Stone????WHAT!?

butterfli7o wrote: »

After reading through all this, I'm now thoroughly convinced that living in America has me seriously missing out on some really good food.

But we have tacos.

VintageFeline wrote: »

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

Dear English Cousins,

Many Americans have, in fact, watched a movie or two. Some of us have read books, including the classics. Lots of these are required reading in public high school. Our children know about Harry Potter. We understand about jumpers and trainers and chips and crisps.

Some of us are even capable of using Google if we forget how many pounds are in a stone.

Among my friends, there is great sadness right now about Alan Rickman and David Bowie. Our cultures are connected; there is more understanding than misunderstanding...really!

Some people know what a scone is, some don't. I'm not offended nor do I think all Americans are ignorant just because they've never noticed their existence before. Had I never been to America or watched too many Disney vlogs on Youtube I probably wouldn't know what funnel cake is, it's not a big deal.

As an aside. Those scones in Starbucks are a bastardisation of the real deal so not really a good comparative. Much like most foods adopted by another culture.

This is just some light hearted fun about the differences we all notice or come across. I've also lived overseas and experienced other differences (seriously UK, we need to adopt the New Zealand wonder of the roast dinner take away[/b]).

If you live near Rugby you can get a roast dinner delivered! https://www.facebook.com/rugbyroastdinners/

WithWhatsLeft wrote: »

For Americans confused on the whole roasted tater thing, I'm an American - a southerner - and my fiance is a Brit. I can do them.

Just grab some russets. Peel & chop them into ginormous hunks - like thirds - and boil until you can just pierce with a fork. Put them in roasting dish and drizzle with vegetable oil, you don't need fat from the roast meat. Sprinkle with salt & pepper and roast at 400 until browned.

But you are on your own with the haggis. That's just nasty; I won't touch it. And he won't eat grits OR biscuits, so more for me.

Nooo! It's got to be lard (or goose fat), and the lard has to be heated in a roasting tin before you add the spuds. When the lard is smoking hot, tip in the spuds, spoon the hot fat over them and return them to the oven.

After the par boiling and rattling of the spuds a very well seasoned tablespoon of plain flour added before another shake give extra crispy bits, which are, of course, the best bits of a good roastie.

You have to do Yorkshire puddings if you are doing roasties though, and the rules for both are make twice as many as you need because they both rock cold!

Carlos_421 wrote: »

butterfli7o wrote: »

After reading through all this, I'm now thoroughly convinced that living in America has me seriously missing out on some really good food.

But we have tacos.

And Oreos.

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

hbellis3000 wrote: »

Biscuits are much fluffier than scones! Scones are very dense! I love both!

No they're not! I keep seeing people saying this and it makes me shudder to think what's being sold as "scones" over there. A scone should always be light, it should be anything but dense. If it is denser than a biscuit, you did it wrong!

From my perspective, an American biscuit is a type of scone. From the American side, a scone should be a type of biscuit - leaner, sometimes slightly sweetened or fruited, but the same species. It should not be some kind of sugar laden hockey puck.

It depends, though. What others aren't mentioning is that there are multiple main recipes to make biscuits. It's another of those regional things. Some are prized for being crumbly, others for being flaky, and still others for being fluffy or cake-y. Then there's the lard vs butter, WhiteLily flour vs all other flours, cream vs milk, baking powder vs baking soda, etc. There's even one that uses a yeast dough that is super light and fluffy. That one is much lighter than a scone (and I've had proper ones in England ).

BruinsGal_91 wrote: »

And it still won't be enough.

And they won't see a new day either. You will suddenly find many reasons you need to pass the fridge that evening.

stealthq wrote: »

For the Americans, Yorkshire pudding is the same as the plain version of a popover, if that's not been mentioned yet. I love popovers

I eat them differently than you'd eat Yorkshire puddings, though. Mine get butter and a drizzle of honey* or a bit of fruit jam inside. Blame Neiman Marcus. They've been serving them with strawberry butter for decades.

* I just remembered that I bought a bottle of ghost pepper-infused honey. I have got to try it with popovers. It was awesome with fried chicken.

Ah gotcha.






What's a popover?

Also, I concur about this being the best narco thread ever. I now want scones and clotted cream again.

VintageFeline wrote: »

gardensneeze wrote: »

Carlos_421 wrote: »

gardensneeze wrote: »

Carlos_421 wrote: »

These picture don't hurt me cuz my phone is calorie free.
I could get behind eating a snot block with a tall cup of hot black coffee.

Haha that tall cup of black coffee in Australia is called a long black. Not to be confused with a short black, which is a shot of espresso.

And you all know the flat white, yes?

Enlighten me

Flat white is a white coffee in Australia and NZ. It's a shot of espresso (we don't do brewed here really at all) with steamed milk making up the rest of it. It's a really basic coffee but it seems to have taken the world by storm (or so we have been led to believe), since British cafés started adopting the name and Starbucks has even put it on the menu, which is really weird because Australia is the one market Starbucks couldn't get into (we kind of look down on Starbucks )

I do miss my NZ coffee. I was even trained by Lavazza while I was living there so I'm always disappointed with coffee here. I live in an area with about a thousand coffee shops and none of them make a really really good coffee. Actually, that's a lie, apparently one does but I haven't tried it yet, must sort that out.

Me too, I was trained by Burtons in NZ and nothing in the UK comes close, seriously people just can't make coffee in this country!

kristysaurus wrote: »

This is the best thread ever. I always assumed that scones were like the ones we have here (sweet).

To make this more confusing... does anyone know what Bannock is? I'm from northern Canada and this is something we enjoy all the time here but I suspect it may be regionally specific

Scones are usually sweetened, but only slightly. The sweetness is meant to come from the jam or whatever. You also get savoury scones.

Bannock is a Scots term, basically meaning a round, flattish loaf of bread, often soda bread or barley bread. It can also mean the large round from which oatcakes or potato scones are cut - the round is a bannock, the quarters are farls. I believe the term in Canada is used to refer to a kind of flat soda bread traditional to the native Indian community?

Chemical leavening is in any case an invention of North American Indians, and I like the idea that the technology travelled East across the Atlantic while the word travelled West.

selina884 wrote: »

Has anyone mentioned greasy fish and chips?

Something Brits definitely do right.