The US and the UK: Divided by a Common (Culinary) Language

[Caitlin McGrath]

In the "One more tea rant" thread on the General Topics board, Paulustrius floated the idea of a thread with this title to address food and cooking-related vocabulary/language differences in our respective transatlantic versions of English.

(It'd be interesting to note the differences in other English-speaking countries, as well. I know not all Commonwealth nations use the British conventions, and that Anglophone Canada, for instance, uses most of the same terminology the US does.)

So here are a few for starters.

From the tea thread:

US French press vs. UK cafétiere

A few more:

zucchini vs. courgette

eggplant vs. aubergine

bell pepper vs. capsicum

snow pea vs. mangetout

arugula vs. rocket

romaine vs. cos

cilantro (or fresh coriander or Chinese parsley) vs. coriander (for the leaf)

dark chocolate vs. plain chocolate

all purpose flour vs. plain flour

baking soda vs. bicarb or bicarbinate of soda

cookie vs. biscuit

french fries vs. chips

potato chips vs. potato crisps

[Paulustrious]

Some brands names are so iconic that they can leave you wondering if you are not from that part.

When I make an apple pie I always use birds.
I keep an arm and hammer in my fridge

Javex sounds like a programming language, while Domestos sounds like an Mexican employment agency.

[smartie]

Bird's is custard in the UK
Domestos is bleach - Clorox here in the US.

[Harters]

I was reminded of this thread on our current "What's for Dinner" (in Home Cooking). Here's one I think we missed first time around.

Over = With

As in Americans will serve something "over rice", we serve it "with rice".

[buttertart]

Hmm...in my experience in the States "over" means main dish on top of a bed of rice, as in some Chinese restaurant lunch plates - rice served beside the main course would be "with." Is this a southern US locution? I haven't spent much time below the Mason-Dixon line.

[LindaWhit]

Agreed - I use both terms - I serve cashew chicken over rice (the cashew chicken and veggies spooned on top of the rice), but a stuffed chicken breast is served with rice (i.e., the chicken is alongside the rice).

[Harters]

Must just be my perception then. Perhaps the "over" just jumps off the page to me and it doesnt when folk have used "with". We'd still usually say "with" even when it's literally "over"

[LindaWhit]

Yes, that makes sense.

[buttertart]

Gotcha (as we say here).

[Harters]

Slinks away, stage left.....................

[LindaWhit]

No, no, Harters - I'm pretty sure buttertart's kind of "gotcha" means "we understand", not "ha-hah!" with pointed fingers. Please re-enter, stage right. :-)

[Harters]

Damn. It's another of those bloody translation issues!!!!!!!!!

Finger pointing triumphalism is often implied with Brit Gotcha's. As in this very famous newspaper headline: http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/gotcha...

Sometimes my country's "best" is not always reflected in our newspapers. LOL.

John

[smartie]

without even looking this must be that famous Sun headline during Maggie's war!

[buttertart]

No Harters dear, I would never say "gotcha"in that sense to you. I meant I realized "where you were coming from" to use another US idiom, I understood why over/with would have struck you. Two countries divided by a single language department.

[cathodetube]

Think I would just say I get it. What part of the country are you from? Gotcha to me means like fooling someone - as in you faked someone out and pulled the wool over their eyes. Kinda of like when you hide around the corner from someone and then jump out at them making them scream loudly. Maybe I have been here too long and I don't know what is what anymore.

Is having your 'nose out of joint' an expression used in the US?

[alanbarnes]

Californian here, but I've lived in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Texas, and Ohio. "Gotcha" is often used to mean "I understand" in all of those places.

And yes, having your "nose out of joint" is a somewhat old-fashioned expression for being annoyed.

[Caitlin McGrath]

It is pretty obvious when "Gotcha" is used orally whether its meaning is "I've caught/surprised you" or "I understand," from the tone and inflection with which it is said.

[alanbarnes]

Gotcha.

[Harters]

Gotcha ;-0

I'm beginning to regret mentioning "over" and "with". LOL

[BobB]

Let's just consider the subject over and done with then, shall we? ;-)

[LindaWhit]

LOL! BobB for the win. ;-)

[buttertart]

Presently New York City but have lived in the midwest and in northern California. Everywhere I've been people use it in that sense. Gotcha BobB, this conversation should be ovah!

[cathodetube]

The creeping Americanization of the UK means that they usually say fries here now. I blame MacDonalds!

[Harters]

Certainly "fries" is becoming more commonly used - particularly amongst the generation that frequents burger places

There are, erm, certain types of restaurant which will also say "fries" instead of "chips". Usually places I wouldnt want to eat in. "Fries" are marginally worse than the now ubiquitous "fat chip", which is also an abomination to our national cuisine. A chip, whether to be eaten with fish, steak, eggs or whatever, should be chip shaped. Tis no wonder that we no longer have an empire when we've let this happen to us.

[cathodetube]

And what about the use of 'frites' for the skinny fries. Or should it be 'shoestring'? Does/did anyone in the US call them 'freedom' fries? I couldn't ever believe that story.......

[Harters]

I don't mind them being called "frites" - so long as it's in a French restaurant or, at least, one with pretensions to be.

[Paulustrious]

Believe it. Here is the wikinfo..

On March 11, 2003, Representatives Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and Walter B. Jones, Jr. (R-North Carolina) declared that all references to French fries and French toast on the menus of the restaurants and snack bars run by the House of Representatives would be removed. House cafeterias were ordered to rename French fries to "freedom fries". This action was carried out without a congressional vote, under the authority of Ney's position as Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, which oversees restaurant operations for the chamber. The simultaneous renaming of French toast to "freedom toast" attracted less attention.

Frogs' legs had no such bounds.

Another extract from that same article that made me laugh was an atypical French understatement...

The Embassy of France in Washington, D.C. made no comment beyond pointing out that French fries probably come from Belgium. "We are at a very serious moment dealing with very serious issues and we are not focusing on the name you give to potatoes," said Nathalie Loisau, an embassy spokeswoman.

[Das Ubergeek]

Oh God, I remember that. "Freedom" fries have long since gone away, though some places now call them "American" fries or just plain "fries".

The one that did take me aback was an ice cream shop on Main Street in Woodbridge, New Jersey where I spent three minutes trying to figure out what made "Liberty Vanilla" different to "Vanilla". (Hint: Liberty Vanilla contains eggs.)

And my French friend's reaction to the whole debate was very similar to the embassy's: "Ce que vous voulez appeler un mets belge, nous nous en foutons comme de nos premières culottes."

[Caitlin McGrath]

However, it was pretty much considered silliness outside the HOR. To answer cathodetube's question, the general public didn't adopt that locution.

[cathodetube]

I know this is slightly off topic, but has the US banned imports of Roquefort cheese now? I read it somewhere. If so, why?

[LindaWhit]

It wasn't a ban, per se - it was an extremely high tariff on the import. It was retaliatory against the EU's ban on accepting imports of hormone-treated beef from the U.S.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12416...

The high tariff has been dropped. For now.

[cathodetube]

Thanks for that explanation Palustrious- very interesting and strange!

[Paulustrious]

Tuxedo - Dinner jacket
Hog - Pig
saran {wrap} - clingfilm
burner - ring
ragu - bolognese (approx)
fish sticks - fish fingers

[cathodetube]

Brits now say hog roast and not pig roast. Speaking American seems to be a badge of pride now. Sometimes that is good!!??
They also say hob instead of burner. Ring would refer to the coiled elements on electric cookers which are uncommon now.

[alkapal]

i think more americans say pig roast than hog roast.

[Paulustrious]

I should mention that burner is used here for electric as well as gas. Times must have changed since I lived in the UK. In them thar days, a hob was the complete unit (= American cooktop) and you had gas rings and everything round here was just fields.

[cathodetube]

A lot of British homes now have separate hobs, ie ceramic, halogen, gas, mounted in a countertop. The oven is separate. If you still have an old fashioned cooker , then that it the complete unit like a US stove is. You would still say on the hob if you are talking about cooking something on the top, ie not on or in the grill (eye level or not!) or in the oven. Personally I am a big fan of eye level grills. Or should that be broiler?!

[BobB]

There's another one: cooker (UK) = stove (US). The word cooker is never used on its own in the US, but only with an adjective before it to refer to certain small appliances (e.g., rice cooker, pressure cooker, slow cooker, etc). Anything with a cooking surface on top and an oven of some sort in the middle is a stove.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Or occasionally a "range."

[smartie]

we have forgotten these Heinz products available in the UK but not in the US (unless on the British sections)

Heinz sandwich spread - hard to describe, kind of a mayo with bits of peppers, pickles etc, great on hot toast
Heinz Salad Cream
Heinz Tomato Soup - fab nothing like it
Heinz Beans - might have been discussed earlier but not like US baked beans.

[Ruth Lafler]

I used to see sandwich spread around. Isn't salad cream basically the same as Miracle Whip?

But the topic is not foods that exist in one place but not the other (atlhough it did drift a bit that direction), but rather foods that have different names in the U.S. and the U.K.

[kattyeyes]

If Heinz sandwich spread is mayo-like with bits of peppers, pickles--isn't that a variation of tartar sauce (plus peppers)?

[Ruth Lafler]

As I said, sandwich spread exists in the U.S. I don't think Heinz makes it for the U.S. market, but Best Foods/Hellman's does: http://www.bestfoods.com/products/san...

[alkapal]

yes ruth lafler, that's exactly the one i was thinking of, too. it's like a more mayonaisse-y thousand island dressing.

[Ruth Lafler]

Yup. I hate mayo and wouldn't touch the stuff, but I remember my grandmother liked it.

[Paulustrious]

I'll try to remember to buy some next time I'm out and see if it is roughly the same as my memory. However alkapal's use of the word mayonaisse-y would make me think it isn't. Heinz salad cream is not the same as Hellmans mayonnaise. The salad cream is sweeter and sourer than Hellmans. My guess is just more sugar and vinegar plus something to make it yellower. (Might be the malt vinegar?) The same may be true of the sandwich spread.
And then there is piccallili, a condiment I don't remember from the USA. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, just that I cannot remember it. Home-made is the best...

http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Piccal...

[LindaWhit]

Piccalilli definitely exists in the U.S. I saw it often when I lived in central PA. Ours often doesn't usually contain the cauliflower or green beans, but instead is often based on green tomatoes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccalilli#American_piccalilli

And here's an early recipe: http://tinyurl.com/lr4lzn

[Ruth Lafler]

We're talking about three different things: mayo, "salad cream" and "sandwich spread."

From previous discussions, I think the closest to "salad cream" in the U.S. is Miracle Whip.

"Sandwich spread" is what was being described as "mayonaisse-y Thousand Island dressing" and seems to be basically the same product in the U.S. and U.K.

[Atahualpa]

You can occasionally get Salad Cream here in Toronto, Canada. It is definitely not the same as Miracle Whip. Thinner, tart-er, maybe even sweeter.

[LindaWhit]

Heinz's Salad Cream is sold in U.S. supermarkets now as well. I *think* in the international aisle, but also perhaps in the condiment (mayo/mustard/ketchup/BBQ sauce) aisle.

[Harters]

"Heinz sandwich spread - hard to describe"

How about "vomit in a jar"?

But Heinz Tomato Soup is what you just have to have if you're feeling a bit poorly and run-down. A life restorer if ever there was one.

[buttertart]

How does it differ from Campbell's tomato soup, the US kiddie lunch special and sentimental favorite of many adults (incl me) in the US?

[smartie]

Heinz Tomato soup is nothing like campbells, firstly it's ready to heat no adding of water or milk. It's smooth with no bits, it's darker and it kinda burns the back of your throat and as Harters says it's perfect if you feel a little unwell.

But I can't agree with his description of sandwich spread being like 'vomit in a jar'. But like Marmite - you either love it or hate it.

[Paulustrious]

A very graphic description. If he attacks any more of my condiments I will marmalise him. (Not heard that word in the US).

[kattyeyes]

Had to look that up. Sounds very Willy Wonka a la when Augustus Gloop falls into the Chocolate River. ;)

[Harters]

True, true.

I can't abide Marmite, either.

But I do lurrvve Gentleman's Relish.

[alkapal]

harters, would you please describe gentleman's relish's flavor and texture? it has anchovy as a base flavor, right? is it generally available, or only from higher-end purveyors, like fortnum & mason? i have it on mr. alka's shopping list while he's in london. is there a "best" version?

[Peg]

As far as I am aware there is only one version - Patum peperium gentlemans relish, in a round white pot with black lettering. (Though at Christmas the packaging can change to somethng fancier). I've seen it in Asda (Walmart), and other supermarkets.
Anchovy is not the'base flavour', it is THE flavour. Well, spiced up a bit. They do a salmon spread too (similar pot) though I've not tried it.

