what do you call the different ingredients in your Country?

[Mahk]

On an unrelated side issue, what do you call the different ingredients (if they weren't mock versions) in your country? I'm looking for international answers. Eggs are called eggs everywhere I'd assume but I know that what I call "sausage" is called "bangers" (I think) elsewhere, right? The bread we call an "English muffin" and the cheese is "American cheese".... Anyone?

[harpy]

"Banger" is slang - we'd probably say "sausage". The muffin is just a muffin and - not sure what I'd call that kind of cheese

Thinking about it makes veganism doubly appealing, I must say!

[Tigerlily]

On an unrelated side issue, what do you call the different ingredients (if they weren't mock versions) in your country? I'm looking for international answers. Eggs are called eggs everywhere I'd assume but I know that what I call "sausage" is called "bangers" (I think) elsewhere, right? The bread we call an "English muffin" and the cheese is "American cheese".... Anyone?

I don't think American cheese exists outside of America. I heard it's simply cheap cheddar.

[cedarblue]

what americans call an english muffin is what the english would call a crumpet.
theres a cake muffin and a bread muffin roll too.

[harpy]

what americans call an english muffin is what the english would call a crumpet.

Oh, is it? I thought crumpets were those things with holes in - not something you could split, but maybe I'm confused.

[Roxy]

To me an English muffin is like what a McMuffin is made out of. A crumpet is one of those things with holes in it, like harpy says.

[harpy]

Apparently in the north of England they call muffins "crumpets"

http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/cg_muffins.htm

I hope that clarifies matters

Edited to add that I got that the wrong way round - in the north of England they call crumpets "muffins", according to that link - but it doesn't say what they call muffins in the north of England, I don't think...

[Roxy]

I have heard another meaning for both of those words

[cedarblue]

the mystery deepens .....

[Poison Ivy]

Muffin



Crumpet



Pikelet





Mystery solved .....unless we're talking about the alternate meanings Roxy knows, in which case I ain't posting pictures of those!!

[BlackCats]

Thats how I would view muffins and crumpets (apart from muffins can also be those sweet chocolate cake like things)

I've never heard of pikelets, when I lived in Staffordshire they used to have something called barmcakes but I can't remember what they were?

[Linxie]

I'd eat that.

Can someone open a Vegan fast food outlet near to me please?

Have you ever been to Red Veg? I have read about it but never been. Just wondered what it is like?

[Frosty]

I've been to the one in Brighton. It was ruddy lovely, kinda pricey though.

[Linxie]

I might give it a go then ... as a treat

[cedarblue]

mmm pikelets - or scotch pancakes

- am i starting somethinge else off here????

[BlackCats]

Oh pikelets are scotch pancakes I see, I bought some pancakes from my husband recently but they had egg in them.

[Mahk]

Muffin

Thanks Poison Ivy ! It's interesting that what you call a muffin comes out of a bag labeled "English muffins" which is what we call it! We never eat these straight from the bag, they need to be toasted first or locally here in Boston they often fry them on the same grille as the eggs/sausage/bacon ! (yuck)

To me a muffin is this (this one happens to be blueberry, perhaps the most common here):



What would you call these? [The same thing but with icing on top would be called a "cup cake".]

[Poison Ivy]

A Muffin

[harpy]

I'd call it "an American muffin" but that's probably rather old-fashioned; most people probably just call both kinds muffins - you can usually tell what kind is meant from the context.

[Poison Ivy]

I agree Harpy, when we English say muffin then that's likely to be the English Muffin pictured above (although they're not called English Muffins over here, just Muffins), if we are talking about the American style Muffins then its usually prefixed by Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, Triple Chocolate etc etc so it's easy enough to understand which is which!

Oh, and a Scotch Pancake is different to a pikelet, a pikelet is like a crumpet (lots of little holes) but is flat. Scotch Pancakes don't have holes and are probably what Americans refer to as Pancakes, whereas English Pancakes are probably referred to as Crepes in America......phew,how confusing!!

[Aradia]

Oh lawks.... this is like porn to me!!!

I need some toasted bread product RIGHT NOW!!!

[cobweb]

ha-ha, you should try living in Scotland, it's all Butteries and Stovies and Neeps and Tatties and Skink

[Robert]

Hmmm... a muffin is a muffin, a crumpet is a flapjack, a flapjack is a crunchie, a cupcake is a cookie, and a cookie is a biscuit in South African English.

Chips are chips but crisps are also chips. We seem to instinctively know which is being referred to in conversation.

A scone is a scone as in 'gone' whilst up here a scone is a scone as in 'moan'.

