Americans Try Extremely British Snacks

[Methuselah2]

I love a good potato chip and, I suppose, snack foods in general. So, these could be good for all I know; certainly worth a try:

https://youtu.be/zgiojA4S6jU

YouTube posting from BuzzFeedVideo.

[westgrandboulevard]

You can keep the rest, including the Marmite [[I like Bovril) but Digestives!!!! [[which, ahem, we call biscuits, not cookies....)

Plain Digestives with cheese, and Chocolate Digestives [[preferably plain, rather than the milk variety) with coffee or tea, for me...please!

[Methuselah2]

A plain biscuit with cheese--late night snackin' at its finest! I'm there!

[westgrandboulevard]

I've reached the stage [[did you say 'age? I hate the word...!) where I can only take cheese late at night, if it is low fat [[i.e. tastes like rubber )...otherwise it is authentic, coastal English Cheddar, consumed earlier in the day, with homemade chutney......

[Methuselah2]

The homemade chutney sounds like a delicious touch to cheddar cheese. I'll have to settle for chutney from the store but I'm going to try it. Thanks for the tip, WGB.

[westgrandboulevard]

If you're able to pick up any imports, look for Wilkin & Sons Ltd [[Tiptree, Essex; fruit growers & preservers since 1885) products, particularly 'Hot Gooseberry Chutney'.

Gooseberries, wine vinegar, red currants, spices, etc...together with some sugar and salt.

Currently it is a 'hot' favourite of mine, as demand constantly outstrips supply of anything
homemade. Good with meats, cheese..or whatever tickles your palate.

You must have some wonderful varieties available to buy in the US [[I don't care for many of the ready made pickles available here in UK which, to my taste, are too harsh...) but I'll post a home recipe when I get a minute.....

[Methuselah2]

Amazon has the W&S Tiptree HGC available and I'm going to order it. It sounds great. Really looking forward to it. Also saw recipes for it on Google.

[westgrandboulevard]

Will look forward to receiving a report of your findings. It has the texture of jam, but with a real kick. I've just stolen a teaspoonful in passing the fridge. Oh bother, now it's nearly all gone...

I guess you will have many flavours of curds available. My local supermarket offers curd in lemon, orange, or lime. My real favourite is lemon. A dab of it added to a bacon sandwich, or to cooking chicken, makes a lot of difference. Ditto marmalade - which, with lemon curd, I do make at home.....sometimes!

[soulster]

but Digestives!!!!

It's the name, man! It just doesn't sound appetizing. It makes me think of acid reflux.

[westgrandboulevard]

LOLOL! I completely understand. It's nearly as 'unsexy' as 'Indigestives' - !

It's just one of those 'old' names which really has no meaning, except now for identifying that particular style of biscuit.

Digestives contain just as much sugar and salt as many other biscuits. The EU will probably decide some day that the name must be changed, and there will be uproar in the UK....

NB. Many of us 'Brits' will often refer to Digestive Biscuits as 'Suggestives', which does give them a certain degree of added appeal.....

[arr&bee]

You two are drunker than me...digestive buscuits that make suggestions on curds...i know them curd brothers and they ain't gonna be happy.

[144man]

People say you either love or hate Marmite, but I can take it or leave it.

Are you sure you don't have chocolate digestives in the USA? I distinctly remember an issue of Mad Magazine in which Alfred E. Neuman is eating a packet of "Disgustive" biscuits.

[soulster]

People say you either love or hate Marmite, but I can take it or leave it.

Are you sure you don't have chocolate digestives in the USA? I distinctly remember an issue of Mad Magazine in which Alfred E. Neuman is eating a packet of "Disgustive" biscuits.

Yes, they sell them here, along with a lot of other English foods like spotted dick and Marmite.

BTW, we call them "cookies".

[144man]

Yes, they sell them here, along with a lot of other English foods like spotted dick and Marmite.

BTW, we call them "cookies".

Yes, I know. I call them biscuits because they're English. I only use cookies for American biscuits such as choc-chip cookies, Maryland cookies, Oreos etc.

[Methuselah2]

And US chips are UK crisps? And UK chips are fried potatoes? No French fries in the UK?

[westgrandboulevard]

My partner was trained as a chef [[about 50 years ago, on Park Lane, London - and, to this day, can still become just a tad grand when dinner is ready for only the two of us....), but the road became long and winding since then.....

I'll consult with the Oracle, on the subject of French fries, and get back to you soonest.

In the meantime, I'd say yes, our UK crisps would be known as 'chips' with you in the US...and our own 'chips' are indeed potatoes which have been fried, but are only called 'chips' when cut into the particular length and width as those sold with fried fish in 'fish and chip shops/restaurants'.

[theboyfromxtown]

French fries seem to be so thin there's no potato to taste. Our chips are thicker.

One thing we dont have in the UK which I recall eating in Atlanta was GRITS. I was told that I had to mix them with something to enjoy them. How would you describe their taste.

[theboyfromxtown]

Amazon has the W&S Tiptree HGC available and I'm going to order it. It sounds great. Really looking forward to it. Also saw recipes for it on Google.

SDF poster Booty lives near Tiptree. Folk up there are very proud of the jams and preserves made locally.

[westgrandboulevard]

Here we are.....