[alkapal]

thanks, peg. so, it is a proprietary product. i found a "recipe" taste-alike (allegedly) on recipezaar. http://www.recipezaar.com/Patum-Peperium-the-Secret-is-out-Gentlemans-Relish-228778

but here's a slightly different "copycat": http://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus...

which one (if either) do you think looks about right to you?

[cathodetube]

The recipe for the Heinz Tom Soup has changed though, not the same as it is a lot sweeter. The nostalgia link just isn't there for me any more. I would rather have chicken noodle soup made with chicken stock and quick noodles.

[Peg]

US gravy seems to be any kind of sauce, whereas UK gravy is made of meat drippings (or Bisto).

And another thing - I've seen a lot of US posts referring to food by colour instead of flavour (color/flavor).
Like 'red sauce', 'yellow cake', 'white gravy' - in the UK I've never heard food referred to in this way - we tend to refer to flavours instead. There also seems to be a US chocolate cake dyed red - what's that about?

[LindaWhit]

The US "gravy" being sauce is usually limited to New York/New Jersey Italian families (or those that grew up around them). Not sure if it's also out there for other areas of the U.S., but despite having grown up in northern NJ, "gravy" to me has always meant meat drippings in the roasting pan mixed with flour, seasonings, and Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master.

Red sauce gravy (i.e., pasta sauce) has always been spaghetti or pasta sauce for my family, never "gravy".

[kattyeyes]

In my family (of Italian heritage) your last sentence describes "sauce"--not red, not tomato, not pasta or spaghetti--all that is understood. If my mom says she's going to make a pot of sauce, I know. Outside my family, I have learned that sometimes I need to explain what "sauce" means to me. ;)

It's funny how that cutoff line seems to separate NY/NJ from CT...unless there are other Italians in CT who used to say "gravy"--we didn't in my hometown, and my town is a sister city to Melilli, Sicily, so we've got serious Italian roots here. Very interesting.

[thew]

and it was more in NJ than NY, and within NY it was more in teh suburban and outer boroughs areas

[nanette]

The UK has brown sauce aka HP Sauce.

Red cake is red velvet cake. Wikipedia reports that it is dyed red to mimic earlier colours of chocolate or from the substitution of beets during WWII.

[Caitlin McGrath]

And it's not really a chocolate cake, as most recipes contain only a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder.

[kattyeyes]

Your UK gravy description makes more sense to me (gravy = pan drippings).

That's kind of funny about our (US) tendency to refer to food by color. I believe the chocolate cake you reference is red velvet. Someone from the southern part of the US can answer you better than I can, so I will step aside and let an expert give you the lowdown there.

I should say, though, there's a difference between white cake and yellow cake. I can't explain what it is precisely, but it goes beyond the color. Yellow is my favorite cake (for birthdays)...with chocolate frosting.

[JoanN]

A white cake contains whole eggs; a yellow cake contains only the yolks.

[kattyeyes]

JoanN, thanks. I'll admit this publicly--if only I had ever made a yellow cake from scratch rather than Duncan Hines (butter recipe golden), I would know that. It's on my list of things to try. I have baked plenty of other cakes and cookies from scratch, but DH butter recipe golden was always my b'day cake of choice and it still tastes good to me...with my own chocolate lover's frosting.

[alkapal]

sista kattyeyes, try adding a bit of vanilla extract and an extra egg to your duncan hines butter recipe. yum!

[kattyeyes]

Must try it--thanks, sis. You know ol' Duncan and I are old friends.

[alkapal]

i made diamond shaped "cupcakes" in those silicone cups. they tasted like little pound cakes.

[kattyeyes]

Those kinda diamonds would be THIS girl's best friend! ;) Shine on, sista!

[alkapal]

wilton silicone cupcake molds in various shapes are neat. i also have the square and triangle shapes shown here. http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Diamond-...
they're also available at target.

[LindaWhit]

Oh, I can't use those silicone pans - nasty rubbery smell (and taste!) the first time I used one when they first started being sold. Turned me off them forever (kinda like I can't drink vodka and OJ after a it chose not to stay in my stomach after a high school party <g>).

I do have an antique square/diamond cupcake pan tho. But I don't make all that many cupcakes. :-)

[alkapal]

ah, that's too bad. these wiltons don't have any discernible odor, to me. if you were on the vanguard of trying the "new" silicone baking containers, perhaps the products have been improved quite a bit since you tried them and got turned off. plus, i think wiltons is a premium brand.

[LindaWhit]

I know Wilton's a very good brand. And I'm sure they are better than they first were. But remembering that smell in the house just icks me out every time I contemplate buying another one.

[kattyeyes]

I discussed this yesterday at a local (trusted) kitchen store owner. She assured me Wilton's molds don't smell. She did say, like so many other products, quality of ingredients (or lack thereof) in the actual moldmaking could have yielded that smelly result you encountered back when. They had little standalone fluted cupcake molds (12 in a pack). Quite adorable--you'd just stand 'em on a tray to bake. Maybe when you see a shape that grabs you, you'll try again. ;)

[Caitlin McGrath]

I was just given some of those standalone cupcake molds as a gift. I was a bit concerned, as I have a couple of other silicone pans (also a gift) that I don't particularly like - they don't smell bad or anything, I just don't like the way baked goods come out in them. But I read a piece from the NY Times from a while ago that said the cupcake molds are the most effective of the silicone pans. I'll see if I can find it.

ETA: Here is the article. She doesn't discuss the cupcake molds in the article, but does list them in her recommended items. The article also states the issue that leads to smelly results like Linda's: pans manufactured with fillers, as opposed to pure silicone.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage...

[Ruth Lafler]

Speaking of cupcakes, that's another one for the list:

US "cupcakes" are "fairy cakes" in the UK.

[LindaWhit]

Ahhh, interesting, Caitlin, on the use of fillers instead of pure silicone. Perhaps that's what they did early on in the manufacture of these things. I do admit I don't recall whether the silicone pans I bought years ago were made by Wilton - I can't recall the name. I just remember I got them at Sur la Table (which is a bit of a drive for me), and was ticked I had to drive there to return them.

At this point - I have enough metal pans (inherited from Grandma and Mom gave me some), so I'm good.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Interesting that you say this, Joan, as my reading of recipes has always shown white cakes to be made with egg whites only (the lack of yolks giving the white color), and yellow cakes made with either yolks only or whole eggs, depending on the recipe.

[kattyeyes]

Here's an explanation from Joy of Baking that's on the same page with you, Caitlin:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/YellowButt...

Have you or Joan ever made this particular cake, by chance?

[JoanN]

Now I'm thoroughly confused. Just checked a bunch of recipes and you're right, Caitlin. All but one of the recipes for white cake uses whites only.

But the link you provided, kattyeyes, says what I did originally: "the difference is that a yellow cake contains just the egg yolks, whereas a white cake contains whole eggs."

Since I'm obviously not sure what I'm talking about, I'll now bow out of this discussion.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Ha, Joan, I was on my way to say the same thing: "Since I'm obviously not sure what I'm talking about, I'll now bow out of this discussion", as I looked at a variety of recipes (on the web) for "white cake" and some used whites only, some whole eggs.

Oh dear, mass confusion and no real answers! Chocolate cake for everyone.

[kattyeyes]

Sorry, Joan, I've contributed to the confusion, too. Here's the quote from Joy of Baking:

"Before we begin I should first explain the difference between a yellow and a white butter cake. If we put the mixing methods aside, we find that while the two batters both contain butter, sugar, eggs, flour and milk, the difference is that a yellow cake contains just the egg yolks, whereas a white cake contains whole eggs."

This is NOT what Caitlin stated--sorry for the confusion. I guess the concept as a whole is a bit confusing, given the variations between recipes.

[smartie]

US pigs in blankets - UK sausage rolls

[Sam Fujisaka]

Toad in the hole

[Caitlin McGrath]

Egg fried in the middle of a slice of bread with a hole cut out of it

vs.

Sausage baked in Yorkshire pudding

[paulj]

I can't think of a typical American dish that is similar to toad in the hole. I make it every now and then, but that based on book-learning. Never had it made by someone else.

Parkin is another uniquely British dish - it's a Yorkshire gingerbread, heavy in rolled oats and molasses.

[greedygirl]

I love toad in the hole, but rarely make it because my other half isn't keen. It's sausages and Yorkshire pudding (both of which he likes). What's not to like?

My mother used to make parkin a lot when we were kids - haven't had it for years.

[Gooseberry]

I get them confused; once called Toad in a Hole "Pig in a Shed". My family's kept that name, ever since.

[greedygirl]

Pigs in blankets here are chipolatas wrapped in streaky bacon - typically served as part of Christmas dinner with roast turkey etc.

[Harters]

As opposed to pigs in blankets that I had for breakfast in West Virginia - sausages wrapped in pancakes. In the UK, I've done them like this with Staffordshire oatcakes. Both a fab start to the day.

Mrs H is retiring at the end of September and has vowed to take up baking as a hobby - parkin is one of her favourite cakes so I'm looking forward to autumn on a number of levels.

[greedygirl]

Staffordshire oatcakes?

[Harters]

I think they should start marketing them as the Potteries Wrap

http://www.staffordshireoatcakes.com/

Sprinkle with cheese, pop under the grill for a minute of so, wrap round sausage or bacon. Breakfast is served, ma'am.

[Paulustrious]

Haven't had them for ages. I used to get them in Stoke. I like them with an egg. Here's a recipe I've used.

http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipe/77...

[kattyeyes]

Just to be sure we are on the same page in the US (as I think there are variations), I think of pigs in blankets as hot dogs wrapped in Pillsbury crescent dough. At parties, they're usually those little cocktail franks in something similar like crescent dough or maybe puff pastry.

[nanette]

I wouldn't say that pigs in blankets (US) are the same as sausage rolls (UK) as in the US they are frequently mini hotdogs wrapped in dough, where as a sausage roll is sausage meat cooked in puff pastry and then cut into pieces.

[smartie]

I would agree with you Nanette! I am not sure what you would call Pigs in Blankets in the UK and I have had them there.

Any US equivalent to a Scotch Egg? A boiled egg centred in sausage meat and deep fried.

[nanette]

I've not had them here, I think they might have "dog" in the title.

I can't think of anything equal to a Scotch Egg. Good thing.

[BobB]

No, on the rare occasions I've seen Scotch Eggs in the US, that's what they were called. I'm surprised we don't see more of them over here, it seems like something that would fit right in with Southern cuisine.

[cathodetube]

Pigs in blankets are whole sausages in a pastry/croissant crust. Sausage rolls are chopped up sausage meat in flaky pastry. Not really the same and usually much nicer/

[smartie]

we have not mentioned the confusing names for meal times
usa breakfast lunch and dinner

UK - breakfast self explanatory although a cooked breakfast usually means a fry up of bacon sausage, eggs, beans, toast etc etc
lunch can also be called dinner - school dinners are school lunches, it also depends on your class and where you originate.
tea - this can mean 4pm cup of tea, sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, scones OR
it can mean your dinner (never lunch though) again class and geography dependent
supper - this is dinner or supper or a very late snack
dinner - either lunch or dinner.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Discussion of meal names above starts here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6150...

As you will see, the US versions aren't so cut and dried, either.

[smartie]

I thought of another difference - the word salad!

an egg sandwich in the Uk is called egg mayonnaise not egg salad, ditto for tuna, brits would say a tuna mayo sandwich (it usually has sweetcorn in it). Brits do not say egg salad or tuna salad and expect it to be mixed with mayo. If you ask for a tuna salad in the UK you would get a green salad with tomatoes cucumbers etc with a can of tuna on it, an egg salad would be a green salad etc with slice eggs on it.

[Harters]

I recall ordering a chicken salad in North Carolina on our last trip - it turned out to be a deeply unpleasant surprise of gloop on a plate - not at all the nice crisp leaves and piece of chicken I was expecting

[smartie]

yep Harters, in the UK a chicken salad has leaves salad vegetables and pieces of chicken on it. Here in the US you get bits of chicken mixed with mayo.

I have lived in the US for a few years now and still confuse myself and others with food terminology and expectations.

[Paulustrious]

But oddly, potato salad is mayonnated.

[cathodetube]

In the UK, I wouldn't expect an egg sandwich to have mayonnaise in it. That would just be sliced egg, probably with just pepper and salt. Or egg and tomato, or egg and onion possibly. The mayo would have to be requested.

[Paulustrious]

Clams vs cockles ( not precisely, but close enough if clams is not prefixed.)

Shark vs Rock salmon, Huss

Dover sole vs Dover sole - not the same fish at at all (cf. robin)

Fluke (?) vs flounder

Periwinkles vs winkles

Vindaloo. In NA it is primarily a flavour rather than a 'temperature'.

Vancouver crab (Toronto and maybe elsewhere) vs Dungeness crab

[Caitlin McGrath]

On the west coast of the US, and I'd venture to guess in Vancouver (the Pacific coast down to the Monterey Bay is its harvesting ground), it's known as Dungenses crab.

