I should’ve used preview there, but the head/no head depends on where you’re from here. I can’t get Londoner barmen to put a head on my bitter the way I’m used to it in the north.
I believe the American word for muesli is granola? I also presume fruit in breakfast cereal is pretty common everywhere isn’t it? Give the Jordans range a try if you get the chance, the strawberry Country Crisp is delicious.
I was last in the UK about 20 years ago, and my recollection is that the beer was served warmER (or less cold, if you prefer) than it usually is here. Perhaps things have changed since then. OTOH, it seemed to be more flavorful. It was our guess that the extra-extra cold US beer was to prevent you from noticing that it was bland by comparison.
Yes, we certainly have muesli (granola-type) cereals here in abundance, in many varieties. There’s one I particularly like that has oatmeal and almonds in it. There’s a specific Muesli brand that I am not too fond of, but that’s just individual preference, of course. The Wheetabix, IIRC, was a kind of fine-shredded wheat type thing that I did not care for at all.
One of the really fun things about traveling is getting to try new stuff. That said, I didn’t care for the texture of the UK sausages. The broiled tomato with breakfast was not my cup o’ tea, either. Hubby liked it, though.
When we had shrimp (or “prawn”) cocktail, we were extraordinarily surprised at what we got, as it was completely unexpected. Might as well be two completely different items with the same coincidental name as compared to the U.S. version.
I’m from Cheshire, Everton. Born in Bury, Lancs. I like a good head on me bitter.
We have both muesli and granola, though I’m not sure what the distinction is. They’re both marketed as health-food items (except for granola bars, which are pressed and sweetened granola which make a good hiking snack).
We have digestive biscuits over here, too, except that we call them Grahm crackers. Aside from the name and shape (ours are usually rectangular, and perforated into sections), they seem to be identical.
And in some parts of the country, we do indeed have Pancake Tuesday, but Mardi Gras/Carnival/Shrove Tuesday traditions vary greatly from one part of the country to another. Reptile meats are another regionalism: You can get rattlesnake and alligator in New Orleans, and probably other places in the South, but I’ve never seen them up North.
What are British baked beans? Baked beans are a staple in the U.S., and they’re in a tomato-based sauce. In some rural areas, they’re even common for breakfast (together with fried eggs and home-fried potatoes) How is this different from the British product?
Oh, I should have also mentioned: I don’t know if you have it in Great Britain, but nowhere in America can you get the yummy brown soda bread that you see all over the place in Ireland.
Digestive biscuits are NOT Graham crackers, I’m afraid. Very different in texture, taste and ingredients. Trust me, I’ve lived on both sides of the pond, back and forth, for my whole life.
Biscuits in general are very different.
In the US there are no Jaffa Cakes, no Fruit Shortcake, no Penguins.
http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/biscuits/week.php3
Of course noone’s got any idea who the Keebler elves are in the UK either.
Muesli and granola are also very different - granola is available in the UK - called Harvest Crunch - made by Quaker I believe. Muesli is indeed available in the US but without the variety you get in the UK.
Aniseed Balls 
Especially a Phoenix, Robinson’s or Thwaites’ eh? Cains is my local brew from home, but down here Youngs and London Pride are nice if they’re well kept.
Soda bread is easy enough to get this side of the Irish Sea, Chronos – I think I’ll have some with cheese and pickle for lunch tomorrow. You can make your own very easily too, because it doesn’t need any yeast.
It hardly takes a “brave soul” to try (and enjoy) haggis - it just takes a competent cook to make an appetizing haggis. Sounds like you might’ve either had a bite of cheap “scare the tourists” haggis, or a canned haggis. I’ve had several delicious servings of haggis in the US, and every January I look forward to the annual Burns Night dinner to have another. To get the right ingredients, you usually have to make arrangements with a butcher shop beforehand.
As for crocodile steak, I dunno how the Aussies eat it, but any Cajun restaraunt worth their name should have some 'gator on the menu.
Cadbury Flake is the absolute pinnacle of chocolate candy-bar manufacture. The Albertson’s grocery store down the road from our apartment has a small “international foods” section where you may purchase Flake and Aero bars, Irn Bru, Weetabix, digestive biscuits and various other British food items. There’s also a small “international” freezer case where you can get meat pies and breakfast bangers along with various frozen Indian foods (nothing more British than a good Chicken Tikka Masala…). Thanks to Albertsons, the only thing I’m really missing from my Scottish vacation are the little cardboard “cans” of Twinings Iced Tea - the fruit flavors were delicious.
Couldn’t find Jelly Babies for a long, long time. Then the local drug store started carrying 'em. For a while, I was the only one buying them, and when the store was about to go under, I convinced the manager to let me buy the remaining stock (almost a palate) for thirty eight cents a box. Man, that was a sugar-filled summer.
