Four food writers discuss what we call ingredients on both sides of the Atlantic. And we figure out the difference between spring onions, salad onions and scallions.
Because there is no American equivalent! Look in the British section of the International Foods aisle (the grocery store used to carry it there when I lived in California) but this recipe from a quick Google seems like the most accurate: https://www.daringgourmet.com/how-to-make-golden-syrup/ - as for substitutions, what are you trying to make?
Thank you so much!! I'm addicted to the Great British Baking Show and just started getting some of their cookbooks. Golden Syrup is in almost everything, gaaah! That recipe looks doable, I think you've saved me!
You missed one. Chips ~ Fries. I just discovered your newsletter Rachel, through Anne’s & Leah’s. I often get my knickers in a twist with spring onions vs spring onions (scallions) I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Oh I've known this one for ages and very much made peace with it... though I do smugly think we do it better that we use both chips and fries to tell people the type of potato fry they're going to get! Was just trying to stick to ingredients with this one, but I'm not ruling out a part two with some more general food ones at some point. And I'm glad you enjoyed this one!
Oh I was teasing about missing one. Like you I am very smug about it! It was a good laugh to read and also a great learning curve. I just had to let go of the anxiety of not being sure if I used the right cornstarch/cornflour in my recent writing assignment. And as for spring onions/scallions I have lazily given up and just call all both spring onions. I’ll try to do better.
Honestly, with the onion thing I just say spring onions all the time too, because I know people know what I mean when I say it, and what is wrong with a recipe if it means someone can follow it to achieve the desired end result?
We do still say sprinkles, but Hundreds and Thousands very specifically is a very British term for little round ones specifically in pastel colours we would have all been given as one of our very first things to decorate cakes with as children rather than regular long sprinkles, alongside little silver balls. Also important to Snowies (https://oldestsweetshop.co.uk/products/white-chocolate-snowies) which are a classic childhood treat!
Um, if you guys ever need help give me a shout... signed, British home cook/baker in US , one of many. "English toffee" in US is not English toffee, and neither of them are taffy. Signed, Chopped Liver (UK: pate) 😂😂
Out of interest, do you ship any ingredients for baking from the UK because it is what you're used to / what you prefer? For example, I wanted Bournville Cocoa Powder because all the different American grades confused me and I could not figure which would do what I wanted in my usual bakes.
But also, what do you mean by chopped liver in the US? Because chopped liver to me is a very Jewish thing that is called chopped liver in all my Jewish cookbooks written both sides of the Atlantic?
I used to bring back some ingredients, but no longer do, because, eg, why use heavily processed, preservative-laden "suet" in Xmas puddings, say, when butter is actually better ? I never did ship anything from the UK. Far too expensive. In California, I just went to British food stores. In Atlanta, I found much available in the larger Indian groceries. Now I just buy online. The chopped liver reference was a joke. As in, "What am I, chopped liver?" 😂 There are hundreds of thousands of Brits in the US, and many are cooks. I do recommend Cristina's Cucina. Cristina is a Scottish-Italian cook in Los Angeles, with a terrific blog in which she's converted many UK recipes to what can be bought here, with excellent results. The ingredient I would most like to buy, proper double cream, which is thicker and has more flavor than heavy cream, is not available here, and the preserved stuff in jars at World Market doesn't count. 😀
Don't worry... I miss jokes all the time. It's a thing among my friends! And I've just checked Cristina's Cucina out - I wish I'd known about her site when I was in Los Angeles!
Also: what? Shelf stable double cream? In jars??! And I thought the pasteurised Elmea from corner shops and petrol stations was bad...
What's Elmea? 😬 Yes, in jars. Bad AND pricy. And then there's the whole other issue of how differently a lot of Brits cook and eat today than thirty years ago, as is on display on TV's GBBS/GBBO etc. Most of the foods we expats seek out (even the young ones) are nostalgia foods, like sweets and biscuits (US cookies and crackers), made in factories. While distressingly few Brits today cook at home, all have a much wider palate than they once did.
Single and double cream that comes in the fridge section but has stabilisers added to make it last a lot longer 😬 I always think it has a slight plastic taste!
And I totally agree. Though I found the brands and products in America as British foods more ‘authentic’ to what people buy than in France where my parents lived where it was not only very nostalgia driven but also, regionally very Northern as to the choice of brands 🤷🏻♀️
Rachel, what a fascinating piece that was born out of curiosity and a Google doc. Thank you for letting me participate and be able to relive the wonderful year I spent in England!
Thanks for taking part! It was really interesting to get different perspectives, to see what we were all curious about, and what we'd (okay: I) had been getting wrong for years!
I can’t begin to list all the foods I got wrong in England, some quite a bit more embarrassing than caster sugar and aubergine! I’m wondering from a very non-scientific perspective that if you tallied up (counted, or however you say it) the British food words come from precedent and nostalgia, and the American food words come from the USDA. Boring.
That would be a fun thing to look at too, where exactly food words come from. But I think on the British side that might be wading into the dangerous regional quarters on things like bread rolls where they're called different things up and down the country (baps, cobs, barms, morning rolls...) with each region adamant they're right and everyone else is wrong. We get like that with words for things...!
Why isn't Golden Syrup on the list. Please tell me the best substitute for Golden Syrup or how to make it! Thanks.
Because there is no American equivalent! Look in the British section of the International Foods aisle (the grocery store used to carry it there when I lived in California) but this recipe from a quick Google seems like the most accurate: https://www.daringgourmet.com/how-to-make-golden-syrup/ - as for substitutions, what are you trying to make?
