Sure I get that. Perhaps I should have better stated that it is at least used the same in some places.
No need to apologize. This was not a big deal. The “weird names I have encountered” threads get my back up though.
Garden centres and farm shops usually have independently produced stuff, even things on supermarket shelves that aren’t Branston, are often superior to Branston.
Just stay away from Tesco, Asda, and Lidl’s versions, at least according to this guy:
It’ll be a while probably when I’m in the UK next, but I’ll be interested in trying some other brands. I do happen to think Branston is pretty much perfect, but I’ll keep an open mind.
Yeah, they’re sort of comparing Branston-alikes there, so that’s going to be prone to disappointment - there’s a tendency to regard the famous brand as the standard that the others must attain, and any differences are faults.
This pickle is one I think is pretty good (still quite a commercial pickle, despite the branding trying to make it sound like a little homemade thing): Buy Classic Cheese Maker's Pickle | Cottage Delight
There’s no point getting hung up on an word.
They are chutneys because they are called chutneys. English chutneys certainly, but chutneys nonetheless. There isn’t a some kind of “chutney police”.
Some of them are closer to Indian styles of pickled chutneys but miles away from the fresh ingredient varieties. It’s all good.
I just like saying the word “chutney”
Yep. When words cross borders, they frequently change meaning and/or pronunciation. It can’t be stopped, and you’ll only hurt yourself trying.
I was responding specifically to Mangetout’s comment. I am not hung up on the word.
I’m sure that the people who are angry about English chutney is mostly because they believe it compares poorly with chutney in their own cuisine.
The same thing happens in the United States for example when people call things “barbecue” that they consider distinctly inferior to “real barbecue.”
Ooo. That ingredients list does make it sound pretty tasty to me (carrots, onions, rhubarb, blackberries, plums, blackcurrants.) That’s totally up my alley.
Sadly true, people will apply their own curious purity test to pretty much anything and then become recreationally furious. Quite funny, but more than a little depressing.
Seeing it described as “sandwich pickle” makes me think of what we called pickle relish which I mildly hate. Guess that’s why I wasn’t impressed with the Branston pickle – not my kind of pickle.
The price of purity is purists.
Yeah, they’re comparing the more finely chopped version of Branston pickle there, which I think is a slightly different formulation in terms of vegetables, but still has that basic “Branston” flavor.
Often their judgment is really provincial too. I routinely encounter this scenario:
Me: I’ve been out shopping and bought some foods imported from Zubrowka. I don’t really know much about the cuisine, so I am just going to put them together in a simple sandwich.
Respondent 1: I am a citizen of Zubrowka and you accidentally made the exact same sandwich my father and grandfather and his father before him always made. It is famous in our country.
Respondent 2: I am from Zubrowka and nobody here would ever eat a sandwich like that. You are an idiot.
Italians are absolutely insane in that way too, Incandesant with indignation over the tiniest transgressions.
Yeah, I think there is a tendency in Italy to regard cooking as a completely solved problem. If you are not making an existing dish exactly as it is always made, you are in error.
It is a rather arrogant approach but I’m happy for them to provide endless examples of how it should be done.
Haha. Yes. It does seem they are rather provincial , but I get it and admire it to some extent. But it gets a bit over the top sometimes. But Italian food is very much where changing an ingredient or two makes it a different dish with a different name, so I can see getting irked my stuff like putting peas and/or mushrooms with smoked bacon or ham in a dish and calling it “carbonara.”
Perhaps my favorite clip in regards to that:
Yeah, if someone’s grandmother didn’t make it that way then you’re an affront to the palate!
Well, no. The annoyance, so far as I’ve understood it, is that a lot of dishes have a set of expectations and ingredients, and if you deviate from them, that’s perfectly okay. Just don’t call it by the original name. Give it a different name. Like when I order a pizza margherita, I expect cheese (fresh mozzarella usually), tomato, basil. If you throw olives or capers on it, or oregano, or chile peppers – I’m sure it’s fine. But it’s not a pizza margherita. If I order something specifically called a “Chicago style hot dog” and it comes with ketchup – I mean, that’s fine if you eat it like that. I put ketchup on a hot dog sometimes. Just don’t call it a “Chicago-style hot dog.”
That’s all.