and isn't even fried like chicken, it's fried like steak, dipped in milk and eggs and flour and served with white gravy. I'm not sure if I think that poutine looks good or not, but I would try it

    I'm watching an American cooking/food program - they've just made chicken fried steak with white "gravy". The way they made the gravy was how I'd make what we call Bechamel Sauce...

    That's basically what it is, often with lumps of sausage in it. It's not good!
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
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    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.

    201473-poutine.jpg


    Fish and Chips

    55983c6c6b6ebb72637456f8_codandchips.png

    I'm definitely from the south, because I was expecting white gravy. The kind you'd put on chicken fried steak. Which has no chicken and isn't even fried like chicken, it's fried like steak, dipped in milk and eggs and flour and served with white gravy. I'm not sure if I think that poutine looks good or not, but I would try it

    I'm watching an American cooking/food program - they've just made chicken fried steak with white "gravy". The way they made the gravy was how I'd make what we call Bechamel Sauce...

    That's basically what it is, often with lumps of sausage in it. It's not good!

    Sausage as in tubes of meat in a skin, or like broken up hamburger patties (as in "sausage and egg mcmuffin")?

    ... Sounds gross!
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,972 Member
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    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.

    201473-poutine.jpg


    Fish and Chips

    55983c6c6b6ebb72637456f8_codandchips.png

    I'm definitely from the south, because I was expecting white gravy. The kind you'd put on chicken fried steak. Which has no chicken and isn't even fried like chicken, it's fried like steak, dipped in milk and eggs and flour and served with white gravy. I'm not sure if I think that poutine looks good or not, but I would try it

    I'm watching an American cooking/food program - they've just made chicken fried steak with white "gravy". The way they made the gravy was how I'd make what we call Bechamel Sauce...

    I have had brown gravy, but it has always been called brown gravy. If it is just gravy then it is always white. Sometimes white gravy is called country gravy. Chicken fried steak with gravy is the best meal I make and it is good. I rarely make it though (even before counting calories). It is very messy and I hate frying stuff.

    If I ever go somewhere that has Bechamel sauce I now know I will like it. This really has been a fun and interesting thread.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited January 2017
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    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.

    201473-poutine.jpg


    Fish and Chips

    55983c6c6b6ebb72637456f8_codandchips.png

    I'm definitely from the south, because I was expecting white gravy. The kind you'd put on chicken fried steak. Which has no chicken and isn't even fried like chicken, it's fried like steak, dipped in milk and eggs and flour and served with white gravy. I'm not sure if I think that poutine looks good or not, but I would try it

    I'm watching an American cooking/food program - they've just made chicken fried steak with white "gravy". The way they made the gravy was how I'd make what we call Bechamel Sauce...

    This is my understanding of bechamel sauce: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/white-sauce-or-bechamel-sauce-40046

    This is chicken (white) gravy: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/fried-chicken-with-gravy-51176000 (use the milk).

    This is a more standard (Thanksgiving oriented) gravy: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/gravy-51122830

    I think of both the white and brown gravies as just gravy, my mother made both, the white with chicken. To differentiate if context didn't make it obvious the white would be chicken gravy. (This is in the US but not the south.)

    I never liked gravy as a kid and only bother with it at feast-type dinners now or at a rare brunch featuring biscuits and gravy, so don't have strong feelings about one type vs. the other.
  • Heartisalonelyhunter
    Options
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.

    201473-poutine.jpg


    Fish and Chips

    55983c6c6b6ebb72637456f8_codandchips.png

    I'm definitely from the south, because I was expecting white gravy. The kind you'd put on chicken fried steak. Which has no chicken and isn't even fried like chicken, it's fried like steak, dipped in milk and eggs and flour and served with white gravy. I'm not sure if I think that poutine looks good or not, but I would try it

    I'm watching an American cooking/food program - they've just made chicken fried steak with white "gravy". The way they made the gravy was how I'd make what we call Bechamel Sauce...

    That's basically what it is, often with lumps of sausage in it. It's not good!