Are they at all close to our Arrowroot Wafers? Nabisco makes them, they’re very simple, vanilla-flavored biscuits, rather dry, marketed as “Baby’s First Cookie.” Supposed to be good for teething and disgestion.
I had steak-and-kidney pie once. Never again! I could still taste it the next day! In my judgment, kidneys taste like liver only more so.
What is a British pork-pie like? Is it just like a chicken pot pie but with different meat?
I’m very fond of lamb. It’s frustrating to try to find lamb in the States, and almost impossible to find mutton! Which, I understand, the Brits eat as often as we eat beef.
What is sage-and-onion stuffing? I always assumed that it was simply breadcrumbs with sage and onions, in other words, just what most Americans eat with a roasted turkey or chicken – but from an above post I get the impression that it’s something else entirely.
From George Orwell’s famous 1945 essay “In Defence of English Cooking”:
Now, the above paragraphs refer to the following foods I have never tasted or seen, and perhaps someone could explain to me what they are:
Devonshire cream
crumpets (coffeeshops in the U.S. sell scones, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crumpet – what do they look like?)
Christmas pudding (is this a kind of plum-pudding?)
treacle tart (what is “treacle,” anyway?)
apple dumplings
dark plum cake
saffron buns
potato cakes (are these the same as Jewish latkes?)
bread sauce (made of bread? or for it?)
horse-radish sauce (horseradish is an ingredient in many sauces in America but I think Orwell’s talking about some particular kind of sauce)
redcurrant jelly
Dublin prawns (what distinguishes them from the shrimp we get here in the U.S.?)
Oxford marmalade (is this simply orange marmalade?)
bramble jelly (???)
marrow jam (!!!)
Stilton (a blue cheese, right?)
Wensleydale
cottage loaf
There is, of course, no such thing as a haggis, right? You Brits just made that up to freak out the tourists and make yourselves look macho enough to eat anything, didn’t you?
I wouldn’t think they are very similar; we have arrowroot biscuits here (which are quite similar to ‘Rich Tea’).
Digestives are a substantial oaty, wholemeal biscuit, they are quite plain, but very nice. Here’s a recipe for them:
6 oz wholemeal flour
2 oz very fine oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 oz butter or margarine
1 oz dark soft brown sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk
Mix the dry ingredients together, rub in the butter until you get to ‘breadcrumb’ stage, add the milk and mix/knead to a firm dough.
Roll out thinly on a floured surface (to 1/4 inch thick or a little less), then cut into 3 inch rounds with a cutter; place on a greased baking sheet and prick all over with a fork.
Bake at 190C (375F) for 15-20 minutes, or until light golden brown. They may appear soft when hot, but will crisp up as they cool.
No, it is a pie with a thick, crunchy, crumbly crust, containing a solid block of seasoned ground pork; the gap between the crust and the meat is filled with aspic. They are always eaten cold.
You Brits eat pasties, don’t you ? In the US, strippers use them to cover their nipples.
Umm… those are Cornish Pasties. They’re a handful of mince and mixed veges wrapped up in a shortcrust pastry. Kind of the same idea as like a pie.
And no, strippers probably won’t like those versions on their nipples. Especially when their hot from the oven 
Sometimes it is just as you describe, but often it will be breadcrumbs, sage, onion and pork sausagemeat.
**Like a sort of thick pancake with an odd, spongy texture caused by large bubbles rising to the top during cooking.
**Yes, pretty much; a very rich doughy fruitcake, served hot with custard/cream/brandy butter.
**‘Treacle’ is sugar syrup, but comes in several varieties; golden syrup being the most common, but there is also black treacle, which is more like a very dark caramel or a very sweet molasses. Treacle tart is a shallow pie filled with (essentially)a mixture of breadcrumbs and treacle, then covered with a lattice top - it is a lot nicer than you might imagine.
Made with bread; sort of a white sauce for serving with hot meat such as gammon, the bread thickens the sauce instead of using flour.
**Yes, it is a sort of relish made from horseradish, used in much the same way as mustard - the best horseradish sauce is incredibly pungent, the cheap supermarket stuff is often adulterated with turnip and causes no pain at all in the eating.
**Essentially this is just seedless jam made from redcurrants (related to blackcurrants and gooseberries, but sweeter, and red, obviously), but rather than being used as a jam, this one is typically served as a relish for game and other cooked meats.
**Dublin {bay} prawns, also known as langoustines, are more like a diminutive lobster.
Yes, but very dark in colour and very bitter and aromatic.
**Seedless blackberry jam.
**Believe it or not, yes, this is jam made from marrows (mature zucchini) - I’ve never seen it for sale - even at craft fairs, I think it was largely a wartime phenomenon, when imported fruit was scarce.
