American cookery terms

SomersetPrincess

brokenwings wrote:

i make pecan pie, pumpkin pie, biscuits and white gravy and EVEN grits on the odd occasion !!

Can I ask what grits are? I have heard of them but never tried!!

EDIT: Sorry have now seen that his has already been answere - whoops!!

Thank you!

HOLsale

MrsB wrote:

You can buy cream style corn here too! I saw Nigella using it in one of her recipes. I'm sure the jolly green giant brand do it. Have a look next time you're in the supermarket.

Edit: Yep - thought so - just found it on the Tesco website.

well i'll be! i wonder how long they've been selling it, they certainly weren't when i first moved here 7 years ago, course i don't think i've checked since

it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd expect to be imported over here thanks though, i'll have to give it a go for old times sake

HOLsale

RacyRed wrote:

HOLsale, re Graham crackers, I loved this from NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com



:

i like this bit from the cupoftea site you gave us the link to

>>So a Digestive it is not, though both Wifey and I were shocked at how much we liked them, and actually how relatively wholesome they were given they are from the same stable as the Oreo. <<

see, told you they aren't like digestives you also get cinnamon grahams which are quite nice too

oh and as for graham flour, make sure you dont' mix it up with gram flour which is made from chickpeas (as i discovered to my detriment when on a quest to make my own graham crackers) :eek:

Seakay

moggins wrote:

Corn Syrup? Is there a british equivalent. I want to make fruit leathers as I think these are better for the kids than the fruit winders they have fallen in love with but all the recipes seem to call for corn syrup and it can't be found anywhere in this country.

Preserving by Oded Schwartz

1kg fully ripe fruit
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste

Puree the prepared fruit (peeled, stoned etc), add the lemon juice and sugar and stir to dissolve.

Line a large, dampened baking tray with clingfilm or foil, allowing an overhang of about 2.5cm.

Spread the puree out by tilting the tray so it is about 5mm thick.

Put in a preheated oven (110C / 225F / gas 1/4) for 12-14 hours with the door slightly open.

Alternatively, dry in the sun for 1-2 days, invert the leather, peel off the clingfilm, and dry for 1 day more.

Let the leather cool, peel off the clingfilm, roll in waxed paper and store in an airtight container.

HOLsale

since we're also on the topic of fruit leathers (frequently known by the most common brand name of 'fruit roll-ups' in the US) i have one that is in my mary bell food dehydrator cookbook that i do

i don't have the mesh sheets for the dehydrator so i use squares of wax paper (greased paper?) and cut out holes in the center to allow for airflow

then i spoon on a mixture of yogurt or frommage frais mixed with mashed banana you can also add whatever other fruit you like. the mashed banana seems to be the most important part though to make it really successful, they just don't taste that nice without

anyway spoon this thickly onto the paper taking care to keep it within an inch of the hole in the center

then dehydrate until it's dry and tacky (youll see a marked difference between wet and dry!)

don't do it too thinly, you can't get it off the paper if you do!

you should be able to do this in a very low oven setting as well

wigginsmum

I had cheesy grits for breakfast in North Carolina a couple of years back, along with bacon, sausage patties and scrambled egg. Yum yum.

We had cornbread in Massachusetts and it was intensely sweet, very much like Madeira cake which was weird with clam chowder, but I don't recall having any down south.

What is canola? Liquid Smoke? Chipotle? Cream of Wheat? I've been told to expect 'barbecue' or a 'pig picking' when we go back to NC in a couple of weeks - what is this exactly? Barbecue for us is a style of outdoor cooking, but over there is it some kind of marinaded dish?

Spendless

We had grits in Florida last year. It tasted like a hot bowl of grease yuck didn't like.

HOLsale- DH likes rice-a-roni and we stock up when we visit relatives in Canada. I've never found it on sale here, any ideas how to create my own

HOLsale

Spendless wrote:

We had grits in Florida last year. It tasted like a hot bowl of grease yuck didn't like.

HOLsale- DH likes rice-a-roni and we stock up when we visit relatives in Canada. I've never found it on sale here, any ideas how to create my own

well with rice a roni you have the 'instant' style rice (it takes about half the time of normal) and bits of vermicelli that is fried in butter before adding the rest of the ingredients

i'd recommend breaking up bits of spaghetti (give them a good bash in a bag) then adding any quick cook rice you can find about 2/3 rice to 1/3 spaghetti

sautee in butter then add stock or chopped tomatoes as the liquid. you could try some different flavourings i keep all the sachets that come out of the tesco value noodles (8p/pk, they call them ramen noodles in the states) they are soooo salty that i only ever use half at a time if that much so i save these. you could use these to achieve different flavourings

this MIGHT work, don't know... i used to buy rice a roni when i had coupons as i could often get them for 10cents per box but it's not something i've tried to replicate here

have you tried making your own tuna or hamburger helper? or is he not a fan?

HOLsale

wigginsmum wrote:

I had cheesy grits for breakfast in North Carolina a couple of years back, along with bacon, sausage patties and scrambled egg. Yum yum.

We had cornbread in Massachusetts and it was intensely sweet, very much like Madeira cake which was weird with clam chowder, but I don't recall having any down south.

What is canola? Liquid Smoke? Chipotle? Cream of Wheat? I've been told to expect 'barbecue' or a 'pig picking' when we go back to NC in a couple of weeks - what is this exactly? Barbecue for us is a style of outdoor cooking, but over there is it some kind of marinaded dish?

cornbread normally isn't quite that sweet, sounds like you got someone that really likes it that way making it. i know a single batch recipe of amish corn bread only has 1/4c sugar so it's really just a bit sweet, not like cake... i can see why that would be weird with chowder!

canola (oil) is the same as rapeseed oil

Chipotle is a fully ripened and smoked jalapeno pepper, watch out smoked peppers are MUCH hotter than nonsmoked! :eek:


cream of wheat...not a favourite here. similar consistency as grits and not a great taste, often made to barely above a gruel like conistency, yuck! oh, and if you have a roommate that eats this stuff all the time make sure she actually rinses it ALL down the sink when she finishes her bowl, else it hardens much like concrete and is nich on impossible to clean...not that i have any experience with this or anything :rotfl:

Liquid Smoke? it's sort of essence of bbq! it's hickory smoke. it's used to make bbq sauce with or for making your own beef jerky etc i vaguely remembering seeing something in the same vein ONCE in scotland many moons ago, havne't seen it since though and i HAVE gone looking for it as i'd like to use some in my jerky making

barbecue is BBQ it's grilling outside and often is used in reference to meat with bbq sauce on it. sloppy joes are a common food that is basically mince (ground beef) cooked in a bbq sauce with green peppers and onions. you also get bbq sandwiches which uses a similar sauce and is brisket meat stewed for a very long time

pig picking, never heard of that but sounds typically southern did a quick google search and appearantly it's a sort of social event (much like a barbecue forgot, sometimes people invite you around for 'a barbecue' which involves sitting out on someones deck or in their back garden, drinking beer usually and chatting, eating watermelon, kids playing together etc etc whilst bbqing meat and often doing cobs of corn on the grill) appearantly they roast whole hogs at pig pickings so there you go!

ChocClare

SLIGHTLY off the subject, I know, but how much is a stick of butter? Is it 2oz? I've often wondered (did see sticks of butter when I was last in the States but didn't have the sense to check to see if they were 2oz or 4oz...
Also...
You make jerky????? How d'ya make jerky? My daughter just said the other day, "what's beef jerky, can we have some?". Is it worth making? Or do you need a dehydrator thingy?