Thank you so much!! I'm addicted to the Great British Baking Show and just started getting some of their cookbooks. Golden Syrup is in almost everything, gaaah! That recipe looks doable, I think you've saved me!
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
You missed one. Chips ~ Fries. I just discovered your newsletter Rachel, through Anne’s & Leah’s. I often get my knickers in a twist with spring onions vs spring onions (scallions) I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Oh I've known this one for ages and very much made peace with it... though I do smugly think we do it better that we use both chips and fries to tell people the type of potato fry they're going to get! Was just trying to stick to ingredients with this one, but I'm not ruling out a part two with some more general food ones at some point. And I'm glad you enjoyed this one!
Oh I was teasing about missing one. Like you I am very smug about it! It was a good laugh to read and also a great learning curve. I just had to let go of the anxiety of not being sure if I used the right cornstarch/cornflour in my recent writing assignment. And as for spring onions/scallions I have lazily given up and just call all both spring onions. I’ll try to do better.
Honestly, with the onion thing I just say spring onions all the time too, because I know people know what I mean when I say it, and what is wrong with a recipe if it means someone can follow it to achieve the desired end result?
Thank you, that was fun!
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
This was so much fun, Rachel! Thanks for inviting me to be part of it.
Thanks so much for taking part!!
This was such an interesting dive! Now that I come to think of it, "eggplant" is such an off-putting name for a vegetable. Thank you for sharing!
I just learned a few new terms - I didn't know the British used 'hundreds and thousands' for sprinkles!
We do still say sprinkles, but Hundreds and Thousands very specifically is a very British term for little round ones specifically in pastel colours we would have all been given as one of our very first things to decorate cakes with as children rather than regular long sprinkles, alongside little silver balls. Also important to Snowies (https://oldestsweetshop.co.uk/products/white-chocolate-snowies) which are a classic childhood treat!
Um, if you guys ever need help give me a shout... signed, British home cook/baker in US , one of many. "English toffee" in US is not English toffee, and neither of them are taffy. Signed, Chopped Liver (UK: pate) 😂😂
Out of interest, do you ship any ingredients for baking from the UK because it is what you're used to / what you prefer? For example, I wanted Bournville Cocoa Powder because all the different American grades confused me and I could not figure which would do what I wanted in my usual bakes.
But also, what do you mean by chopped liver in the US? Because chopped liver to me is a very Jewish thing that is called chopped liver in all my Jewish cookbooks written both sides of the Atlantic?
I used to bring back some ingredients, but no longer do, because, eg, why use heavily processed, preservative-laden "suet" in Xmas puddings, say, when butter is actually better ? I never did ship anything from the UK. Far too expensive. In California, I just went to British food stores. In Atlanta, I found much available in the larger Indian groceries. Now I just buy online. The chopped liver reference was a joke. As in, "What am I, chopped liver?" 😂 There are hundreds of thousands of Brits in the US, and many are cooks. I do recommend Cristina's Cucina. Cristina is a Scottish-Italian cook in Los Angeles, with a terrific blog in which she's converted many UK recipes to what can be bought here, with excellent results. The ingredient I would most like to buy, proper double cream, which is thicker and has more flavor than heavy cream, is not available here, and the preserved stuff in jars at World Market doesn't count. 😀
Don't worry... I miss jokes all the time. It's a thing among my friends! And I've just checked Cristina's Cucina out - I wish I'd known about her site when I was in Los Angeles!
Also: what? Shelf stable double cream? In jars??! And I thought the pasteurised Elmea from corner shops and petrol stations was bad...
What's Elmea? 😬 Yes, in jars. Bad AND pricy. And then there's the whole other issue of how differently a lot of Brits cook and eat today than thirty years ago, as is on display on TV's GBBS/GBBO etc. Most of the foods we expats seek out (even the young ones) are nostalgia foods, like sweets and biscuits (US cookies and crackers), made in factories. While distressingly few Brits today cook at home, all have a much wider palate than they once did.
Single and double cream that comes in the fridge section but has stabilisers added to make it last a lot longer 😬 I always think it has a slight plastic taste!
And I totally agree. Though I found the brands and products in America as British foods more ‘authentic’ to what people buy than in France where my parents lived where it was not only very nostalgia driven but also, regionally very Northern as to the choice of brands 🤷🏻♀️
Thank you ladies! What a useful resource.
Rachel, what a fascinating piece that was born out of curiosity and a Google doc. Thank you for letting me participate and be able to relive the wonderful year I spent in England!
Thanks for taking part! It was really interesting to get different perspectives, to see what we were all curious about, and what we'd (okay: I) had been getting wrong for years!
I can’t begin to list all the foods I got wrong in England, some quite a bit more embarrassing than caster sugar and aubergine! I’m wondering from a very non-scientific perspective that if you tallied up (counted, or however you say it) the British food words come from precedent and nostalgia, and the American food words come from the USDA. Boring.
That would be a fun thing to look at too, where exactly food words come from. But I think on the British side that might be wading into the dangerous regional quarters on things like bread rolls where they're called different things up and down the country (baps, cobs, barms, morning rolls...) with each region adamant they're right and everyone else is wrong. We get like that with words for things...!
Glad we’re not the only ones. Guess we have “bigger fish to fry” i.e. problems over here. A roll is a roll is a roll.