[MMRuth]

Is there a similar crab in the U.K. though? I seem to remember some references to certain types of crab in the David books.

[Harters]

Crab is usually just sold as "crab". Although there may a cachet attached to certain ports where it's landed - such as Cromer, in Norfolk.

I have to say, one of the joys of an English summer is to sit outside a seaside pub eating a crab sandwich for lunch and watching the world pass by. Thick white bread, but not too thick, a generous buttering and a good thickness of crab with nothing more than a squeeze of lemon and a grind of pepper. By comparison, you can keep your Michelin starred places.

[MMRuth]

By the way - have you seen that the COTM is three of E. David's books?

[Caitlin McGrath]

I have no idea! Only Paulustrious can clarify, but I just assumed he was lining up North American vs. UK on the Dungeness front, as with the other.

[Paulustrious]

That was me being ignorant. Sorry, not my intention. It is known as Vancouver crab in many places in Toronto. I am ignorant of the rest of NA.

Dungeness is in the UK, but the one the crab is named after is Dungess in Washington. I had assumed it was the same big red crab we get off the coast of the UK. I was wrong.

Next time I will check with The Great Google.

[thew]

can you explain this vindaloo temperature thing? i'm not following

also fluke is specifically summer flounder i believe

[BobB]

Yeah, I wouldn't say temperature either. Vindaloo on either side of the pond is one of the spiciest dishes on an Indian menu, but in the UK it's generally prepared a LOT hotter (as in chile-hot) than it is here. Here I order vindaloo and have to ask for it extra hot - over there I usually just order Madras, which is one level down in heat, and it's still hotter than most US vindaloos.

[Paulustrious]

In the UK there is very much a 'heat' associated with a curry type. In ascending order of fierceness it goes...

Madras, Vindaloo, Tinderloo, and/or Phal

In reality these should be associated with flavours. So if I have a vindaloo in Toronto it does not necessarily blow my head off. The UK one would give me hiccups after the first couple of mouthfuls. At one time (maybe even now) you could order a vindaloo Rogan Josh, meaning a rogan josh spiced up to seriously hot.

Sorry about the fluke-flounder thing. Once again the Chow police have battered me into submission with a promise to do better next time.

[paulj]

According to my first Indian cookbook (an old Penguin paperback, 1970, UK), vinegar is the defining ingredient in a Vindaloo. 'The quantity of red pepper is a matter of discretion."

[thew]

from my time in india - vindaloo in india, as in here (NYC) is a specific type of "curry" (yeah i know but it's convenient) based on vinegar, AND is the hottest "curry" - the sourness is a Goan preference, and the heat came when the portuguese introduced the chili pepper to india.

Here, as in india, to order a vindaloo rogan josh would make no sense, as they are two completely different dishes, it would be like ordering a lasagna fried fish.

Phaal is a british dish, not heard of in india, and as of yet i have not had a phaal i liked - all heat and zero taste. I like it hot like that, but it must taste good too.

tinderloo? that i've never heard of.

[Paulustrious]

I had. Just did a google. Not many hits even allowing for spelling variants.

LOL...My new spell-checker just objected to google - it suggested: Go ogle.

How amazingly appropriate.

[waytob]

Similar to the British use of the word "chutney' for any kind of stewed savoury pickle. You will never be served a sweet mango 'chutney' in India, chutney refers to a very specific kind of condiment. The equivalent of British chutneys are probably the sweet mango 'chhundo' or the like

[thew]

really? i seem to recall sweet mango chutney in india, but maybe i'm mistaken

[JoanN]

"You will never be served a sweet mango 'chutney' in India"

I've never been to India, but there are certainly plenty of mango chutney recipes from authoritative Indian sources. Here are the ingredients in a mango chutney from Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian" that I made once and it was definitely sweet, although spicy as well.

2 Large green mangoes
2tsps salt
2-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 inch fresh ginger, chopped
12 floz cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar
14 oz granulated sugar
4 tbsp golden sultanas
half tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper

According to Julie Sahni, preserved relishes, especially those made with fruits, often contain expensive ingredients so are reserved for special occasions such as wedding banquets. Perhaps a chutney such as this one just wouldn't be served at an everyday meal.

[Harters]

"Similar to the British use of the word "chutney' for any kind of stewed savoury pickle."

I always work to the premise that a chutney is a preserve with no identifiable pieces. Otherwise it's a pickle.

Except that our best known commercial brand, Sharwoods, has some very nice big pieces in its mango chutney.

I currently have three home-made chutnies - beetroot (still the 2006 vintage), mango and plum. And pickled onions.

[waytob]

Chutney has evolved the same way as Chicken tikka masala...it is not an Indian original, however due to popularity has become part of "Indian cooking"
We have acchar in India and sweet pickles have unique names -

katki keri - made from extremely finely diced green mango soaked in a sugar syrup (chaansni)) with chilli powder and spices
Chhundo - grated green mango again in a sugar syrup, with vinegar and spices
Limbu achhar - lemon quarters with sugar and spices to make a sweet/sour pickle

Chutney is generally liquidy or a thick paste, but rarely will have whole fruit pieces in it

[Paulustrious]

Chutney apparently derives from Hindi chatni and this is one site's spin on it which backs up your post.

http://asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?al...

But the word in the UK came to mean chunks of stuff in a spiced 'sour' sauce, whether sweet or savoury, vegetable or fruit. Possibly the most famous, Branston Pickle, doesn't use the word chutney.

As a kid I used to read the labels of everything I ate. Niacin, thiamine and so on I remember that Branston had this magic secret ingredient rutabaga that I had never seen. I had no idea what part it played in the pickle. It was many years later that I realised it was swede and that they were just trying to make the relish more esoteric.

Now what makes a relish different (or the same) as a chutney? Is a relish more finely minced? I've never seen Gentlemen's Relish West of the Atlantic.

[buttertart]

Harters, would love a recipe for beet(root) chutney, perhaps you could post on Home Cooking? Beet lover here.

[Atahualpa]

I'm in Toronto and I've never encounter "Vancouver Crab". Go down to the St. Lawrence Market and it is all Dungeness.

[Peg]

UK - brown bread.
US - wheat bread?

UK - white coffee.
US - not sure, but I don't think it's called 'white'... coffee with cream maybe - but is coffee really served with cream, or is it milk?

[Ruth Lafler]

Brown bread in the US would be "whole wheat" bread. And yes, it would be "coffee with cream" -- I think most people who drink coffee use half-and-half which is fairly close to what the UK would be "table cream" (I think there was an earlier post on the variations on cream).

In the same vein as "corn/sweetcorn":

"beets/beetroot" -- in the US when you refer to eating "beets" that always means the beetroot. If it were the greens, that would be specified.

"pickles/cucumber pickles" -- as a huge pickle lover it drives my Dad crazy, but in the US "a pickle" is always a cucumber pickle of some kind. In the UK the type of pickle is specified, and the type of sour pickles you would find on the shelf in every grocery store in the US are hard to find.

[JoanN]

It may be a New Yawk thing, but here the equivalent of "white coffee" is "regular." No idea why white coffee is "regular" while black coffee Is "black," but it is. If you order "regular" coffee, more often than not you'll get coffee with whole milk. If you want cream, half-and-half, or skim you need to specify.

[Caitlin McGrath]

It's definitely a New York thing. Visitors from other areas get a rude awakening when they get coffee from, e.g. a deli (as opposed to a "coffeehouse," Starbucks, etc. where you add your own) and don't specify black. I think nowadays "regular"="white coffee," at least it seemed that way when I lived in NYC, but my mother, who grew up there, says that back then regular meant both milk and sugar.

[MMRuth]

My understanding is that regular means both milk and sugar. I'll ask next time I'm in a deli!

[alanbarnes]

In Boston, regular definitely means milk and sugar.

[JoanN]

I've lived in the city for more than 40 years, and now that you mention it, Caitlin, I do indeed have a vague recollection of "regular" meaning both milk and sugar. I'm just guessing, but I'll bet that the whole problem of how much sugar and what kind (especially once the substitutes started to become popular) was just more trouble than it was worth and so, with the sugar selections always on the table or packets tossed into a takeaway bag, "regular" came to mean with milk. The sweetener was do it yourself or not as you pleased.

I'll be curious to hear what your deli folk say, MMRuth. And make sure to note how old the person is that you ask. ;-)

[Caitlin McGrath]

Now that I think about it, I think people just specify if they want something other than whole milk + one sugar, as you note with black and other types of dairy. I do remember hearing people say, e.g., two sugars, so they prob. do the same with other sweeteners, along with saying ifthey want it "light" (lots of milk). Can you tell I never ordered coffee at a deli or corner bakery?

[kattyeyes]

You got it--whenever I go to Dunkin' Donuts, my exact order is:

small, decaf, hazelnut, light, two sugars, please!

I refer to it as a hot coffee shake. It is megatasty! My mom and two of my closest buddies like it just the way I do, too.

[Caitlin McGrath]

So is a "regular" coffee milk and one sugar in your neck of the woods, ke? Perhaps a northeastern thing rather than a NY thing?

[kattyeyes]

Almost! CREAM and one sugar = regular.

If you want milk instead of cream, you'd have to ask for it specifically.

Some folks also ask for coffee "light and sweet" but that is sweeter than two sugars and too sweet for me.

[Caitlin McGrath]

This taxonomy is getting almost as fine as the names for rolls Harters posted about above! [grin]

[mogo]

'Round here (Toronto, possibly Canada-wide) "double-double" is what you'd say for coffee with two cream, two sugar. I think this is the most popular option as the term is so widespread -- say double-double and everyone knows you're talking about coffee, but single-double or double-single (etc) is not so entrenched in the vocabulary.

[kattyeyes]

That's funny. When you say "double-double" it reminds me of a popular McDonald's commercial from my growing up years: "Double-double cheese-cheese burger-burger, please!"

Anything double around here would be espresso-related.

[Harters]

Particularly, Caitlin, as "regular" in this sense, is not a word in, erm, regular use in the UK - except for those places which are American influenced or owned, such as Starbucks or its lookalikes.

And then "regular" means "small", as opposed to whatever contrived name they've invented to replace "medium" and "large" :-(

Go into almost anywhere, other than these sort of chains, and ask for a coffee, you'll get white (with milk).

[kattyeyes]

<<And then "regular" means "small", as opposed to whatever contrived name they've invented to replace "medium" and "large">>

Yup, sometimes it's that way here, too. And I'm with you on why can't we just have small-medium-large. So much simpler.

So the "white" in UK is always cream, not milk? I'd say here in the US it's the opposite.

[greedygirl]

White coffee is always with milk. You don't get coffee with cream that much any more. And it's always single cream, which is roughly equivalent to half-and-half in the US.

[Caitlin McGrath]

So, while you don't have "regular" coffee in the Northeastern sense, it's the same thing: if you don't specify otherwise, it comes with milk (though maybe not sugar, as we've discovered here "regular" coffee means in NY and Connecticut). I think it's less so in NY now, but time was, if you just ordered coffee at a non-coffee house type place, you automatically got "regular."

[Caitlin McGrath]

Here is another:

US corn vs. UK sweetcorn

In general parlance in the US, if you say corn, it's assumed it's assumed you mean sweet (eating) corn; for feed corn, one would say field corn. Is this latter what's called maize in the UK, or am I missing other shadings of corn there?

[kattyeyes]

Hmmm--whenever we get corn on the cob that isn't as good as we think it should be, my mom calls it cow corn!

[Caitlin McGrath]

Field corn, cow corn, clearly alternate names for same meaning!

[alanbarnes]

Hmmm, in my experience (influenced by growing up in the Southwestern US), "corn" refers to what the rest of the world knows as maize. It can be sweet corn or field corn. Corn tortillas, blue corn, etc. all refer to field corn. Corn on the cob implies sweet corn unless you're in a predominately Hispanic area. Popcorn gets its own special designation.

How are these things differentiated in the UK?

[Caitlin McGrath]

Well, I'd qualify that in the US we say "corn tortillas" (distinguishes corn from flour), "blue corn" (distinguishes "blue" variety), etc., but what I was getting at was that in the US when we refer to corn the vegetable, it means sweet corn (in US culture at large, vs., as you say, Hispanic area; see katteyes' post above). Corn as vegetable in particular is the corn vs. sweetcorn distinction above.

[alanbarnes]

I agree that when you serve corn as a vegetable in the US, it's implicit that it's sweet corn. But the vast majority of the corn grown here isn't served as a stand-alone vegetable.

Most corn is not consumed directly by humans. It's used for animal feed, ethanol production, or the manufacture of food-like substances (eg High Fructose Corn Syrup). But of the rest, most is ground into flour. Think cornbread, polenta, tortillas, etc. And all cornmeal is made from field corn.

