And I ought to just add the boilerplate that bangers and mash, toad in the hole, jellied eels, black pudding and haggis, although popular here (the latter mainly in Scotland), they are by no means the most popular meal; that would be curry 
(In all seriousness, we have a very diverse culture of food here).
And personally, I prefer smoked mackerel to kippers, but not for breakfast.
I have had jellied eels and they taste like bits of tyres in vaseline. They are horrible, and they have a razor sharp bone in them.
They are popular in London, as are stewed eels which aren’t that bad.
Black Pudding is the mutts nuts (not literaly).
Chicken Tikka Masala was confirmed last year as the most popular dish in the UK. Overtook fish and chips, di’n it, cor love a duck barrel of monkeys.
I luuuuurve white pudding; I only discovered it a few years ago.
Yeah, I’d say that country-style pork sausages (the ones we normally serve for breakfast) are a fair bit more seasoned then bangers. I make my own sausages and I have various recipes, but they generally contain a combination of these spices: sage, summer savory, nutmeg, pepper, red pepper flakes, salt marjoram, thyme and rosemary. Usually not all (or even most) of these, but sage, pepper and a dash of nutmeg are generally the key. A really good recipe can be found here. It goes above and beyond what’s normally called for in seasoning country sausage, but I’ve tested it and it’s damned good. So if we have any American expat Dopers or curious foreign Dopers jonesin’ for some down-on-the-farm sausage, I encourage you to try.
Ummm…that said, I just found this recipe for bangers which is just as seasoned as American country-style pork sausages. The bangers I’ve had in the UK weren’t as seasoned, to my recollection, but then again, I may have had shoddy bangers.
Give me a break! The OP comes from England, where “biscuits” are what we call “cookies” in the US, and you expect him to be able to get Bisquik at the store?? While he’s there, maybe he should pick up some Texas Pete to put on his grits, or should he just get those at the Waffle House? :rolleyes:
If Mangetout is going to find out what American biscuits taste like, he’ll have to make them from scratch. Was the recipe I linked to from the Food Network perfect? No. I wasn’t thrilled that it called for shortening instead of hog lard, and I certainly wasn’t thrilled that it called for cutting the dough into squares instead of using a jelly glass to cut the dough into circles, but if he follows the linked recipe, he’ll get a good biscuit and can see what we’re talking about.
OTOH, JavaMaven1’s tip about adding vinegar or lemon juice to sweet milk to make a buttermilk substitute is an excellent one!
I love kippers, especially with scrambled eggs and toast. My great-grandfather used to make blood sausage with pig’s blood and oatmeal–it was OK, but I wouldn’t suffer if I never ate it again.
I make perfectly light and fluffy biscuits withe real butter. I’ve only noticed that they get tough when I roll the dough too much.
My, My, Labdad we’re a little testy, aren’t we? Please accept my humble apology if I’ve offended you. If you’ll notice, I did say “if it’s available”. Anyway, biscuits are easy, and it’s the gravy with which I was most concerned. This is IMHO after all, and I was just offering mine. As far as the recipes you linked to, I didn’t even read the biscuit recipe, but the one for “sausage gravy” was IMHO, revolting. Mind you, that’s just me, and in the part of the south where I grew up, tastes were probably a little different than they are nowadays in Atlanta. Please take no offense, my intent was simply to provide the OP with what I consider a true Southern culinary experience. If my comments were abrasive, again, I apologize.
I’m going to try out these recipes at the weekend; I’m not sure what the family will think as it is (to us) such a strange thing to be eating for breakfast (not that this will stop me).
Really, arisu? My mother told me never to use butter and I didn’t believe her… until the time I made a huge batch of biscuits to take to the office for breakfast, and used butter. Within two hours, I had hockey pucks. 
And I never knead or roll out my biscuits.
Hmmn…
Mangetout writes:
> Corn Syrup: I understand that this is a sugar/fructose syrup
> extracted from corn kernels, but what sort of consistency is it? -
> would golden syrup (which I’m not sure is international, but has
> approximately the consistency of honey) be a suitable
> substitute?
