# What are British chips - not fries - called in America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791 "2019-03-08T22:13:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/141 "2019-03-19T13:57:05Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Not this Brit! Viola! 🙂 > **[Quick bread](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_bread)** > > Quick bread is any bread leavened with a chemical leavening agent rather than a biological one like yeast or sourdough starter. An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time-consuming skilled labor and the climate control needed for traditional yeast breads. > Quick breads include many cakes, brownies and cookies—as well as banana bread, pumpkin bread, beer bread, biscuits, cornbread, muffins, pancakes, scones, and soda bread. > The te... American biscuits (and sometimes scones) fall under the “shortened” category. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/142 "2019-03-19T14:12:08Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Maybe I should have picked the other half of the meal. “What do I order in Britain if I want sausage gravy?” I’ve previously shared the story here of my friends who immigrated to the U.S. from ireland. Soon after they arrived here, they were in a breakfast restaurant, and saw “biscuits and gravy” on the menu. The only thing that they could picture was cookies topped with brown beef gravy – they were pretty sure that that _wasn’t_ what the dish was, but they couldn’t imagine what it acutally was, so they felt compelled to order it, just to figure it out. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/143 "2019-03-19T14:26:19Z")
Actually, if you want sausage gravy, you pretty much have to make the sausage from scratch. American breakfast sausage, which is what you use to make the gravy, is nothing like any type of sausage I’ve encountered in the UK (or elsewhere in Europe, for that matter). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/144 "2019-03-19T15:17:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Actually, if you want sausage gravy, you pretty much have to make the sausage from scratch. The plus is, though, you don’t have to stuff it or anything. Just throw some ground fatty pork with some sage, black pepper, and salt and you’re pretty good to go. (Often you’d also add a little nutmeg or clove, some brown sugar, and some hot pepper flakes, and even other herbs like thyme, but those are your two basic ingredients to give it that American “breakfast sausage” flavor.) There are English sausages with similar flavorings, but most of the British style sausages I’ve had that I remember have breadcrumbs or some kind of stretcher in them, which gives it a different texture. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/145 "2019-03-19T15:33:46Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The plus is, though, you don’t have to stuff it or anything. Just throw some ground fatty pork with some sage, black pepper, and salt and you’re pretty good to go. (Often you’d also add a little nutmeg or clove, some brown sugar, and some hot pepper flakes, and even other herbs like thyme, but those are your two basic ingredients to give it that American “breakfast sausage” flavor.) There are English sausages with similar flavorings, but most of the British style sausages I’ve had that I remember have breadcrumbs or some kind of stretcher in them, which gives it a different texture. When I make it, I sometimes use maple syrup instead of brown sugar. I was shopping at Walmart last week and found maple sugar was for sale. I’ll have to give that a try sometime. Maple Leaf makes a decent bulk breakfast sausage, but it’s just not as good as Jimmy Dean’s. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/146 "2019-03-19T15:41:04Z")
When I was living full time in Moscow, I also tried making British bangers from scratch. The recipe called for lots and lots of breadcrumbs, and they never came out quite the same as the real thing. I had to substitute imported Weisswurtzel instead. ☚ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/147 "2019-03-19T16:05:18Z")
Is Bisquick or some equivalent product sold in the UK? To make American biscuits, all you have to do is add milk (and/or buttermilk), knead, and bake. > **[Bisquick™](https://www.bettycrocker.com/products/bisquick)** > > Create family favorites with Bisquick Original Pancake and Baking Mix, and ingredients you have on hand. Use Bisquick for delicious and easy-to-prepare dinners, desserts, breakfasts and more. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/148 "2019-03-19T16:46:31Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > I’ve made them both - I’m a pretty accomplished amatuer baker (as in wedding cakes that people pay for and homemade pains au chocolate). They are the same family of food, but if I ordered a scone in the U.K. and got something that American me thought was a biscuit, I’d be really disappointed - likewise, if someone in the U.S. served me something called a biscuit that turned out to be a U.K. style scone, I wouldn’t be getting what I asked for (though I’d likely be pleased, I love scones). (I’ve yet to have a good British style scone in the U.S. - they sell them all over the place, but they aren’t the same - and I haven’t been able to find a recipe to make a British style scone - it might be the flour) Absolutely. The same family - enough to see a resemblance - but certainly not twins. Possibly not siblings. I bake a lot too, and I make both (though I tend to make biscuits more often than scones these days); I find scones are a useful basis for comparison when explaining biscuits to Brits, rather than starting from scratch or reciting a recipe. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/149 "2019-03-19T16:48:14Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Are Brits familiar with the term “quickbread”? Yep. Well, a few others here appear to disagree, but I am, and it’s not from my time spent across the pond. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/150 "2019-03-19T16:52:35Z")