    Sausage as in tubes of meat in a skin, or like broken up hamburger patties (as in "sausage and egg mcmuffin")?

    ... Sounds gross!

    Yeah, like little lumps of sausage meat. I think it's one of those things you have to grow up with to appreciate!
    To be fair I'm Scottish and love 'stovies' (boiled ground beef and potatoes) but I have never met a non-scot who could eat them!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    Something else ... something I've had to get used to when I moved to Australia ...

    In Canada, when food is served, we put bowls on the table. A bowl of steamed veggies. A bowl of potatoes. A plate of meat. Or whatever is for dinner. Everyone sits down at the table and picks up the bowl closest to them, helps themselves to however much they want, and passes the bowl in the agreed upon direction. There's often discussion about which direction we're going. So there's a flurry of passing bowls and plates of food, and then the host asks if everyone has had a bit of everything. And we eat.

    In Australia, the host or cook plates the food in the kitchen, putting some of everything onto each plate, and then placing each plate onto the table in front of whoever is seated at the table.

    I found this difficult to deal with because I grew up in a family where we ate everything on our plates, especially since we took those things from the bowls in the middle of the table. If we took it, we must have wanted it, so we're supposed to eat it.

    With that in mind, I felt like I had to eat everything I was served here in Australia. And yet, often, there were things on the plate I wasn't fond of or there might be just too much. But I made a valiant effort!

    At home, my husband serves the food, and the quantities he'd serve up grew and grew and grew over the years. He'd tell me it was OK to leave some, but in my head you don't do that. So I was eating until I couldn't cram more in because that's how much he'd give me.

    It was a great relief to join MFP and to start weighing my food. Finally I could eat an amount that didn't leave me feeling uncomfortably full!

    I don't think that's an Australian thing. When we have people for dinner I do it like you most of the time - serve yourself style. Most of the meals we have at friends are similar - if you aren't serving yourself, youre often asked how much you'd like...

    Ocassionally, if I'm being fancy, I'll make individual serve things, or meals that include ingredients tgat all go together - at those times, you'd get what I gave you.

    Yeah, serve yourself from bowls at the table = family style. Easy alternative is buffet style, where people scoop up what they want from bowls on the counter and then sit (I have a small-ish table and open kitchen-dining-living, so when I have lots of people over that's the easiest). Prepared plates is generally restaurant style or more formal. I tend not to do that often (although I always do it for myself -- family style encourages second helpings or taking too much, for me, so even if it is family style I get my planned servings and that's it).

    Anyway, all of them happen depending on circumstances -- I don't see one as the American way or Canadian way or the like.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    Pancake = Flapjack

    But I'm familiar with two types of pancakes, and I'm also finding two different dictionary definitions for flapjack. The second definition doesn't match either of the pancakes I know, so is a completely different item.

    My only reference for flapjack is also slang term (I think of it as US western) for pancake. My dad uses it that way. (I understand there's another meaning, but I've yet to run into it off the internet.)
  • ninthnarnian
    ninthnarnian Posts: 237 Member
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    Other regions /vs "Southern" USA
    Turn off lights/Cut off lights
    Ask her /Ax her (just pronounced like that)

    California = You Guys (males or females)
    Texas = Y'all


    So, Do you;
    Turn off lights
    Cut off""
    ??

    We "flip" the switch- but "flipping off" the light would mean using an obscene hand gesture lol






  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    SueSueDio wrote: »
    On the subject of cakes... this type of iced bun (if MFP will allow me to type it) is known as a "sticky willy"...

    pf6svaf8gjza.jpg


    And we also have this little gem... ;)

    f61p8p2tq6j1.jpg


    Okay, you can stop sniggering now...!

    The top ones look like hot dog buns which someone has iced.

    The dough is a little sweet... And the outsides have a crust (sort of brioche like, not squishy like a hot dog bun)

    Yep, sweet buns... so good! :) (Especially if you get them as "cream buns" instead, with raspberry jam and whipped cream (real or fake) inside. Sometimes with the icing on top as well...! :) )

    Flapjacks - my idea of a flapjack is what someone else mentioned above, a sort of thick and chewy oatcake. That's a snack, not a breakfast food, to me.