So while I agree with you that "corn" can imply "sweet corn" when describing a dish, that's like saying that "wheat" implies bulgur. Fact is, people eat a lot of corn in the US. And only a tiny portion of it is sweet corn.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Sure. My contention, though, is that when people in the US say "corn," they mean sweet corn. When they are talking about the products made from corn that they eat, they don't call them "corn," they say cornmeal, masa, polenta, grits, etc.

So I don't think it's the same as saying wheat implies bulgur, because people do not talk about eating "wheat" when they're talking about eating specific wheaten foods. They might mention wheat flour, wheat berries, bulgur, etc., just as they use modifiers or other names when talking about those corn products. When people in the US just say they're eating or cooking with corn, they do mean corn as vegetable, don't they? Otherwise, they'll say they're using cornmeal or eating corn tortillas or whatever.

The UK term "sweetcorn" is more specific because it differentiates, but seems to be equivalent to what we mean in the US when we just say corn, in a dining context.

[Paulustrious]

>> Fact is, people eat a lot of corn in the US. And only a tiny portion of it is sweet corn. <<

In fact Americans eat most corn in the form of corn syrup. (That's a total guess, but it stands a reasonable chance of being true)

[NellyNel]

Well I'm not sure about all that - but not only do they call their regular "corn" - "sweetcorn"...but they also call "baby-corn" sweet corn!

I remember sharing a Chinese meal with my in-laws(English) - and they kept referring to the baby corn as "sweet corn"!
At first I thought it was a family quirk - but nope - it's an English thing!

[Harters]

"I thought it was a family quirk - but nope - it's an English thing!"

Nope - I think it's a family quirk.

Baby corn, such as you get in Chinese cooking, is baby corn.

Sells in the supermarkets usually in 250g packs (sometimes half and half with mangetout) - looking online my usual supermarket, Sainsbury, has it at £1.52 a pack.

[Caitlin McGrath]

How interesting. One really doesn't see fresh baby corn in supermarkets in the US, only canned (tinned).

[Paulustrious]

In my ex-part of the UK, although things came in a tin they were still canned. Possibly a hangover from tinning being the process of applying tin to the cans.

[Harters]

Equally interesting that you don't generally have fresh which, as you'll appreciate, is a much better texture than tinned (which we also have).

Looking online, the major crop comes from the Punjab and is supplied by Bharti - Del Monte. Seems they supply all of our major supermarkets. I know we import a lot of that sort of crop from kenya and surrounding countries.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Absolutely, I'd imagine, though I don't believe I've ever had fresh. Were fresh available here generally, or used even by restaurants, baby corn would no doubt not be loathed as it is by so many people. I'm going to bet it's simply not in enough demand to be produced domestically or from our major suppliers of imported produce, which are various Latin American countries.

[Harters]

"Were fresh available here generally, or used even by restaurants, baby corn would no doubt not be loathed as it is by so many people."

Don't be so sure. :-)

I find it a bland, boring and almost entirely pointless veg - one that really only adds texture in a stirfry.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Thailand, Taiwan, and China are the biggest producers of baby corn. Other baby corn producers include: Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Guatemala, Nicaragua - and others.

[rds246]

There is one farmer at my farmers market that sells baby corn (seasonally of course). I'm in Southern California.

[Gooseberry]

We may produce it, but I still don't know why we eat -or pay a fortune for -it, Sam. I find it sort of bland, nothing like an ear of corn.

[greedygirl]

Here's another one inspired by another thread!

Grill (US) vs barbecue (UK)

[MMRuth]

Yes - my sense is that in the UK, barbecue just means to cook things outdoors on the grill, whereas in the U.S., "BBQ" means specific types of cooking - ribs, pulled pork, etc.

[LindaWhit]

Although in the U.S., "BBQ" has also come to mean just grilling as well. Much to the ire of true barbecuers. :-)

[paulj]

I think that in many parts of the US, BBQ was the same as grilling, just as it is in the UK and Australia. But in the past 20 years or so, fans of the 'true', slow cooked, smoked style (whether Texas, KC, Memphis or Carolina) have fought to (re)define it to fit their orthodoxy. Without the influence of the BBQ competition circuit, Food Network, and retailers of smoking equipment, most Americans would still equate BBQ with burgers on the backyard grill.

Santa Maria BBQ is an example of a style that is closer to grilling than the Southern closed cooker smoking. As a cooking method it owes more to California Spanish/Mexican influences than anything from the South. It probably will resist any efforts to change the name fit the new orthodoxy.

[Harters]

Not "just" the process. It is the equipment as well. And an event.

It goes like this invitation. "Would you like to come to lunch on Saturday? We're having a barbeque. I'll be barbecuing some lamb chops and sausages on the barbecue".

A "grill" is something in the kitchen - with overhead heat - usually above the oven ( a salamander in the restaurant trade, in the UK and, I think, in the US as well). I "grilled" bacon on the "grill" for breakfast this morning.

[LindaWhit]

As to that "indoor grill" of yours - for household use, we in the U.S. call that the "broiler"....ours is most often within the oven itself for electric ovens and for gas oven, a separate compartment located below the oven. It's just a different knob setting to have the upper coils to be used in an electric oven for heat vs. the ones on the floor of the oven. I haven't had a gas oven for years and years :::::Waaahhhhh!:::::: so I honestly can't remember if there's a separate knob for the broiler. I don't think so.

[Harters]

Ah, that's it - "broiler". I knew I knew the American word!

I cook on electric and UK ovens come as "single ovens" , which also has a grill/broiler, or "double ovens". We've a double oven - the main fan-assisted oven is just an oven, above that, there's a small conventional oven that can be switched to grill/broiler. We mainly use the small oven just as a grill, but it's sometimes handy to work with two ovens, if you're cooking things that need different temperatures.

[LindaWhit]

I would LOVE the two ovens, Harters! I do have a small convection/toaster oven that helps when I need different temps, but it's not like having two separate ovens.

::::Sigh:::: Someday.

[Caitlin McGrath]

In the broil vs. grill discussion above, Paulustrious posted a link showing examples of ranges ("cookers" in UK parlance) with the double oven/grill: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6150...

Better gas ovens have a broiler feature in the top of the oven, so you can effectively adjust the rack's distance from the heat (I haven't had the privelege of using one). And some higher-end ranges now have infrared broilers built in.

[paulj]

In that common US usage, broiler supplies radiant heat from above (or possibly from side). Grill heats from below. In this usage, a grill cooks with a combination of contact (from the hot metal support grill), hot gases, and radiation.

In broiling in that sense is a modern derivative of roasting meat before an open fire, whether on a rack or spit. Grilling is more akin to cooking over hot coals.

Southern US BBQ (usually) uses indirect heat, no radiation, and smoky gases no hotter than the boiling point of water.

[NellyNel]

I was just going to add
Grill (UK) VS Broil

In the Uk they don't use broiled the way we do
For instance in the UK Burger Kings ads say : "Flame Grilled" NOT "Flame Broiled"

[Harters]

In fact, we don't use "broil" at all.

[NellyNel]

I wasn't sure about that.

I know it drives my DH crazy (English) when I say I'm going to pop something into the "broiler"!

In England that part of the oven is called the "Grill"!

Oh - I just remembered another one!
An ice cream sandwich is a "choc ice" !!

[smartie]

for British Jews v American Jews

smoked salmon v lox or nova
salt beef v corned beef
lockshen pudding v noodle kugel, brits don't make it dairy but always parev
beigel v bagel - although Brits mostly now call them bagels
there are no bialys in the UK but you can get platzels though not the same

Gefilte fish, whilst Brits do make boiled gefilte fish, it is more common (and nicer) to buy or make it fried. Americans have never heard of it.

there must be other differences but I can't think of any more.

[thew]

we say smoked salmon in the US

also lox isn't smoked.

[smartie]

Lox and nova are not terms used in the UK

[thew]

but smoked salmon is a phrase used in the USA.

and lox still isn't smoked ;)

[JoanN]

A friend from London seems to use the term "salt beef" to refer to both corned beef and pastrami. Or, perhaps I'm just misunderstanding what he's asking for. Is pastrami called something else in the UK?

[Harters]

Joan

No - pastrami is pastrami. And I think it's the same as I've had in the States

But, just to confuse matters further, I think "salt beef" is what we'd call the product Americans call "corned beef". Something similarish in texture/taste to pastrami. I'm referring to what I would call "Jewish salt beef", as opposed to "Irish salt beef", which to me, seems very different.

In the UK, "corned beef" is a tinned/canned product, which is nothing like pastrami or salt beef (either sort) Still makes a fine sandwich with lots of Colmans mustard - or hash (to be slathered in brown sauce)

[JoanN]

Okay. Got it. Thanks, Harters. So when my friend says he wants a salt beef sandwich, he's not talking generically. He specifically wants what we'd call corned beef. And if he wanted pastrami he'd say so. (Although I must say, the last time we had this conversation he didn't seem to be all that sure what pastrami was. But then, although he now lives in London, he's a Scot. And maybe that makes a difference.)

[BobB]

This fourth-generation American Jew grew up on lockshen kugel, never noodle kugel. It was made dairy, though, and usually served at a fish & dairy-based brunch.

[Paulustrious]

Ground beef - Mince and sometimes mincemeat
Ground pork - Mince(d) pork

Then we have the whole UK confusion of mincemeat also being the sweet diced fruit / suet blend. The word mince usually means savoury except in terms of mince pies which usually means either sweet pies or your eyes. Unless it says mince pie and potato. Oh, I give up. It's a context thing.

And I still cannot get used to the North American pronunciation of tuna. (UK = tchew-nar, NA = two-nuh, Boston = different)

[Peg]

I'm UK and I say 't-yoo-nah', or 'toon-ah'.

[Paulustrious]

The U sound varies throughout the UK, in words like Tuesday, news etc. Your t-yoo and my tchew are very close. I was just trying to find a phoenetic equivalent. (Phonetic in the US)

[Harters]

I've just listened to myself speaking aloud - yes, it's a very sad life I lead on this Tchewsday evening.

Then we have the word "stew", which I pronounce "stchew"

[kattyeyes]

I have friends who have Polish-speaking parents who do the same pronunciation (nyoo) of both "new" and "avenue"...so is it a European-based thing (not specifically UK)? I also know a native NYer who says these words the same way.

[cathodetube]

My aunt from Yorkshire used to say tooner for tuna! Why I don't know!

[smartie]

whilst the Brits all use ketchup we also call it red sauce to differentiate it from brown sauce which is HP or OK sauce. In America red sauce means tomato sauce for pasta.

I also have not heard Americans use the term spaghetti bolognese.

American lasagne seems to usually have ricotta cheese in it but the Brits would never or rarely use that.

Home fries do not exist in the UK, they would be called fried or sauteed potatoes.

[kattyeyes]

In my house (US), sauce means tomato sauce for pasta by default. "Making a pot of sauce" is what my family always said and still do. It baffled me when I moved in with someone and announced I felt like making a pot of sauce and was asked, "What KIND of sauce?"...as if there was any other kind of sauce than what I was talking about. It's an Italian thing, I guess--unless you are the type of Italian who calls sauce "gravy." In my family, gravy is an accompaniment for turkey or meatloaf. I am an all-American mutt, too watered down to claim much more than a quarter of any particular heritage, maybe that's part of the issue.

[BobB]

The term spaghetti bolognese is fairly common in the US, though not as universal as in the UK. And in both places it all-too-rarely means true bolognese, it usually just means tomato sauce with some ground meat added.

[Harters]

I doubt if anyone from Bologna would recognise the spag bol we generally cook in Britain as being "their" ragu.

[nanette]

I think the difference with lasgana in the UK is that they use a white sauce rather than red sauce, not that there isn't any ricotta. As far as I understand, this a Northern Italian v. Southern Italian thing.

[NellyNel]

I lived in England for 6 years and lasagna was always served with red sauce...but def. not ricotta. My area did have a large Italian population though, so perhaps that's why. (?)

[guster4lovers]

The US version uses a red sauce with mozzarella and ricotta. I believe it's the southern Italian version (although I could be mixed up).

UK lasagne is usually made with red sauce (similar to a bolognese) and a bechemel. That's the northern Italian way.

[alkapal]

no cheese in uk lasagne? or just mozz, like this, with a bit of parm? http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lasagne_82381

by the way, you all who are lovers of lasagnes-of-all-stripes, check out the bbc's recipe pages for some nice variations of beloved lasagne: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sea...

[alanbarnes]

I think your description of Southern vs. Northern lasagna is generally correct, and it's probably fair to say that the first predominates in the US and the second in the UK (although I'll leave that for people with better knowledge of British-Italian food).

But to say that one is a "US version" and the other a "UK lasagna" is a bit of an overstatement. There are plenty of places here that serve Lasagna Bolognese, and presumably places in the UK that serve Lasagna Napoletano.