An eggplant can be an aubergine or a brinjal. Passionfruit is granadilla and Sharon fruit persimmon. An avocado is avocado pear. Lychees are Litchis.

[daricsmami]

What do they call American biscuits in other English-speaking countries?

I heard that a true "scone" (pronounced skoan in American English) is pretty similar to an American biscuit. But in the States, we normally only eat sweet scones, but biscuits can be sweet or savory.

[Aradia]

ha-ha, you should try living in Scotland, it's all Butteries and Stovies and Neeps and Tatties and Skink

Cobweb - I don't know what any of that stuff is, but it sound damn fine!

[harpy]

What do they call American biscuits in other English-speaking countries?

I heard that a true "scone" (pronounced skoan in American English) is pretty similar to an American biscuit. But in the States, we normally only eat sweet scones, but biscuits can be sweet or savory.

I'm not sure that we have an equivalent to your biscuits though as you say scones are not dissimilar, and there is also something called a "cobbler" which has a scone-like topping.

Of course a "biscuit" in British English is what you would call a cookie, or sometimes a savoury cracker.

Makes you wonder if food terminology on either side of the Pond has diverged more than other aspects of language, or whether we are actually talking at complete cross-purposes most of the time

[Mahk]

In..er.. "American English" these are biscuits:


This is a (chocolate chip) cookie:


These are dinner rolls:


These are crescent rolls when small, chewy, soft and for dinner:


but larger, for breakfast, flaky, and with a slight crust are croissants:


Graham crackers are good for pie crust:


or making smores at a camp fire:

[BlackCats]

Mahk - the biscuits look like what we would call scones. We would have a 'cream tea' in UK with scones with strawberry jam and fresh clotted cream.

I have never tried soya cream as a replacement.

My Irish Grandmother used to make the best scones with raisins in them.
She used to make things with lard in it and not understand why I couldn't eat them being vegetarian.

[auntierozzi]

I hope that I haven't missed a post on this but could anybody tell me what 'grits' are? I remember a bad sit-com where somebody used to say "You can kiss my grits"....So it's never been something I felt I could bring up in polite conversation...!!! Thankyou

[harpy]

Yes, the biscuits do look like scones - maybe it's just the savoury type/application that we don't have.

[Mahk]

Biscuits and what we call scones look similar but a biscuit is doughy, soft, chewy, and light. A scone visually is nearly identicle but is crumbly, hard, brittle, and heavy.

[Mahk]

I hope that I haven't missed a post on this but could anybody tell me what 'grits' are? I remember a bad sit-com where somebody used to say "You can kiss my grits"....So it's never been something I felt I could bring up in polite conversation...!!! Thankyou

Grits are more common in the south of the US and are similar to a bowl of prepared oatmeal (porridge?) but made from cornmeal, I guess. They really do have a slightly gritty consistency, hence the name. I don't think anyone really uses that expression, by the way, but on TV you can't use the word "ass" so they substituted "grits".

[BlackCats]

Oh I didn't know thats what grits were.

Staying with my Irish Gran what do you call dumplings in US? (as in Irish stew with dumplings?)

[Mahk]

I'm not sure how to answer. Stews have dumplings swimming/floating around in them? or you mean as a side dish to your stew? Have you a picture?

OK, a question from me now. What percentage of UK homes have "tea time"? Is it only for older folks? Is it 7 days a week? Always at the same time in the afternoon? If I were invited to one would it be insulting for me to ask for herb tea instead? or (like a typical Yank) coffee? We don't have anything even remotely like it here.

[BlackCats]

Oh you have the dumplings same as us - I thought that was an English/ Irish thing.

A lot of people in the North of UK call (what I would call my evening meal)dinner - 'tea'.
Maybe thats what you mean by 'tea-time', it doesn't actually mean a cup of tea, its a meal.

People usually drink tea at all times of day in UK (its like a heroin habit to a lot of English people.) They say I'm gasping for a cuppa... like a junkie haha.

[absentmindedfan]

'Tea time' as an institution stopped a long time ago, the upper classes would have tea - pots of tea with cakes, scones etc. around mid afternoon - but this stopped in the 1950s I would guess.

We now only have 'tea' (unless you're a Northerner in which case it's your dinner) on holiday in Devon and Cornwall (SW of UK) as a tourist treat. They serve 'traditional' Devon/Cornish cream teas which are scones with jam, cream and a pot of tea. And to make matters worse, you can get them at any time of day and most counties have now made them their own e.g. 'Norfolk cream tea' 'Yorkshire cream tea' etc. ad nauseum.

So are US biscuits like a savoury scone that you have with dinner?