    Pancakes are called pancakes here as far as I know, I haven't seen them called flapjacks. They are way thicker and fluffier than what I knew as pancakes in the UK, which are more like crepes anywhere else. My mum always made them for Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) with lemon juice and lots of sugar, and we very rarely had them any other time of year. We all looked forward to Pancake Day!

    Canadian pancakes are closer to what I knew as "Scotch pancakes" or "drop scones", although those were always very small in the UK. (About 3" or so in diameter - I think I've seen those referred to as "dollar pancakes" over here.) Sometimes I'd make myself a small batch of batter and about ten drop scones, eating them pretty much out of the pan with a smear of butter as soon as they were cool enough!

    One local restaurant we went to for breakfast some time ago served pancakes that were as big as the pan they were cooked in - filled the entire plate (about 10" across), and there were three of them. Even my son couldn't finish them all, and I'm glad I didn't order any!
  • SueSueDio
    SueSueDio Posts: 4,796 Member
    edited January 2017
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    In this recipe for Nanaimo bars (foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-canadian-cookbook/recipe/the-ultimate-nanaimo-bar/16810/), is "vanilla custard powder" the same as what I as a USAian would call "vanilla pudding mix", or something different?

    P.S. This recipe looks pretty easy to me, but that may be because I'm an old person accustomed to a world where cooking/baking from scratch was something regular people did regularly. ;)

    That doesn't sound too complicated, maybe just a little time-consuming. (Although I've made things that are way more work in the past, but I try to avoid convoluted recipes now!) And I can buy Bird's Custard Powder here, too, don't even need to go to an import store for it. :)

    I wonder how many calories those are... *heads for recipe builder*

    EDIT: Okay, having just thrown that into the builder and not worried too much about how accurate the ingredients it picked were... 12 portions comes out to around 444 calories each. If you made 16 smaller bars, they'd be 333 calories each. It's high, but might be worth it for a special occasion treat!
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
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    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    SueSueDio wrote: »
    To get us back on track... :)

    "Broiling" is something I was thinking about last night. It wasn't a word I was familiar with before emigrating, and due to the similarity with the word "boiling" I figured it meant the same thing. Good job I looked it up before I tried doing that with a recipe! Turns out that broiling is what I'd call grilling.

    To me (a Brit), "grilling" is what you do under the grill of your oven, i.e. the top heating element, which is a broiler on this side of the Pond. Grilling to North Americans seems to refer almost exclusively to cooking on an outdoor grill (something they do even when it's below freezing in Canada!), which is what I'd refer to as "barbecuing".

    To add to the confusion, a "grilled cheese sandwich" is not cooked under the grill/broiler (like a toasted cheese sandwich, which I used to make often in the UK), but is instead spread with butter on the outsides and cooked in a frying pan.

    Which, by the way, is called a "skillet".

    Argh!

    Barbecue is a particular type of food. Slow cooked meat (either grilled (as in on a grill) or smoked) coated with (or dipped in) barbecue sauce. To barbecue is to prepare such food. Barbecuing can be a type of grilling but isn't always. Likewise, not all grilling is barbecuing (I.e. Burgers are not barbecue and thus they are grilled, not barbecued).

    A barbecue can also be a gathering/party centered around preparing and eating barbecue. The same type of gathering which involves grilling non-barbecue food (burgers and hotdogs) is called grilling out.

    I take BBQ very seriously.




    And I use frying pan and skillet interchangeably.

    Never used skillet for a frying pan. A paint skillet is the tin with paint and a wire handle to carry it.
    That's a bucket...

    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Machka9 wrote: »
    Poutine ... incidentally, not pronounced quite as 'brightly' as it looks. Even I don't get it right and I'm Canadian, but it is something more like 'poot-an', I think.