Even without Bisquick, you can make delicious biscuits with just self-rising flour and cream, as [demonstrated here.](https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/09/worlds-easiest-biscuit-recipe.html) That’s not the usual method for biscuits —typically, butter and/or shortening is involved, and sometimes buttermilk — but even if you don’t have self-rising flour, all that is is flour with the baking powder already in it, so you can still make it by just adding the appropriate amount of baking powder. I know the recipe sounds somewhat odd to someone who makes biscuits the traditional way, but it works great for me, though, like I said, I’m a Northener so my opinion of biscuits should be taken with a grain of salt. But you should believe in Kenji and Serious Eats. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/151 "2019-03-19T16:55:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Is Bisquick or some equivalent product sold in the UK? To make American biscuits, all you have to do is add milk (and/or buttermilk), knead, and bake. > > [Bisquick - BettyCrocker.com](https://www.bettycrocker.com/products/bisquick) Not really. You can get it, but it’s not as though you’d expect to find it easily in supermarkets: you’d need to get it from a specialist who sells American products (or from Amazon, obviously…) They’re so easy to make that I’ve not investigated packet mixes…but that’s not to say my compatriots wouldn’t be so inclined. You can buy Yorkshire Pudding Mix here, for crying out loud. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/152 "2019-03-19T17:00:12Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > You can buy Yorkshire Pudding Mix here, for crying out loud. When one makes one of those mixes, how many of the resulting Yorkshire Puddings are capable of posting on the SDMB? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/153 "2019-03-19T17:00:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Is Bisquick or some equivalent product sold in the UK? To make American biscuits, all you have to do is add milk (and/or buttermilk), knead, and bake. > > [Bisquick - BettyCrocker.com](https://www.bettycrocker.com/products/bisquick) The brand name is familiar - although in my head it made me think of milkshake powder (I realise now that’s Nesquick) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/154 "2019-03-19T17:02:29Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Not really. You can get it, but it’s not as though you’d expect to find it easily in supermarkets: you’d need to get it from a specialist who sells American products (or from Amazon, obviously…) > > They’re so easy to make that I’ve not investigated packet mixes…but that’s not to say my compatriots wouldn’t be so inclined. You can buy Yorkshire Pudding Mix here, for crying out loud. Or indeed, frozen cooked Yorkshire Puddings. [SACRILEGE](https://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Aunt-Bessies-12-Home-Bake-Yorkshires/67815011)! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/155 "2019-03-19T17:06:29Z")
Wait, you mean popovers? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/156 "2019-03-19T17:11:39Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Wait, you mean popovers? 😉 Basically…yes. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/157 "2019-03-19T17:15:55Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Basically…yes. I know, I know. I’m kidding because of the scone vs biscuit discussion. I still think scones and biscuits are fairly closes iblings. I’m looking over various scone and biscuit recipes, and to me it clearly seems there’s a bit of an overlap at some points. Some scone recipes are just flour, butter, shortening, and milk/buttermilk, which is the same as some biscuit recipes. And, yes, I know you can get wildly different results using the same ingredients depending on method, but there’s a grey area where they intersect. The stuff I had in Scotland at the restaurant I worked at, I swear, I was not able to tell the difference from being a type of American biscuit. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/158 "2019-03-19T17:46:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I know, I know. I’m kidding because of the scone vs biscuit discussion. I still think scones and biscuits are fairly closes iblings. I’m looking over various scone and biscuit recipes, and to me it clearly seems there’s a bit of an overlap at some points. Some scone recipes are just flour, butter, shortening, and milk/buttermilk, which is the same as some biscuit recipes. And, yes, I know you can get wildly different results using the same ingredients depending on method, but there’s a grey area where they intersect. The stuff I had in Scotland at the restaurant I worked at, I swear, I was not able to tell the difference from being a type of American biscuit. 'tis a fair point, I think. I’m being quite deferential about the difference because of how attached some may be to versions which _are_ very distinct from each other…but I think of a biscuit as being, fundamentally, a very plain scone (because I knew scones first, so they’re my basis for comparison). Though contextually, they’re used very differently! ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/159 "2019-03-19T17:49:09Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > When one makes one of those mixes, how many of the resulting Yorkshire Puddings are capable of posting on the SDMB? 😉 I don’t _think_ that’s how I came to be. Got me a bit concerned now… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-british-chips-not-fries-called-in-america/830791/160 "2019-03-19T17:56:45Z")
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