[greedygirl]

I am actually quite fond of the seventies style lasagne, beloved of old-fashioned pubs, which made heavy use of cheddar, and had bolognese sauce as the base. Very rich, comfort food.

[JoanN]

I'll take your word for it, but cheddar in a lasagne just sounds sooooo wrong.

[greedygirl]

Of course it's wrong, but it's from the seventies! My Mum used to make curry with raisins in it back in the day. Now that is not just wrong, it's criminal.

[paulj]

would it sound better if described as noodle and ground beef casserole with cheddar?

[JoanN]

Oh, man! Hamburger Helper with Cracker Barrel! LOL

[Paulustrious]

I'm with you. Nothing better than a 3 inch cube of food. Even better with some emmentaler so you can be more connected to your meal as you eat it.

[Ruth Lafler]

I can't believe this isn't on here already....

In the U.K. a "bap" is a sandwich on a soft roll (the soft roll is actually the bap).

In addition:

In the U.K., faggot = meatball.

When I was there with a girlfriend as a teenager, a company was introducing a line of frozen meatballs with the advertising tag line "Take a faggot to lunch" which had us in gales of laughter!

[greedygirl]

Although faggot is also used as a derogatory term for a homosexual in England.

On a similar theme, do you have fag=cigarette?

[Ruth Lafler]

I think perhaps the derogatory usage has migrated over from American slang fairly recently. I'm pretty sure that in 1978, the word didn't have that meaning (or they wouldn't have been using it in advertising).

And yes, after all these years I still do a double take when one of my English cousins says he's going out for a fag!

[Paulustrious]

That's because he's got his own, Ruth. Otherwise he would be bumming a fag.

And the 'alternative' meaning of faggot goes back way before 1978.

[Sam Fujisaka]

"Faggots" used to refer to gathered firewood.

[alanbarnes]

Gathered and bound into bundles. Same root as the Italian fascio, which is the etymological source for the name of the Fascist movement.

According to the OED, it sometimes referred specifically to the bundles of fuel used for burning people at the stake. Heretics who recanted were required to wear an emblem of a faggot on their clothing as a reminder of the punishment for relapse.

It's amazing what you learn when you spend six years as an undergraduate assiduously avoiding any classes that might possibly have practical application.

[LindaWhit]

I knew of "faggots" meaning gathered firewood from reading historical novels, but didn't know of the etymological source as well as heretics wearing the emblem as a reminder not to relapse.

You learn all sorts of things on Chowhound. :-)

[Caitlin McGrath]

Ditto to your entire post (both paragraphs), Linda!

[Ruth Lafler]

Yes, and when you combine that with the English meaning of "bum" then you get quite a picture. ;-) I wonder if my cousin has ever thought of that ... might be enough to get him to stop smoking!

[cathodetube]

And on that note, why does Gok Wan call breasts bangers? Totally bizarre.

[Harters]

"Bap" - geographical reference to a soft bread roll.

It's what they call them about 10 miles north of me. Twenty miles south east, they are "cobs". Where I am, it's a "barm (or "barmcake"). And then there's "oven bottom muffins" - which are flatter and denser - and not to be confused with "English muffins" (which are American , but we have them now in England) or "muffins" (which are English and are teacakes to be toasted).

And just to correct, a "meatball" is a "meatball" in the UK as it is in the US. A "faggot" is a "faggot" - very different beastie made from pigs offal, such as heart and liver, and then wrapped in caul. Very much a regional dish from the West Midlands and almost invariably served in a very rich gravy. Further north (where I am), we call them "savoury ducks" - although they don't have duck in them . Go figure. Needless to say, the alternative use of the word by Americans (and now known to us) is a source of puerile humour.

Ruth's frozen food company was most probably Brains Limited, who are the market leader of commerical faggots. Even though Brains Faggots, don't have brains in them. They don't taste too bad either - if you're an offal sort of person.

John

[Ruth Lafler]

Ah. I've been spending an inordinate amount of time in the Midlands, obviously (my cousins at the time lived between Nottingham and Leicester, and now live in Manchester).

[Harters]

Ah, yes. I think I recall you mentioning on a much much earlier thread that you'd visited my home city of Manchester.The Cheese Hamlet in Didsbury rings a bell - five minutes drive from me and the second best cheese shop in the north west.

[Ruth Lafler]

That's right! I spent a lot of time (and money) in The Cheese Hamlet. My cousin was a little mystified -- until he sampled the cheese I bought. Then he had to admit that he was enjoying cheeses he never thought he liked.

They've since moved to my cousin-in-law's childhood farm in Derbyshire, which is going to make foraging for good chow a bit more challenging next time I visit.

On topic: In the U.K. what we would call sheep's milk cheese is called (more accurately), ewe's milk cheese.

[Harters]

Ruth

Feel free to contact me next time you visit - I'd have some good Derbyshire tips for you (including one of the best farmers markets I know for miles around).

On topic, I'd always think of it as sheep's milk cheese - but I can understand why the pedants amongst our nation would say ewe's - there ain't much milk coming out of a ram.

[Paulustrious]

In Liverpool the cobbs were the crusty rolls (aka crusty rolls) and the barms were the soft ones, sometimes flour dusted. They were also known as barm cakes, though not technically cakes at all - unless they had suet in them.

Come to think of it, I and not quite sure what a cake is (technically) . Never heard of faggots as savoury ducks. If they ever sold them here in NA I think Brains Faggots would have to undergo some name change. Here are a couple of adverts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ItF0CcJBN4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y136z...

[NellyNel]

Also a sandwich in the UK - a" Butty" - ie - bacon butty or chip butty (the best!!)

[Paulustrious]

Streusel vs crumble (somewhat arguable)

[relizabeth]

Also:
flapjacks (usa) vs. pancake
???? syrup soaked oat bar vs. flapjacks (UK)

[Harters]

I suppose, therefore:

Pancake (US) vs American Pancake (UK)

[kattyeyes]

UK flapjacks are US bar cookies--(here) not necessarily syrup-soaked oat bars. Example, our Magic Cookie Bars or Hello Dollies (7-layer bars) are bar cookies. UK folks would call them flapjacks, right? Or is it specific to oats/syrup?

[Harters]

Flapjack as I'd understand it in the UK (whether homemade or shop bought) - butter, sugar, golden syrup, oats. Mix & bake.

[kattyeyes]

If so, that's definitely not a one for one with our bar cookies. We had this discussion on Soop's "shall we make a recipe" thread a while back, but now I see a flapjack is kind of its own thing. What do you call a bar cookie, I wonder?

[Paulustrious]

A barmaid

[kattyeyes]

Oh, you mean a tart!

[Caitlin McGrath]

Here's one gleaned from the "Desserts of the British Empire" thread on Home Cooking:

sprinkles/jimmies (varies in the US, covered at length in other threads) vs. hundreds-and-thousands

[Atahualpa]

AKA Nonpareils

[BobB]

Yes... though there is also a different confection that was called nonpareil when I was a kid, and apparently is still available in specialty shops. It's a slightly rounded chocolate disc about one inch in diameter covered with tiny white candy dots. http://www.oldtimecandy.com/nonpareil...

[alkapal]

bobB, it's the candy dots (nonpareils) that lend their name to that candy -- classic movie snack food, too!

[kattyeyes]

Ahhhh, nonpareils...a.k.a. Sno-Caps. It ranks right up there with Raisinets for me as candy to eat in the movie theater! ;)
http://www.oldtimecandy.com/sno-caps.htm

[LindaWhit]

But nonpareils are harder and crunchier than sprinkles/jimmies. Not as hard as dragees, but still crunchier than jimmies - which have no crunch at all.

[MMRuth]

Here's one I just came across today - "coarse fish". Per an angler's website:

"every creature that swims in freshwater that isn’t a trout or a salmon; in the US, they are known as “white fish” or “suckers”."

[Harters]

""coarse fish". Per an angler's website:"

I'm not an angler but I think this is an angling term rather than culinary. "Coarse fishing" - in freshwater - as opposed to "sea fishing".

But don't quote me.......

[MMRuth]

Elizabeth David used it in a recipe calling for a sorrel sauce, that she wrote goes well with "coarse fish". I then looked it up, and found the term on the angler's site. For some reason, by the way, when I cooked the sorrel it had a really unpleasant smell, so I pitched it.

[Paulustrious]

To understand coarse fishing one needs to read "The Art of Coarse Fishing" by Michael Green. Unless you are a golf / rugby / acting / cricket etc fan, in which case one needs to read "The Art of Coarse Golf / Rugby" etc.

[rochfood]

Cans - tins. Was it brought up ? Packaging vs food items. Am I right ? Never went to the UK..just watch the occasional foreign film..BBC America. Tinned beans on toast ?

Takeout...Takeaway ?

What do they call soda in the UK ?

[smartie]

soda in the UK usually known by the brand name eg, coke, pepsi, sprite, or just fizzy drinks.

we forgot the word 'produce'. It is not used in the UK for fruit and vegetables which are just know as fruit and vegetables!

[Das Ubergeek]

In New York, such a thing used to be known as "carryout". Nowadays with the advent of SeamlessWeb, it's normally called "delivery" or "why schlep?".

[Paulustrious]

Head cheese vs brawn or souse.

In terms of pronunciation we have tomato and yoghurt.

I am unable to Americanise gammon as in 'gammon and eggs'.

[LindaWhit]

I had to go looking up gammon to see that it is a particular cut of bacon or ham steak, right? (From a different area of the pig.)

And I did find this for British ex-pats in the States if you want to order back bacon, gammon, Lincolnshire sausage, Cornish pasties, etc: http://www.britishbacon.com/comersus6...

[JoanN]

I once recommend ham and eggs when my British friend wanted gammon and eggs and that seemed to do the trick for him. Don't know, though, just what kind of American ham gammon would be. There are so many different kinds of ham here, both cooked and uncooked, and I have trouble keeping them straight without a scorecard.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Thought of another:

Whole wheat vs. wholemeal

[smartie]

Golden syrup = nothing. Whahhhhhh, I want to bake some cornflake cakes for my coworkers but all the recipes I have call for Golden Syrup and I cannot get that in Florida.

[Paulustrious]

You can in Canada - I have a can in my kitchen. Treacle was difficult in Fl as well. Molasses just aint right for a treacle tart.

[LindaWhit]

Smartie - are you sure? I can find Lyle's Golden Syrup in cans in my local supermarket in the Northeast - I *think* either in the International aisle or the aisle with maple syrup and honey. I haven't purchased it there - but I know I've seen it. (I had some in my cupboards that I've pulled out to use based on this thread!)

But if not - you most certain can order it online.

[TroyTempest]

Be sure that when you buy the golden syrup that you use it before the expiry date. Don't leave it in the larder too long.

[LindaWhit]

WAY too late for that ~ I've had the two bottles, one currently unopened, for about 8 years or more, I believe. What I used from the opened bottle a few days after the above post was still fine. And I'm still alive. :-)

And there was no expiration or "use by" date on the bottles.

[Paulustrious]

It's almost pure sugar - it will last forever when resealed. It is possible the sugar will crystalise, but heating it up will redissolve it.

Don't keep it in the fridge.

[LindaWhit]

That's what I thought, Paulustrious. I liken it to it being similar to honey. And it's now in the pie safe - front and center and visible when I open up the cupboard doors. I did have to heat it up the last time I used it, but have turned the container upside down so the syrup is at the squeeze area.

[Harters]

I dread to think how many years we've had the tin. A couple of spoonfuls or so every year and that's it. Lasts forever.

[alanbarnes]

I've seen Lyle's in Florida grocery stores in areas where there's a substantial expat Brit population. Right next to the cans (er, tins?) of Batchelors Mushy Peas.

[Paulustrious]

Gyro / Shwarma vs Doner Kebab

Accroding to Lord Wiki...

Shawarma (Arabic: شاورما‎), also spelled Chawarma, Schawarma, Shawirma, Shwarma, Shuarma, Shawerma, Shoarma, Schwarma, Shoermeh, Siaorma, or Shaorma.

That must be right up there with pillau rice as having the most alternatives. I saw at least ten different spellings in UK Indian restaurants.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Is okra known as lady fingers in the UK? (In the US, lady fingers are cookies.)

[paulj]

From Wiki:
"Okra (American English: [ˈoʊkɹa], British English [ˈəʊkɹə], [ˈɒkɹə]), also known as ladyfinger, bhindi (Indo-Aryan) and gumbo"

Have an old Penguin paperback of Indian cooking that uses Okra (lady's fingers), as well as the Hinid Bhindi.

[greedygirl]

Can be, but most people call it okra these days.

[Harters]

Americans call them shrimps.

Australians call them prawns

In Britain, we use both words and, for us, size is important.

The shrimp is a tiny thing, about 5mm long. Anything bigger is a prawn.