[Mahk]

My mistake. My use of "tea time" seems to be the American name for what is properly "afternoon tea" then? Here is my ignorant American thinking of how afternoon tea goes:

At roughly 4 PM in the afternoon, on some days of the week (?), British society (perhaps only certain upper classes or age groups?) take a break from work and sit down around a "tea table" to drink (probably) Earl Grey (?) tea. The custom is a chiefly British tradition and manners and etiquette are most important as this is considered a "formal" event. You wouldn't attend in a ripped T-shirt or wearing anything from pop/rock culture.

I bet some of you are rolling on the floor laughing at my ignorance but this is how I picture it. Please fill me in.

[absentmindedfan]

Ha! No that does not happen anywhere, except perhaps in really upper-class houses where they don't have jobs but they're a dying breed thank goodness.
If you stopped work to have afternoon tea here you'd get sacked!
And most of us drink tea in whatever clothes we happen to have on; PJs, work clothes, nude...

[Aradia]

Hey! That's exactly what happens in my house at 4pm. I even don a hat, but gloves are now considered old-fashioned

[BlackCats]

Lol - Mahk that is hilarious!

[BlackCats]

Mahk - The way you describe England reminds me of the way Britain is portrayed in UK films like 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'.

It also reminds me of books I used to read when I was younger like 'Mallory Towers' and Enid Blyton's books, where characters used to have 'high tea' whatever that is. Wow I used to love those books! They were always talking about food in them.

[Robert]

My mistake. My use of "tea time" seems to be the American name for what is properly "afternoon tea" then? Here is my ignorant American thinking of how afternoon tea goes:

At roughly 4 PM in the afternoon, on some days of the week (?), British society (perhaps only certain upper classes or age groups?) take a break from work and sit down around a "tea table" to drink (probably) Earl Grey (?) tea. The custom is a chiefly British tradition and manners and etiquette are most important as this is considered a "formal" event. You wouldn't attend in a ripped T-shirt or wearing anything from pop/rock culture.

I bet some of you are rolling on the floor laughing at my ignorance but this is how I picture it. Please fill me in.

Some of the posher hotels still offer a 'high tea' for guests and walk in visitors. The Ritz in London is one that I can think of offhand. Also, the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town still does a 'high tea'.

The only high tea that I ever experienced personally was as a kid in South Africa in the home of a friend of my mother. She hailed from Northern Ireland and both her and her husband were from the upper classes of society there. Whenever we visited them the fresh baked scones, cream and jam were on hand.

[Stine]

I thought i was fun that when i lived in Scotland thet called Breakfast cakes (or what you call them) danish.. i live in denmark and I was a bit confused when I heard that we call them Wienerbroed.. Wien =Vienna
Confusing

[Mahk]

What Danish in US are:


Robert, thanks for confirming that "high tea" still exists at least on some level.

Yes, I admit it, my misconceptions about British culture comes from a mixture of watching Hugh Grant romantic comedies and James Bond films...

What?....those aren't 100% accurate?

[Stine]

Yep I found out... Those we call wienerbroed
But it was quite funny when I worked in a coffe shop and people ordered danish, one time my coworker tried to sell me :P

[Ruby Rose]

Are American preserves the same thing as jam? Some of the VCTOW recipes call for preserves, and I'm not sure what the nearest equivalent would be? But wait - don't you call jam, jelly (like peanut butter and jelly) - and so what we call jelly (the kid's disgusting wobbly gelatine dessert) you call... what?

[Mahk]

Ha! Very funny Stine, so I guess the real question is what do people in Vienna call them then?

To me jelly is made from juice, sugar, pectin? and no solid fruit.
Jam is the same but with added, solid, suspended, chunks of fruit. And preserves are similar to jam but the added solid fruit is more of a mashed or pulverized paste, not large solid chunks.

[Tigerlily]

We call it by it's brand name, Jell-o. Some cookbooks or recipes say "gelatin dessert" to avoid saying the brand name.

In Canada at least, we have both jam and jelly. Jam has pieces of fruit, jelly is very gelatinous (although it's pectin-based) and has no fruit pieces. I think preserves is jam--with the fruit pieces still in there.

[Mahk]

Yes, here too, Jello brand gelatin dessert often has a dollop of whipped cream on top. Is it "whipped cream" to all out cultures? hmmmm

[tipsy]

in australia last summer, i went into a "devonshire tea" house... to find that they didnt actually serve tea. and i often would look at the vegetarian selection on a menu to find fish or seafood or chicken!!!

and to all you australians out there what exactly are lollies?

i would see lolly shops & corner stores that sold lollies... are they just candy stores?

cause a lolly to americans means an actual lollypop.... like a sweet that you suck on stuck to a stick.