| Just another day of infamy [message #38617] |
Tue, 25 January 2011 20:32  |
 b_twin_1
Messages: 2593
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Another day..
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38618 is a reply to message #38617 ] |
Tue, 25 January 2011 20:41  |
b_twin_1
Messages: 2593
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
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SIXTEEN BELLS?????
::whimpers and curls up in corner::
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38619 is a reply to message #38617 ] |
Tue, 25 January 2011 21:00 |
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Speaking of Lovecraft ... here is some cthocolate ice cream for you.
(I was looking at Diane Duane's tweets, and she retweeted something interesting by ianwrighting, and he retweeted this by jeremiahtolbert. Twitter is eeeevil.
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38641 is a reply to message #38640 ] |
Wed, 26 January 2011 14:53 |
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American flapjacks can be flapped! Why else call them that?
They are also called pancakes - a batter of egg, milk, flour, and baking powder poured onto a griddle in rounds from 4-8 inches diameter. When light brown on one side they are turned. Some legendary short-order cooks are said to have been able to flip them by a deft twisting lift of the skillet - probably apocryphal. They are served singly or in a stack of two or three, with butter, maple syrup, jam, strawberries, or any number of creative toppings. They are sort of like crepes, only much thicker.
Pictures
[Updated on: Wed, 26 January 2011 15:01]
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38663 is a reply to message #38660 ] |
Wed, 26 January 2011 22:08 |
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It had never occurred to me before reading this blog that there could exist any other way of calibrating oven controls save temperature ??! Live and learn.
Of course I learned by experience when our family was in England in 1971 that "corn flour" is not corn meal, but cornstarch. We had that pound of corn flour in the cabinet for years before we used it up. (thickening gravies not being a frequent activity in our kitchen)
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38698 is a reply to message #38697 ] |
Thu, 27 January 2011 12:27 |
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blondviolinist
Messages: 1066
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
Senior Member |
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| Robyn Sue wrote on Thu, 27 January 2011 11:45 |
You're like my mother, she can't make biscuits (you can play hockey with them). We think she kneads to much, so maybe you do something too much or not enough or not fast enough.
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Oh, dear. That would do it. Biscuits shouldn't really be kneaded. You basically just fold the dough over on itself three to five times, and pat it gently out to be cut with the biscuit cutter. (Mmm... now I want homemade biscuits with butter and honey.)
ETA: You also want to use a relatively low gluten flour. In certain parts of the US, all-purpose flour will have too much gluten to make good biscuits, so you'd need to replace some of the flour with a cake flour or something. (I've heard you can replace a couple tablespoons of flour per cup with corn starch, and that will help reduce the gluten content. I haven't tried it myself, though.)
[Updated on: Thu, 27 January 2011 12:30]
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38719 is a reply to message #38697 ] |
Fri, 28 January 2011 06:38 |
Inkwell
Messages: 68
Registered: September 2010
Location: UK |
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Okay, I'll give it go. I'm sufficiently greedy to keep trying.  You make some too and report back...
UK flapjacks aren't kneaded, but made intially in a saucepan. You melt butter, sugar and golden syrup, then add rolled (porridge) oats. No flour is used, but you can add nuts, seeds, dried fruit etc. You pour the whole lot into a baking tin and transfer to the oven, where alchemy takes place - if you're someone other than me.
There do seem to be more differences between British English and American English over food than other subjects. Or at least, when we talk about food we use concrete (ha ha) nouns. Perhaps the differences in usage elsewhere in the language are more subtle and less obvious.
When I was at junior (elementary) school, one of the teachers went on an exchange to the US. For a whole year the class next to ours gained a charming and very tall Texan lady, who told us she was "five feet thirteen-and-a-half". She introduced the school to the idea of "cookies", which we all knew were really called biscuits. She was the kind of teacher who drew in kids from neighbouring classes, even on playground duty, so we all willingly referred to biscuits as "cookies" for that year. I wish I could remember what kind were the ones she made for us - they were delicious.
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38720 is a reply to message #38718 ] |
Fri, 28 January 2011 06:42 |
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What they sell as "scones" in the trendier bakeries here, i.e. places like the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble, are NOT biscuits. Biscuits are very tender; there is no crunch to them. They are best straight out of the oven and couldn't possibly sit in a display case all day and still be edible. So maybe your scones are something else.
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38746 is a reply to message #38745 ] |
Fri, 28 January 2011 16:10 |
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As she said, more or less bechamel. Generally no butter in the roux. You cook the sausages, either as patties to eat on the side of the biscuits, or as crumbles to mix in the gravy. Then use the pan drippings as the fat for the roux (or as my mother always did, mix the flour with the milk and add to the pan). That's also how you make the white gravy to go with fried chicken. (mmmmmmm!)
The biscuits are not exactly savory, but definitely not sweet, and not full of raisins, cranberries, nuts, or anything like that. Just flour, butter, milk (or buttermilk), baking powder, and a bit of salt. Ooohh, and this year I have my own honey!
*drifts kitchenward*
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| Re: Just another day of infamy [message #38748 is a reply to message #38746 ] |
Fri, 28 January 2011 16:14 |
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I have no idea how we came to use "biscuit" for this quick-bread, and "cookie" for what you call biscuits. We do have that term for small crunchy things, but only in the sense of "dog biscuits," little cookie-like treats, often shaped like a miniature bone, for dogs. So what do you all call those?
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This distresses me to an unreasonable degree. I've tried different ratios of sugar to syrup to butter, different cooking temps...everything! Whatever, it comes out tough and oily, or just pale and flabby. Anyone know an idiot-proof method?! 
). 