I think there’s a good chance that golden syrup will not work. Back in the late '80’s, when I lived for a while in England, an American woman who was also living there told me that she tried to make pecan pie. She told me that she tried to use golden syrup, which was supposedly similar, but the resulting pie was a disaster. The only place I know of that one could get corn syrup in the U.K. was at the commissary at the American military bases.
From what I have seen of golden syrup (Lyle’s is available in some supermarkets here), the problem may be consistency: corn syrup is extremely thick. I doubt it will affect the cookies much - most such recipes are pretty tolerant, and the extra flavor may be a nice addition. With a pecan pie I could see it might be problematic, since you’re dealing with a custard base which might not set correctly if it’s too liquid.
On yorkshire pudding: we always make it for Christmas at my parents. Or rather, we make individual ones, quite like popovers. The difference is that YPs start with the drippings from the roast - a little bit in each tin - so they don’t pop quite so high. But they get such lovely flavor from the meat.
(I’ve a feeling our version is very non-traditional, but it works well for us. As for a single, large YP - Helene Hanff described it as a “smooth, high, empty waffle,” which is about as close a description as you can get.)
Now, for sausage seasonings: this runs all over the map in the U.S. (And I’m not even going to start on popular “ethnic” sausages, like bratwurst, kielbasa, chorizo, or andouille.) I’ve had everything from very bland to painfully hot, but the most popular seasoning seems to be a sage blend. It works nicely with mild pork.
As for butter in biscuits: it will work, but it must be cold when you cut it into the flour. If it isn’t, it will mix too much with the flour and make a heavy, doughy mess. Crisco has a somewhat higher melting point than butter, so doesn’t tend to cause this problem.
Kippers are a hideous way to begin the morning. I like fish, and a nice smoked salmon can’t be beat at an early hour. But to be confronted by fish that can only be described as smelling deeply, profoundly dead, sitting-out-in-the-sun-for-days-before-it-was-canned dead, is just cruel. I assume they are a holdover from boarding schools, which probably found them an effective disciplinary tool.
I stand firm that kippers are excellent breakfast food (although certainly not as good as scrapple 
), and that lard is the best shortening for biscuits.
Scrapple??
The subject of biscuits has come up and as a native son of Tennessee I feel obligated to mention red eye gravy. :> Of course I seriously doubt that good country ham is available in England. Nothing in the world is better in the morning than a plate of country ham, eggs, several cat-head biscuits with hot red eye gravy poured over them. :>
BTW red eye gravy is ludicrously simple, just fry up a good generous slice of country ham, remove it from the skillet and pour some hot coffee into the drippings and stir it a bit to scrape up the ham particles. I generally season it with some black pepper.
Ham is usually eaten cold in England and is available in a very wide variety of forms. Please describe ‘country ham’.
Scrapple! A divine mixture of pork meat and broth with flour (traditionally rye and buckwheat, although some use cornmeal), lightly seasoned (Daddy only used salt and pepper and a little sugar). Sliced and fried for breakfast (although it makes a nifty sandwich, too).
mmmmMMMMMmmmmmm…
I agree, Squish. Lard seems to produce the nicest flaky, well-textured biscuits. (Or vegetable shortening. Which I’ve never found in this country. Then again, I like lard.)
However, butter does work well, too, I will attest to that. Many cultures have butter-based biscuits. (Hungarians have something called pogacsa, which are savory, soft and flaky biscuits.) As Oxymoron said, the butter must be cold. DO NOT LET IT MELT. This is the key to almost every sort of pastry I’ve ever made. Work quickly, and if you’re working with your hands, be very careful not to handle the dough any longer than you have to.
Some cookbooks advise using two knives or a pastry blender to avoid this problem. You can use your hands; just pay attention. Once it starts melting, you’ll get those hockey-puck biscuits.