Shrimps are, almost exclusively, fished from Morecambe Bay (off the north west coast of England) and, almost exclusively, they find their way into one of life's little luxuries - the potted shrimp. Nothing more than shrimp, butter and a touch of seasoning. Eaten as a starter with bread.

It's the same beast that you find in the Netherlands and the Flemish part of Belgium where they turn up in salads and, my fave, the shrimp croquette. I'm in Belgium this weekend and can't wait to devour some croquettes (and a main course of mussels if the season is still open).

[Paulustrious]

I miss those - I lived in the area for three years. And the odd thing is, the smaller the prawn / shrimp the more flavour it has. I remember smiling when I saw giant shrimp for sale.

(As an aside, in my memory Americans call them shimp - singular.)

[BobB]

The closest thing you're likely to find this side of the pond are tasty little Maine shrimp, which are in season in late winter.

[Agent Orange]

Yes, shrimp is the word in both the singular and the plural. Like fish or deer.

[Eat_Nopal]

Actually... Prawn is used extensively in the U.S. referring to the larger beasts. In my experience... anything smaller than U20 is almost always shrimp... anything bigger is often referred to as prawns.

I guess we just have a larger definition for large =)

[BobB]

Possibly in some other parts of the country, but I've never seen the term prawn used here in New England, outside of the occasional curry house run by British Commonwealth expats.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I see prawn used often by Chinese restaurants on their menus. And, now that I think about it, my ex-MIL, who is from Hong Kong, used prawn to refer to anything larger than small-medium shrimp.

[BobB]

Looks like a West Coast usage, then. We'll have to start a new thread: East Coast and West Coast, One Country Divided by a Common Language. You say potato, we say edible tuber. ;-)

It's not strictly culinary, but I'm curious as to how far west you have to go before numbered highways acquire the definite article. You drive on the 101, we drive up 128.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I lived in New York for a number years, but I don't remember offhand whether I saw prawn used there.

To your second point: you are mistaken, my friend. I drive on 101. Only in Southern California do they drive on *the* 101. To Northern Californian ears it sounds just as odd as it does to you.

[MMRuth]

I see prawns in Chinese restaurants in NY all the, fwiw.

[LindaWhit]

There was a tapa dish on a restaurant's menu in Somerville, MA that were called "prawns" - large, head-on shrimp. Aura in Boston has had prawns on their menu and I know I've seen it elsewhere. Now, perhaps, they just call them that ever oxymoronic "jumbo shrimp".

[alanbarnes]

Here in NorCal, spot prawns are called "prawns" regardless of size. Apparently they're true prawns, which are biologically distinct from true shrimp. Although once they've been incorporated into a coctel de camarones, the distinctions seem to fade...

[Harters]

I'm not sure about what "true shrimp" might be in the US. The shrimp I mention earlier has the latin name of "Crangon Crangon". Known as the brown shrimp in the UK and the grey shrimp in France/Belgium/Netherlands. Same beast.

[alanbarnes]

It has nothing to do with geography; it's all biological taxonomy. But although there appears to be a consensus that shrimp and prawns are different suborders or infraorders of decapods, there's conflicting information about how and where the line is drawn. I'll leave it to the taxonomists to sort out.

From a culinary standpoint, the distinction between shrimp and prawns appears to be primarily regional and linguistic, having nothing to do with the taxonomic categories.

[kattyeyes]

Maybe Pepe the King Prawn can help sort it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d19Baw...

[NellyNel]

I don't know about that -
I remember ordering a "prawn cocktail" in an Italian resto in England - and what I got was a bunch of baby shrimp mixed in with some ghastly orange dressing!

[Caitlin McGrath]

Okay, I can't believe the chocolate bar comparison hasn't come up yet.

Milky Way - Mars Bar

3 Musketeers - Milky Way

If that's not confusing enough, until quite recently the US had a Mars Bar, too, which was nougat studded with whole almonds, covered in milk chocolate. It's no longer made, though (it was always less common, harder to find in my lifetime).

Lord only knows why M&M/Mars couldn't have the same name for their candy bars the world over. Snickers is the same everywhere, I think, though greedygirl said in another thread that it used to be called Marathon in the UK.

[smartie]

yep Snickers used to be called Marathon, it got changed about 10 years ago.

[greedygirl]

Hang on - a Milky Way is a Mars Bar in the US? How confusing is that? And weird because a lot of sweets were renamed to conform with some kind of international standard a while back - so Marathon became Snickers and Opal Fruits became Starburst. But some obviously slipped through the net.

The nougat studded with almonds is still available in France I think, where it's also known as Mars.

[Caitlin McGrath]

No a US Milky Way is a UK Mars Bar (or is that what you were trying to say?). What you know in the UK as Milky Way is 3 Musketeers in the US. The almond-studded one was the US Mars Bar (discontinued). Confusing, indeed!

So I assume Americans not in the know who hear of deep-fried Mars Bars think "huh," but have no idea they're hearing about deep-fried US Milky Way.

I assume the other names weren't changed because it'd be super-confusing to have the name of one switch to the name of another pre-existing, different bar, and that become something else!

[Caitlin McGrath]

Just amending as I reread my response to you, greedygirl, that I realize "or is that what you were trying to say?" sounds a bit rude. Apologies for that, as what I meant was really, "Maybe that's what you were saying," as I realized that I could simply have not understood you and was being dim.

[Agent Orange]

Wait, wait... are you sure? The revered and unobtainable Mars Bar, so lauded by Brits and Canadians, is just ... a Milky Way? I thought Mars simply were not available anywhere in the States. I was hoping to try one on a future trip to another Anglo country. I am so disappointed.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Sorry to rain on your fantasy travel parade. It's a Milky Way.

[Blush]

And to add more confusion, American Milky Way bars are made at a plant in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, on the same line as Canadian Mars Bars. Canada doesn't keep any of the Milky Ways; they all get shipped across the border for sale in the US.

[guster4lovers]

I hate to be the voice of dissent, but milky way (US) are nowhere NEAR as delicious as mars bars (UK). The chocolate is entirely different (like any UK candy bar, the chocolate is much richer and less "waxy" tasting), and the caramel isn't of the same quality. However, if you don't get down to the level of what it tastes like, it is the same. They did sell the UK version in the US for many years, but it was discontinued and now is only available in UK import stores.

The milky way (UK) bar is, however, the same as (US) 3 musketeers (although my British husband swears that the milky way is better).

If you don't believe me on the Mars bars, taste them side-by-side with a US Milky Way. Then you'll see.

[Pat Hammond]

There's caster sugar in the UK, which is super fine sugar here

[BobB]

All these comments and no one has yet mentioned one of my favorites: hard candy (US) = boiled sweet (UK).

[toastnjam]

But what flavour boiled sweet? Lemon, orange, blackcurrant (yuk), butterscotch, blackballs....

[Harters]

toastnjam

Plenty of choice here - http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/

I see the website also reports that the packaging of Sherbet Fountains is to be changed from paper to plastic. In some countries, there'd be rioting on the streets to protest.

[Caitlin McGrath]

What!? Blackcurrant is the best, and unfortunately, something we only get in the US when buying imported British or French candies (er, boiled sweets). Probably in part because blackcurrants aren't really grown here (this has to do with plant disease; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackcur... ).

[BobB]

Sour cherry, please!

[smartie]

I was thinking doughnuts or donuts as the Yanks call them.

I miss British doughnuts - slightly crispy outside dredged in castor sugar, doughy inside with a good dollop of strawberry or raspberry jam - heavenly.

American donuts are too sweet, the texture is just wrong and all that frosting in sickly flavours like strawberry and caramel.
I will be back in Blighty for a few days in July and I am heading straight to a bakery for a doughnut and a Chelsea Bun.

[queencru]

I didn't really see any difference in the donut varieties, to be quite honest. Not all American donuts are the Krispy Kreme types (which I have had in the UK) that are really sweet. We have plenty of other types.

[Jen76]

What is castor sugar?

[toastnjam]

Castor sugar = superfine sugar or bakers sugar.

[Harters]

Very fine sugar - but not as fine as icing sugar.

[The Dairy Queen]

By icing sugar, do you mean what we Americans call powdered sugar?

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

That's right. I believe it's also called confectioner's sugar. It's used for making icing (or frosting, for you guys), funnily enough!

[smartie]

Yes DQ powdered sugar is icing sugar.

Also the Brits don't call it frosting when you mix icing sugar with butter for a cake. It's called icing!

[Agent Orange]

Actually, then use of the term "icing" instead of frosting is pretty common in the South. I'm not sure if I can speak for anyone else, but I tend to say "icing" when the application of butter-sugar mixture is thin and "frosting" when it is thick. To me, icing is usually more dense and frosting airy. Perhaps it's just a personal quirk. Could be because my geographic heritage is a mixture of Southern and Midwestern.

[Paulustrious]

That is definitely counter-intuitive

[kattyeyes]

I'm with you there and I'm from the Northeast--I think of icing as more applicable to gingerbread men; frosting is for cakes. So I think your thin/thick description works well. But I bet this varies all over the place!

[The Dairy Queen]

That makes sense, except, the expression doesn't go, "Well, that's just the frosting on the cake!" The expression says "icing"--I wonder why?

~TDQ

[kattyeyes]

HA HA--maybe that expression has British origins? Now can I have my cake and eat it, too? ;) I know what it means, but that expression has always hit me the wrong way. If I HAVE the cake, you'd better believe I'm gonna EAT it, too. LOL!

[Caitlin McGrath]

The original expression was "eat your cake and have it, too," which makes much more sense given the meaning of the idiom! Somewhere along the way it was inverted.

[queencru]

I think of icing as something that tends to be in a thin, hard layer- like on a sugar cookie or gingerbread man. Frosting is a bit fluffier and creamier.

[Jen76]

I agree! I grew up with the same definitions of icing/frosting. Just like queencru, icing reminds me of the thin sugary stuff mom would drizzle over a bundt cake and it would get hard, whereas frosting is usually soft, creamy and fluffy.

[Blush]

It's labeled icing sugar here in Canada, too, and we call it icing rather than frosting. Frosting is what ladies in the 70's did to their hair, before they called it "highlighting".

[berbadeerface]

Completely agree! I'm another Brit living in the US, and there is no comparison with doughnuts. The ones I grew up eating were so monumentally different. The ones here are way too dense, and I think it's partly because they're not usually made with yeast. In England, the good ones are. I made some using an Italian recipe recently, and they were closer to the real thing. They were so good - fresh, warm and doughey!

[cathodetube]

I love a nice American cinnamon roll - like the Cinnabon ones. Kind of like a Chelsea Bun.

[Paulustrious]

Pork and Beans - Baked Beans (sometimes with pork / sausage)

Faucet - Tap

Cooktop - Hob

Range - Cooker

Pickle - Pickled Gherkin

??? - Silver (skin) onions .... help

Fava beans - broad beans

Green beans - string or runner beans

Aluminum - Aluminium (different pronunciation)

Licorice - Liquorice - (different pronunciation)

Dutch Oven - Casserole dish

[Pizza] Pie - Only ever called a pizza in the UK.

Washcloth - flannel

Apron - Apron, pinafore or pinny

I am sure that with some of the above the divide is not black and white.

A couple of things I have (almost) never seen in the US are soup spoons and fish knives.

[JoanN]

Soup spoons are common in the US; fish knives, much less so. You'll see them in elegant restaurants, but most who have them at home have inherited them in a complete set of silver service. I have some modern stainless steel ones (along with matching fish forks), but that's very unusual. Modern placesettings rarely include matching fish knives and forks.

[paulj]

spatula - fish slice

I have an old Penguin paperback on Indian cooking that says

'Now pick up the bread [chappati] on a fish slice, and if you are using gas, hold over a high flame with out turning. The bread will puff up and is then ready to eat.'

[JoanN]

I don't think they're exactly the same, but in the US a silverskin onion would probably be a pearl onion.

[Gooseberry]

carmel versus caramel! Even when it's spelled with the second A in the States, they don't pronounce it. I quite like that one, said with an American drawl...

[LindaWhit]

I think it depends on where in the U.S. you were when you heard "carmel" for "carAmel". I've never said "carmel" except when referring to Carmel, CA.

I've seen it spelled that way (carmel) countless times, and it drives me nuts. The word is spelled "car-a-mel" (although I know it can be pronounced "kahr-muhl" in some areas, as you noted).

http://dictionary.reference.com/brows...

[Caitlin McGrath]

I'd have to agree with you, Linda. In the areas where I've lived, caramel is pronounced by near everyone just as it's spelled. I fret that it's one of those things that people will start largely mispronouncing because it's so often misspelled. I don't mind that it's pronounced with the elided second 'a' in some areas because it's a geographical variation, I just don't want everyone, everywhere saying "carmel" only because they don't know the word.