    201473-poutine.jpg


    Fish and Chips

    55983c6c6b6ebb72637456f8_codandchips.png


    That's a Fish Fry! Very big on Friday nights around here. Everyone has a Friday Fish Fry special.

    Eh...a fish fry is an event (most popular during Lent). I wouldn't see a plate with fried fish and fries and call it a fish fry. I'd call it fish and fries or fish n' chips (even though I certainly don't call fries chips).


    A fish Fry isn't usually an event here. Its usually a meal. It's battered and fried fish served with coleslaw and french fries, and sometimes a roll.

    EDIT: Here is what Wikipedia says about it...

    "In the United States, the dish is most commonly sold as "fish and chips", except in Upstate New York and Wisconsin and other parts of the Northeast and Upper Midwest, where this dish would be called a fish fry."

    Upstate New York and Wisconsin are basically Canada junior so that explains it.
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    I don't know what poutine is, but every time i see that word i think of a bum, or butt/fanny depending where you're from :lol:

    Chips, with cheese curds and a gravy on top. It's a Canadian dish...we had some piping hot and fresh, so good (but bad at the same time) . Ive seen some poor replications in aus using cheddar cheese.

    Chips as in French Fries for those in the US/Canada lol




    In the US, chips come in a bag and are flavored with BBQ, Salt and Vinegar or Cheddar and Sour Cream. What is a "Fish n Chip Shop"? I assume that's a restaurant that specializes in making a fish fry that is sitting on top of french fries?

    Long John Silvers bro.

    A slew of casual American restaurants have Fish 'n Chips on the menu these days too.



    No Long John Silvers here lol.

    Captain D's??

    Thought you lived in the Great Lakes region?



    Never heard of Captain D's either lol.

    I'm in the Great Lakes region. I live in Buffalo.

    Aha. Yup. Canada.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,058 Member
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    The Mille Feuille is, I think, what I've always called a "Napoleon" (and they're normally labeled that way at the bakery).

    The long iced sweet rolls look like something I'd call a "Long John", though Long Johns are not particularly crusty. They're a filled sweet roll, though - custard, pudding (in the US sense), very sweet fruit filling, or whipped cream, typically. I've seen bacon ones (yes, sweet/frosted)!

    That white gravy was typically called "white sauce" when I was growing up, but would convert to gravy if it had meat in it ("sausage gravy") or enough broth/drippings to flavor it noticeably ("chicken gravy"). "Milk gravy" is another possible term, but I think that may be more Southern from here (Michigan). I learned the "béchamel" terminology later. I think here the difference is mainly a plain-folks culture (white sauce, gravy) vs. a lace-curtain or more upscale culture (béchamel). IMO, the parts of the US where chicken-fried steak or sausage gravy is at home would not be very likely to use the French term. (This is not a cultural dig - I believe those parts of the country have a stronger Scots/Irish heritage, and you might be more likely to find the French terms around NOLA, among other locations).

    Even as a vegetarian who'd no longer indulge, I'd say you shouldn't discount sausage gravy as an eating experience until you've tried a good one (some of the restaurant ones are too light on the sausage). Often served on (buttermilk or baking-powder) biscuits (in the US sense of biscuits, of course).

    Flap jacks, pancakes, griddle cakes, hot cakes (and probably some other terms I'm forgetting) are overlapping terms for same/similar things.

    I'm also aware of the frying pan (my term) or skillet being called a "spider" by some, though that's unusual to me.

    I serve/eat meals all the ways described in my own or people's homes. Dishes on the dining table is more common among a family eating together without guests, or a single-table event dinner (like Christmas) if there's room. Buffet style seems most common with larger groups, or if there are multiple dining table (like a kids' table). Plated service is less usual in people's home, though I've done it or seen it done - very "dinner party", mostly.
  • Tretop76
    Tretop76 Posts: 256 Member
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    Ok that is so strange to me!
    jgnatca wrote: »
    In eastern Canada we put our milk in bags.

    the_future_of_dairy_milk_in_a_bag.jpg