Given that the comparison between biscuits and scones is usually done to try help Brits understand what American biscuits are, they need to be compared with British scones. As a Brit living in biscuit-country (the deep South), I’ve had a fair amount of exposure to both US biscuits and UK scones.
British scones are not “usually triangular or wedge-shaped” (but I do agree with the rest of the sentence). They are actually shaped very much like a biscuit. However, the resemblance pretty much ends there. They do not taste very similar at all.
No need to worry about any faux pas.
These days I tend to use HP sauce when I have a full English breakfast especially on the sausages or scrambled eggs. Bangers and mash would be another favourite. My wife loves sausages and I’m not that keen so that’s why I use HP on them when I’m forced into eating them. Personally I’d never use HP on steak though, that’s reserved for English mustard. Nothing like a dollop of mustard to clean out the sinuses.
From the jar:
HP sauce is “great for spicing up chips, bacon sandwiches,sausages and snacks such as jacket potatoes and baked beans”
And it’s still “by appointment to her Majesty the Queen” if that sort of thing impresses you
Actually, the recipe I’m using is from a British cookbook. I don’t have it with me at the moment, but it does say, after stirring, to put the whole lump of dough on a lightly floured surface, pat down into a circular shape, and cut into 6-8 wedges with a sharp knife.
But, yes you’re right: there are round British scones too. The ones I’ve seen have generally been smaller in diameter than biscuits, and seem to stand taller.
Yeah, well try getting a pretzle in Colombia. I had to draw a diagram of one for the woman at the supermarket, and she thought I was crazy. (There’s no Spanish word for “pretzle.”)
Not all brown sauce is HP sauce. Gravy is never referred to as brown sauce as far as I know (although ketchup is sometimes referred to as red sauce) but any sauce trying to pretend to be HP sauce is referred to as brown (IME, anyway).
Wasn’t there a legal definition of “biscuit”? I seem to remember that there was a case involving Jaffa Cakes - were they a cake, as the name implied, or a biscuit?
Someone came up with this definition: A biscuit is normally hard but goes soft, whereas a cake is normally soft but goes hard.
Funny; scones are usually hexagonal or circular and pinked/fluted 'round these parts.
OK, so scones (although similar) aren’t the same as biscuits, but why? - if the recipe is so similar, what’s the difference? (apart from the presentation, that is).
acsenray - ‘no bake’ cookies are usually made from crushed cookies or cake crumbs, mixed with something to make them set - either butter, melted chocolate, melted marshmallows or some kind of syrup (or a combination of those) - packed down into a shallow tray and left in the refrigerator to harden.
I remember my first trip to England as a young lad, making a ham sandwich for myself and thinking “Hmmm…Colman’s, French’s…what’s the difference?” and slathering a ton of English mustard on my lunch. One bite taught me the difference! :eek:
Now I am a bit of a mustard specialist, but I still remember my introduction to Colman’s.
A biscuit, in "Merica, can be either exceedingly plain, or really buttery. It is eaten with chicken, quite often, or with dishes with gravy, as has already been mentioned. You do not eat it with tea, as you do with scones, (or in our case, if we ate them at all, which we don’t, with coffee.) and also, while scones often contain things like dried fruit, at least when I have seen them here, biscuits are just biscuits.
Yes, something like that - I think it was Customs & Excise that were trying to prove Jaffa Cakes should be classed as biscuits, which would mean they attracted more duty.
Like hell it is. I’ve never heard anybody refer to a lollipop as a “sucker” anywhere in the U.S. That’s reserved for the way Elmer Fudd feels when he suddenly finds himself treading air 500 feet above a ravine in 1940s Bugs Bunny cartoons.
HP sauce is a very tangy, highly spiced (but not hot) sort of ketchup - flavoured with allspice, if I’m not mistaken. Not entirely unlike Worcester sauce in the general direction of flavour, but not really all that similar either.
Down here (southern US), we call em suckers all the time. You need to get out more.
On biscuits vs. scones: As said earlier, biscuits are lighter than scones. The inside is soft and bread-like, not crumbly. Scones are yummy (had my fair share in the UK), but biscuits are heaven on earth.
Speaking of which, how do you folks line up on the soft vs. hard pretzel debate?