**THE blue cheese.
Crumbly white salty cheese; think Greek feta and you’re not a million miles away (although still not terribly close).
**Just an odd-shaped loaf of bread; shaped sort of like a pumpkin with a bread roll-sized extra bit on top (over which the children fight).
In Britain, mature zucchinis are called “marrows”? And they make/used to make a jam out of them? I guess that’s a relief – I assumed “marrow jam” would be made out of bone marrow.
Originally posted by BrainGlutton:
What is a British pork-pie like? Is it just like a chicken pot pie but with different meat?
Here’s a recipe.
I’m very fond of lamb. It’s frustrating to try to find lamb in the States, and almost impossible to find mutton! Which, I understand, the Brits eat as often as we eat beef.
Lamb is very easy to find, mutton much harder. Orwell might be disappointed to discover that hare is even harder to find – specialist butchers only.
**What is sage-and-onion stuffing? **
Another recipe. Some more for sausagemeat and chestnut and sweetcorn and bacon stuffing.
Devonshire cream
Is thickened, sweetened cream, best served with jam as a topping for scones or with fruit as a dessert. Here’s a recipe, but there are variations.
Crumpets
Based on conversations in previous threads, I believe these get confused with what you guys call English muffins. They’re round, bread-like items nearly an inch thick, that are cooked on a flat griddle and contain a rising agent that causes little holes to form on the top surface. You buy them part-cooked so that they can be toasted and eaten hot with butter.
Christmas pudding
Another recipe. There are endless variations, but plum pudding and figgy pudding are close relatives of it.
Treacle tart
Treacle is a dark, sweet syrup a bit like molasses. As this recipe explains, golden syrup is often substituted for treacle these days. Golden syrup has an equivalent in the USA but I can’t remember what it’s called.
Apple dumplings
Not really dumplings at all. Recipe.
Saffron buns
Here’s a traditional cornish recipe. There are some other eye-openers on that site.
Potato cakes (are these the same as Jewish latkes?)
No, I think latkes are like Swiss rosti aren’t they? Grated potato, fried in oil? Potato cakes are flat little pastries made from a mixture of flour and mashed potato. Recipe.
Bread sauce (made of bread? or for it?)
Breadcrumbs are one of the ingredients. Recipe.
Horse-radish sauce
Traditional accompaniment for roast beef. I’m sure you have the same or similar in the USA.
Redcurrant jelly
Just a sweet preserve made from redcurrants. Also used in place of cranberry sauce with certain meats.
Dublin prawns
Technically shouldn’t be included as British, but we eat plenty of them, especially the tails, deep-fried (which we call scampi). They’re langoustines.
Oxford marmalade (is this simply orange marmalade?)
Yes, pretty much. Bittersweet flavoured, with thick shreds of peel in.
Bramble jelly
Brambles are an alternative name for blackberries. Bramble jelly is a preserve made from them.
Stilton (a blue cheese, right?)
It surely is – the king of blue cheeses. There’s a less common white version too.
Wensleydale
Another cheese. Very pale colour, mild flavour and melt-in-the-mouth texture. There are plenty more cheeses Orwell didn’t mention.
Cottage loaf
A white, crusty, soft-textured loaf of bread with a characteristic shape.
Can’t help you with dark plum cake or marrow jam I’m afraid. Perhaps someone else can. Bone marrow can be used as an ingredient of delicious sauces eaten in France, Italy and elsewhere.
Of course haggis exists, although I’d estimate that most Scots have never eaten it, let alone most British people generally. I’ve had it myself several times and I think it’s good (although I wouldn’t put it in my list of favourites).
As with any food, you like what you like. Eating is not supposed to be a test you need to pass to win a green beret. If you don’t like kidneys don’t eat them; that’s just as true for British people as anyone else. To me it does seem a little childish to find so many presumably adult US posters who post “ew ew ew” like little kids whenever somebody mentions a food that a child might be scared to eat. Having said that, I know that plenty of British people would turn their noses up at liver, kidneys and the rest. They’re hardly ever eaten at my house.
It’s also tiresome that people who have never visited my country assume that everything eaten here is either boiled or is the entrails of some animal. No matter how many threads there are that discuss it, it’s one piece of ignorance that never seems to go away (often because the British posters only mention the food that freaks Americans out). Most food eaten in the UK needn’t freak anyone out, but is so ordinary that it doesn’t seem worth mentioning.
Also zucchinis are called courgettes.
They used to make jam out of all kinds of things in the war - carrots and parsips, for example.
everton: I clicked on your link to the pork pie recipe. My word! The picture of the completed pie looks exactly like the pie that was served to Saturninus and Tamora in the last scene of the Anthony Hopkins screen adaptation of Titus Andronicus! Sheer coincidence, right? Right?