[LindaWhit]

Unfortunately, I think your fretting is way too late, Caitlin. I see "carmel" all the time and have been hearing it more and more pronounced as if it was the California city (accent on the 2nd syllable). Even the "kahr-muhl" pronunciation I noted above has a slight middle syllable, vs. car-MEL, which is just. plain. wrong. when it's used in reference to the candy.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Ugh. That sound you hear is my head banging against the wall.

[LindaWhit]

Use some caramels to blunt the blow. ;-)

[Das Ubergeek]

Where I grew up (central NJ) it is pronounced with three syllables. The first one is the sound in "fat", the second one is schwa, the third one is the sound in "fell" with a fully-pronounced L sound. CAA-ruh-mell.

Here in LA more often I hear "CAR-mull" with a swallowed L. Makes me insane.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I grew up in Northern CA, where it is pronounced your central-NJ way, and that's how I heard it most in my NY days, as well. In either place, the latter pronunciation an exception.

I know it cannot help that it's often pronounced "CAR-muhl" by narrators in national ads. In fact, I'm sure that's among the chief culprits, because listeners assume those pronunciations are correct.

[Harters]

Awww. I really wish we hadn't got into pronounciation. We have regional differences as well in the UK with southerners having a long soft "A" and we northerners having it short and clipped. Generally.

Or scone (on which you have jam and cream). We call it a "skon". Other regions might call it a "sc-own".

[Caitlin McGrath]

As I said above, I don't mind pronunciation differences that are genuine differences based on region, which are present within almost all nations. No objection there at all.

What I, and I think LindaWhit, were objecting to in this particular case is the standardization of a certain pronunciation that's not necessarily predominant geographically, based on a more and more common spelling error - one that is seen more and more often in commercial advertising.

Americans certainly say "sc-own," but then most of us haven't heard it said by speakers from the lands whence it came and I assume that's why American English takes it that the 'e' following the 'n' renders a long 'o' (as in stone).

[LindaWhit]

Exactly - what Caitlin said re: pronunciation.

[greedygirl]

Let's not get into the "scone" versus "skon" debate! It's not a regional thing - it's a family thing. My Yorkshire lot all say "scone".

If someone asked me for a "carmel" I'd wonder what the hell they were talking about!

[alkapal]

as an american, i'd always called it sc-own, until i had one at blenheim palace (in the "pleasure gardens café"), and they pronounced it "skon". then i thought, so *that's* the "correct" pronunciation. btw, it was the best, silkiest scone i've ever eaten! if anyone has the recipe, let me know! (i think a lot has to do with the butter, cream and flour, of course). http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/494915

[greedygirl]

You were right - it is a sc-own!

[Harters]

Nah. It's skon to ryhme with John, not scown to rhyme with Joan.

But I would say that.

J

[greedygirl]

Skon is for poshos.

[alkapal]

DING DING DING! in the corner over here, we have the sc-owns...and in the opposite corner, the skons. at the bell, come out slugging!

http://www.jirehcakes.com/slides/Boxi...

[Gooseberry]

My bad, as the Americans would say!

I know it's silly, but SKOWn strikes me as stupid, whereas CARmel strikes me as charming.

[just_M]

I have always lived on the West coast of the US and for me carmel refers to a candy or a candy coating for things like carmel(pop)corn or carmel apples. Caramel refers to a sauce to top ice cream or a liquid placed in the bottom of flan/creme caramel, etc.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I have lived on the West Coast for a collective 31 years (born here, lived elsewhere at some points), and everyone I know uses caramel for all the things you mention - candy, sauce, flavoring.

[just_M]

There goes my West Coast theory (40 years w/short breaks), must have been my Gran.

[buttertart]

I think carmel came into use from proprietary names used for confections like Karmel Korn. It's caramel for bicoastal (CA and NY) me all the way.

[smartie]

tell you where I get in a mess with recipes are egg sizes. Large British eggs are much much bigger than American large eggs. I would say an American large egg is on a par with British medium.
Also available in British supermarkets are duck eggs and quail eggs.

[Harters]

My local farmers' market ( in north west England), has a stall selling ostrich meat. Occasionally, they have ostrich eggs. One is the equivalent of 14 hens eggs - now that is one heck of an omelette. One day, I'll have to buy just to try.

[Paulustrious]

If you do then blow the egg so you can keep the shell. They are a talking point, and you can start using words like cloaca.

[Just One Bite]

I had a problem with egg color! Last year, I had friends with little kids coming from the US for Easter, and we couldn't find any white eggs to dye! Ended up using the Clarence Court eggs, and dying over the color!

[MMRuth]

FWIW - I dyed about 80 quails eggs this year, and they were absolutely gorgeous. Much nice than the white eggs I tried, which kept coming out garish.

[kattyeyes]

They look like designer malted milk balls. :) What a lovely centerpiece! Note I did not say TABLESCAPE. Nice job!

[The Dairy Queen]

Oh, those are really lovely!

~TDQ

[Just One Bite]

Beautiful! I'm going to do that next year. Thanks for the idea, and the photos!

[nanette]

Second that, smartie. Egg sizes in Europe are different and a medium here is the same as a large in the US. Can really screw up your baking if you aren't aware of the difference.

[greedygirl]

I didn't know that. Weird, because chickens are generally bigger in the US, afaik.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Laying chickens and chickens raised for meat are separate industries raising different sorts of chickens, though. In all liklihood, the breeds used for both in North America are different than those in Europe.

[paulj]

Chickens produce eggs in a whole range of sizes, they are then sorted according to size. Sizing standards developed independently in different countries, using different ranges, and different names.

The Wiki article for eggs has several tables, for US, modern Europe, Australia, NZ

[MMRuth]

That's good to know about the eggs when I cook from British recipes - usually American ingredients, onions etc., are larger. I find quail eggs in our supermarket in Manhattan, but usually buy them in Chinatown, where they are much cheaper. At our farmers' market, I buy duck and pheasant eggs.

[Das Ubergeek]

I had a HUGE problem converting egg sizes (and had correspondingly gooey cakes) until I finally THOUGHT about my great-grandmother's pound cake recipe (pound as in 453.6g), which calls for a pound of eggs, which comes to exactly 8 US "large" eggs. So a US "large" egg is 2 oz. or about 57g, weighed with the shell on.

[smartie]

toffee apples - candied apples in the US?

[Caitlin McGrath]

The ones covered in red candy are candied apples, the ones covered in caramel candy are caramel apples.

[Just One Bite]

Also discovered Candy Floss = cotton candy.

And the first time I went to Starbucks and asked for Half and half, they said "half what?" Stumped me! Still laugh when I think about it.

[akq]

Funny! I remember having some back and forth at a U.K. Starbucks about nonfat milk. I don't remember if "nonfat" was the term they weren't familiar with, or if it was something else. But I think they understood "fat-free" and "skim."

I also remember being surprised about the "bacon" in a bacon sandwich (didn't resemble American bacon), but was quite happy once I dug in...

I was also surprised at the pronounciation of "fillet" in the U.K.

[cathodetube]

If you want American style bacon in a sandwich then ask if it is 'streaky' bacon.

[beachmouse]

The US-Canada candy divide that I remember easiest is whether Smarties are a chocolate candy resembling M&Ms (Canada) or a wee puck-shaped candy made almost entirely of flavored sugar (US)

[Just One Bite]

UK Smarties are Canada Smarties too!

[mpjmph]

Except that one of the 2 factories that makes American Smarties is in Ontario :)

[smartie]

a few more things I thought of - Britain has a fantastic selection of creams, double, single, whipping and of course clotted.

I also have yet to understand why the electric kettle has never taken off in the US. I did manage to buy one in Walmart when I first got here but friends come over and ask in astonishment what that item is on my counter.

I did not know what a bialy was when I first came to America, they don't have them in Jewish shops.

also, corned beef is salt beef and they are not quite the same thing. British corned beef is a reconsituted type of meat which can be bought in a can, or sliced at the deli but it is nothing like deli corned beef.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Electric kettles are wonderful. Since I first bought one, I've never looked back.

I think bialys came to the US with a certain set of immigrants (i.e., from a certain area).

[paulj]

Asian shops in the US sell quite a few electric kettles. There are even versions specifically for brewing medicinal teas.

The canned corned beef is readily available in the US, right next to the Spam. Most comes from Argentina, Brazil, or (better ones) New Zealand and Australia. You can find more brands in Asian groceries.

The deli corned beef, as with most deli things in the US, has its roots in Jewish NYC, traceable back to immigrants from eastern Europe. I wouldn't be surprised if the link between corned beef and St Patrick's day comes more from contact between NY Irish immigrants and Jewish ones, than from old Ireland.

A number of the other differences between the US and UK come from other immigrant groups in the US. Cilantro comes via Mexico, even though Chinese use it, and apparently it used to be common in Europe. Arugula comes from Italian, though rocket might be an older derivative from Italian (or latin).

[Sam Fujisaka]

I'll blind taste test you on Brazilian / Argentinian vs. New Zealand / Australian canned corn beef.

[alanbarnes]

Re: canned corned beef. As SPAM is the national meat of Hawai'i, corned beef in a can (aka "pisupo" or "pea soup" - long story) is the national meat of Samoa. It's a big enough deal that you see cans of Ox & Palm being given as gifts at special occasions.

[paulj]

Of the brands that I've looked at, Ox & Palm seemed to be the 'healthiest', as in lowest in salt and fat, not that differences were that great. Since I only use a can once every two years (more or less), when I have nothing else in the camping box, I can't say much about the comparative taste or texture.

[KevinB]

Geez, I can't think of a department store in Canada (or any kitchen goods store, for that matter) that DOESN"T have a wide selection of electric kettles. I love mine, since I live alone, and I can heat up water for a cup of coffee or tea in less than two minutes - far faster than using than stove.

[Atahualpa]

Good article on electric kettles (and a few comments on their absence from the US) here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6075...

[tonifi]

We finally began using an electric kettle after my English husband burned up his sixth tea kettle on the stovetop.
More than twenty years in this country, and he still can't get used to a kettle that doesn't shut itself off.

[cathodetube]

The salt beef available in Jewish restaurants and areas of the UK is like US corned beef. Selfridges sells delicious salt beef sandwiches. The stuff in the tin is what Americans would use to make corned beef hash.

[Gooseberry]

I never noticed an absence of electric kettles when I was in the States. But I was amazed how every home had an automatic coffee filter. I don't know anyone who has that here (South Africa) - most have a cafetiere, or now those fancy electric espresso makers.

Something American which hasn't taken off widely in the UK or SA as far as I can see - the toaster oven. I miss that from my days in the States.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Is peanut oil generally called groundnut oil in the UK?

popsicle vs. ice lolly - is that correct?

[smartie]

yes Caitlin it is

[Paulustrious]

In my part of the world it was lolly-ice.

[queencru]

Sprite/7-Up vs. Lemonade. This was not a happy surprise for me when I first go to the UK since I hate Sprite.

[Paulustrious]

And then there are cuts of meat such as tenderloin vs fillet. These are quite confusing as the butchery is different between the two arenas. I am yet to see the word entrecote in Canada. I have no idea how to translate scrag end into Americanese.

[greedygirl]

Tenderloin is now routinely used for pork fillet - that's how they label it at my butcher.

Entrecote is a French cut similar to sirloin - no? We don't have entrecote either.

Scrag end is such a great phrase! I don't know what the American equivalent is either. Neck of lamb?

[JoanN]

Cuts of meat are just impossible. I walk around London markets going "What's that? What's that? and my BF walks around NYC markets going "What that? What's that?"

There was something that seemed fairly common in London markets that I believe was called a Baron Chop. It was a double lamb chop that seemed to have been cut from the saddle. Looked like a gorgeous hunk of meat. My local butcher had no idea what I was talking about.

[greedygirl]

You probably mean a Barnsley chop? Not that common apart from in well-to-do parts of town. I'd have to specially request it I reckon.

[JoanN]

Ah, yes. Barnsley chop. I guess I thought it rather common since in addition to butcher shops I'd seen them in a couple of supermarkets. Perhaps they were more up-market markets than I'd realized.

[greedygirl]

Are you coming to London any time soon JoanN? What part of town do you stay in?

[JoanN]

His flat is just a couple of blocks from the old Tate. But no plans to come any time soon since we're planning a long trip to South America and are both saving our shekels.

[MMRuth]

I think "best end of lamb" is rack of lamb, as well.

[Das Ubergeek]

I know this post is four months old... but the most useful information I have EVER gotten from the grocery store was a guide I picked up for free at Albertson's that translated American beef cuts into their closest Mexican Spanish equivalents, and vice versa. Since I normally buy my beef from Mexican markets, I used to have the damndest time trying to explain to someone what "diesmillo" or "palomilla" are.

It's amazing that eighty miles south of here, the style of butchery changes utterly.

[Gooseberry]

The meat, full stop. I actually bring the cookbook into the butcher with me now, if I'm using an American cookbook, to make sure I'm getting the right thing. Even then, my butcher tells me some american cuts are more fatty or thicker than our local cuts, so recipes aren't always successful when followed religiously.

[The Dairy Queen]

Fun thread! This is just what I need to get me through the Hopkinson, Ottolenghi, and Rose Bakery Cookbooks.

Do you have

porcini vs. cepes yet?

That hung me up for the longest time when we were cooking from Hopkinson!

~TDQ

[greedygirl]

They're interchangeable actually. Porcini is the Italian word, obviously and cepes is the French. I think more people say porcini, but I could be wrong.

[The Dairy Queen]

It's very uncommon to call them cepes here, except, at a French restaurant.

~TDQ

[Paulustrious]

Thank you for the credit.

Saute vs Fry
Broil vs Grill
Grill vs Griddle (well sort of)

Canadian Bacon vs Back bacon
Bacon vs Streaky Bacon (close enough anyway)

Hard cider, vs cider
Cider vs Apple juice

Lemonade - equivalent doesn't exist in UK as a word really
Sprite / lemon soda vs lemonade (Except in the UK you can get orange lemonade)

supper vs tea (there are regional variations here which include 'dinner')

candy vs sweets
dessert vs dessert OR sweet

English muffin vs muffin (guess that makes sense)

Cookie - Biscuit
Biscuits (as in biscuits with gravy) - I don't know how to translate that one

Pancake - nearest I can get is drop scone or scotch pancake
Crepe - Pancake

Boston lettuce vs Bibb lettuce

Pint (16 ounces) vs Pint (20 ounces) - and gallons have same 20% disparity.

And then there are just words like spud, pasty, banger.

[JoanN]

Speaking of soda, when London BF is in residence here I sometimes get tripped up on that word. I believe that in the UK “soda” refers only to carbonated water and/or perhaps seltzer. Are other fizzy waters called only by brand name or flavor, such as Coke or root beer?

[greedygirl]

They're known as soft drinks or fizzy "pop". Soda is specifically soda water.

[Paulustrious]

= seltzer as per Joan's suggestion..

[greedygirl]

Seltzer only used in conjunction with "alker" as in hangover cure!

[melpy]

In UK or USA? Because I live in US and I use seltzer all the time as carbonated water.

[BobB]

UK, g-girl's a Brit.

My suspicion is that seltzer (which has its roots in German) came to American English via Yiddish, but that's just a guess.

[greedygirl]

The broil thing really confused me for a while. I thought it was something special that only American ovens could do!

"Orange lemonade" = orangeade. But usually called by its brand name, normally Fanta. The American-style lemonade is usually called still lemonade.

The muffin thing is becoming more confused, as American-style muffins are now very popular here.

Supper/tea/dinner - that's VERY complicated - you could almost write a thesis on it! It's often class-related as well as regional. Really posh people often call their evening meal supper whereas for most people supper is a snack before going to bed. Calling your evening meal "tea" is quite a northern thing.

Dessert vs dessert OR sweet OR pudding.

Biscuits with gravy - doesn't exist. Similarly breakfast sausage.

And grilling in the American sense is normally called barbecuing, I think.

[queencru]

There are regional differences in the US too with dinner/supper, even though we don't have tea. My dad always calls his evening meal supper and I had a college roommate from nearby his area that called lunch dinner.

[paulj]

While 'tea' as a meal is rarely used in the US, the dinner / lunch / supper pairing is more variable (in both countries). The lunch and supper articles of Wiki are interesting reading, and likely to leave you more confused after reading than before.

[Caitlin McGrath]

I believe calling lunch dinner is a pretty old-fashioned thing, not common since the earlier part of the 20th century.

greedygirl, I have experienced the opposite confusion with the grill vs. broil thing when looking at UK cookbooks: "Put it UNDER the grill? Wha...?"

I hope some of our Australian hounds will chime in, too. I recall purple goddess saying in another thread that in Australia, it's eggplant and zucchini (but they do use capsicum), and ketchup is tomato sauce. (In the US, there's an entirely other product called tomato sauce, that is an ingredient.)

[MMRuth]

Yes, I've had the same confusion about putting it "under" the grill. I was trying to imagine what kind of grill one could cook things under!

[alanbarnes]

I cook black widow spiders under my grill all the time.

[Paulustrious]

In the US and Canada I do not recall seeing an 'eye-level' grill. Unless you are two years old.

[babette feasts]

Restaurant salamanders can be near adult eye level.

[Paulustrious]

I didn`t know that word - I`ve never worked in the restaurant trade. Here is a n example of a cooker with an eye level grill (broiler).

http://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/_5016993_Creda_HL500E/version.asp?refsource=apdealtime

Also very common are cookers of this type (both gas and electric).

http://www.appliancesonline.co.uk/pro...

There are two ovens, the top one of which is used primarily as a grill (UK) or broiler (US). Another difference between most UK and US ovens is that the lower element is normally not visible.

[steve8rox]

In Canada, our old electric oven had a suspended heating element at the very top of the oven chamber itself, named a grill, on the control panel.

[greedygirl]

Ketchup also known as tomato sauce here. I don't think we have the canned tomato sauce that you have in the States.

[queencru]

There are plenty of jar tomato sauces- possibly a smaller selection, but I bought them all the time in the UK.

[Caitlin McGrath]

queencru, are you referring to, for example, jarred tomato pasta sauce or to the canned (in tins) "tomato sauce" (that's what it's called on the can) that is an ingredient like tomato paste and sold in the US next to the tomato paste? Because people outside the US have occasionally asked on Chowhound what the latter is when they saw it called for in a recipe someone posted.

[paulj]

I have bought at a multi-ethnic produce stand and grocery, some Italian tomato sauce. It is labeled as Passata di Pomodoro. In small type the English translation is Strained Tomatoes. It's a little simpler than the typical American tomato sauce (no onions, etc), but still usable in the same way. It was shelved in a section with a variety of eastern European products.

[Atahualpa]

Here in Canada:

Tomato Sauce = everything from puréed tomatoes (e.g. Itallian Passata – certainly not concentrated like tomato paste) through to fully seasoned, ready-to-use pasta sauce (like a marinara or putanesca).

So, what are pureed tomatoes in a can called in the UK? Do Brits use passata for that?

[greedygirl]

Yes - that's passata or seived tomatoes. What we don't have is canned tomato sauce with onions etc. We do have pasta sauce, but I thought that was different.

[Atahualpa]

Ah, I'd just consider our tomato sauce with onions, garlic, and maybe a few seasonings in it to simply be very very simple/bland pasta sauce or just think of it as a pasta sauce base to which you can add things.

[nanette]

Actually calling lunch dinner might be "old fashioned", but I know plenty of 20 somethings who call lunch dinner. And school lunches are still called school dinners.

It is very much a regional and class thing as greedygirl highlighted.

[Caitlin McGrath]

Is this in the US or the UK? I was speaking of the US in particular (where school lunches are called school lunches, and the evening meal is dinner or supper, depending on who and perhaps where you are).

[queencru]

In the US, I knew people who called lunch "dinner" and the evening meal "supper." It's really a regional thing. My college roommate was from a small town in rural Indiana and my father is from NW Indiana and still uses those terms.

[nanette]

Sorry, the threading on this has gotten so long and not very well divided it is hard to follow. I meant the UK.

[purple goddess]

Caitlin, I've been looking for the other thread on this very subject, but my brain is fried right now.

Tomato sauce is a condiment, passata is an ingredient.

The other issue that never ceases to annoy me is that you Americans use different measurements. And I'm not just talking about converting from ounces to grams, basic recipe indicators such as teaspoon and tablespoon. A tablespoon in an American recipe is a different amount from the Imperial/Metric measurements used in UK and OZ.

ED TO ADD: Here's the link to the last discussion on this.. very VERY funny thread!

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/523985

[queencru]

I am American and I hate the American measurement system. It would be so much easier to put everything in mL or grams or something, not this teaspoon, tablespoon, pint, etc nonsense.

[paulj]

But that American system was inherited, with some modification, from the English.

[alanbarnes]

And the British, when they saw a far superior system, were smart enough to adopt it. How many drams in a gill, again?

[Agent Orange]

Much as I wish we'd switch to metric in general, I like our pints and cups and tablespoons etc. If we were ever to metricize, I hope we'd leave our recipes unchanged. At least for cooking. In baking, weights makes much more sense.

But one thing I've always wondered, does everyone in metric countries have a kitchen scale? Even the people who don't do much cooking/baking? Scales seem to be pretty rare in American kitchens.

[smartie]

Orange, I have a wonderful cup measure made by a company called Tala. I bought it in England about 20 years ago, my mum always used one, and as far as I know they are still available. It is a conical shape made of tin and is marked inside with grammes, lbs and oz, fluid oz, and English and American cups, and separates flour, sugar, rice etc into different weights.

So I have always used that for baking. There is a generation in the UK between about 45 and 55 years old who were taught imperial measures at first in school and then were wickedly switched to metric so we are capable of interchanging metric to imperial without any problem.

That being said I still bake in lbs and oz and if I see a metric recipe I mentally calculate all ingredients to imperial before I start.

But yes, Brits who bake use scales, either the old fashioned ones with weights or the type with a dish and a clock scale.

[Harters]

I think you're right, smartie. I feel pretty interchangeable these days.

I now think of a bag of sugar as 1 kg, not 2lbs. And can cook in metric and imperial. But I'm still 5' 8" and weigh 16 stone (yep, I'm a little fat man).

I buy petrol in litres but still talk about the car's consumption in miles per gallon and drive it in miles per hour. Which is a real nuisance when my Spanish brother in law and I do "men's car talk" , as he prefers to think in kilometres per litre and kph. I can usually handle one of the conversions but not two at the same time.

And, on international discussion boards, I always convert to metric as it's, erm, more international. Except a pint of milk is still a pint, even when it's a half a litre.

J

[greedygirl]

I think most people in Britain mix and match a bit. I'm 5'8 too (but not 16 stone!) and can do both metric and imperial.

[Harters]

I'm not so sure about the "most". My fave story.....

....I was buying some ham in the market hall at Ashton under Lyne about 5 years back. I asked for 125g. Woman next in the queue is a few years older than me, maybe mid-60s. She says "Ooooh, luv, I'll never get used to that foreign stuff - I'm only just able to work out the new money".

It was 1973 when we changed to decimal currency!

[purple goddess]

Brilliant!! We changed to decimal currency the year I was born, but changed to metric in 1973, so I had a few years of schooling in the old system. Like you, I think in metric and imperial.

I can calculate horizontal length in metric, but I am 5ft 9 (but my ideal weight is 75kgs!)

[tmso]

Wow, I'm almost afraid to ask ... how did non-decimal currency work?

Germans still use "pfund" (pound) to refer to a half kg, which makes sense. But unlike here in France where it's reasonable that prices are still posted in francs for those who couldn't learn to calculate in Euros (you try to divide by 6,5!) -- I just have to laugh when you sometimes hear older Germans ask for a price in Deutschmarks. (The conversion is 2DM=1€)

[Paulustrious]

You really don't want to know. But if you want to waste a portion of your remaining life you can start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_Day

[AussieBeth]

My mum has one of those, it is WONDERFUL! I have been looking for one for years, but with no success (I am in Aus)

[purple goddess]

scrounge around Salvos, or even better garage sales of deceased estates. That's where I got mine (suburban Melb)

[Paulustrious]

They crop up on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/MADE-IN-ENGLAND-COOKS-DRY-MEASURE-CONE-CUP-TALA_W0QQitemZ350158346730QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item350158346730&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116#ebayphotohosting

...even in Australia...
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/VINTAGE-TALA-M...

[Agent Orange]

That's sounds a bit tedious. At least you can use recipes from both sides of the Atlantic. I don't know if we Yanks will ever join the twenty-first century. Or, um, would that be nineteenth?

I recently purchased a digital scale. Comes in handy way more than I would have imagined.

[MMRuth]

I use my scale all the time - love that it measures in both metric and pounds/oz.

[baybritta]

my mom still uses one when she makes her German recipes. I had to buy one from the German store when she sent her recipes to me.

[cathodetube]

I have one of those Tala cup measures. They are hard to find now! Invaluable.

[therealdoctorlew]

Supper in my area of the US is always an evening meal, while dinner is the largest meal of the day, usually in the evening. Lunch is always midday, but a large midday meal can be dinner, usually on a holigay or Sunday ( eg, Sunday dinner and Thanksgiving dinner) and can be at any time on the designated day. And, of course, there can be a light supper if you had dinner midday.

[Agent Orange]

What area is that?

[nanette]

Cloudy lemonade approaches similarity with US lemonade.

Most Brits will distinguish with pancakes and will say "american pancakes" when refering to what Americans call pancakes.