Pommes de Terre Frites : These are known in US as French Fries [[a description which may be used in US for any elongated thin strips of potato). The English 'chip' [[generally thicker than US counterpart) was developed from this. Both US crisps and UK chips may be made less crisp than the French version.

Pommes Pont-Neuf : a larger chip/crisp, at half an inch square, and two and a half inches long....

Pommes allumettes; very small and thin, sometimes known as Matchstick / Pommes Frites Paille : known as Straw potatoes, cut thinner than the allumettes [[also known as julienne). Both are known in US/UK as potato sticks.


Pommes Sautees - fried, but in a saute pan [[a small frying pan) by using pre-cooked potatoes. Pommes de terre saute a cru, when prepared from raw potato.

Game chips - similar in style to mass market crisps [[US : chips) but freshly prepared by a chef, and served hot.

There are dozens of other methods of preparing potatoes, including Pomme Souffle, Stuffed potatoes [[we know as Baked Potatoes...), Mashed, boiled/steamed [['anglais' style), etc., etc.,etc.....

[theboyfromxtown]

Doesn't it give a description for Fish and chip shop chips....as in what the Supremes are eating in that picture on the back of More Hits.

Fish and chip shop chips...thick potato fried in fish batter and served in newspaper [[where the print comes off in your hand) showered in loads of salt and vinegar. Usually eaten with a wally or "furkin". I think you have to be a Londoner to know what a wally and a furkin is. WGB is too posh for such things. lol

[westgrandboulevard]

Am I?! [[oh well, maybe...compared to yooooou! LOL)

In the 60s, I was always 'goin' round chip shop' and asking for some crispy bits...and I still shower 'chish and fips' with salt and vinegar. The only thing I won't do is simultaneously walk and eat fish and chips. Maxine Powell would be proud....

So go on then, what IS a wally, and a furkin....?

And if you're talking about 'posh', just look again at that pic of The Marvelettes, tackling what I would call matchstick potato chips, using those little plastic [[maybe wooden) sticks. That's finesse, and they didn't need any help at all from The Andantes

[Methuselah2]

French fries seem to be so thin there's no potato to taste. Our chips are thicker.

One thing we dont have in the UK which I recall eating in Atlanta was GRITS. I was told that I had to mix them with something to enjoy them. How would you describe their taste.

Tbfxt - Basically, grits are made from corn. A Native American dish, grits are very popular in the southern part of the US. Made from white corn. I prefer hominy grits which are made from field corn. Really delicious. I love dishes like that, like risotto, too.

[Methuselah2]

Here we are.....

Pommes de Terre Frites : These are known in US as French Fries [[a description which may be used in US for any elongated thin strips of potato). The English 'chip' [[generally thicker than US counterpart) was developed from this. Both US crisps and UK chips may be made less crisp than the French version.

Pommes Pont-Neuf : a larger chip/crisp, at half an inch square, and two and a half inches long....

Pommes allumettes; very small and thin, sometimes known as Matchstick / Pommes Frites Paille : known as Straw potatoes, cut thinner than the allumettes [[also known as julienne). Both are known in US/UK as potato sticks.


Pommes Sautees - fried, but in a saute pan [[a small frying pan) by using pre-cooked potatoes. Pommes de terre saute a cru, when prepared from raw potato.

Game chips - similar in style to mass market crisps [[US : chips) but freshly prepared by a chef, and served hot.

There are dozens of other methods of preparing potatoes, including Pomme Souffle, Stuffed potatoes [[we know as Baked Potatoes...), Mashed, boiled/steamed [['anglais' style), etc., etc.,etc.....

WGB - Thanks so much for this post. I love fish & chips, too, but have never had it served with the green dipping sauce I'm now seeing in a lot of pictures. Are you familiar with it? Looks tasty.

Attachment 9652

[arr&bee]

I'd be careful with that green stuff,greasy grady got closed down for serving that stuff..he called his dish-dip stuff&pray.

[soulster]

One thing we dont have in the UK which I recall eating in Atlanta was GRITS. I was told that I had to mix them with something to enjoy them. How would you describe their taste.

Nasty! All grits are is corn mash, flavored with butter, salt, and pepper. To me, it's like eating sand. Obviously, I didn't grow up in the south.

[westgrandboulevard]

Meth2.....unless that is an American speciality I've not encountered, I would say those are 'mushy peas'....[[pronounced in the north of England as 'mooshy peas', and also at times by some of us down South..)

Check them out on wikipedia, which gives a pretty accurate account....

They taste about what you would imagine from roughly mashed peas. I like a certain amount of them. They are available in all our supermarkets....

[Methuselah2]

WGB - I'd never heard of mushy peas before. Seems like a strange dish to me but I'd have to try it. I guess it all depends on how it's seasoned. I did check the Internet and it does mention mushy peas as usually served with fish & chips. I'm going to have to try it at some point. But I'm heading towards that wonderful chutney first.

[theboyfromxtown]

A wally is a pickled gerkin. A furkin is a f**king big onion [[one which is pickled)

Original Londoners frown on mushy peas with fish & chips. When I went to Manchester, the vendor asked if I wanted it served with brown gravy! I was shocked. I haven't quite got over that.

Methuslah2......fish and chips are served in tabloid newspaper.....the words "Royal" and "Times" are not the kind of newspaper words that us poor Londoners would know about.

[theboyfromxtown]

Yes, they sell them here, along with a lot of other English foods like spotted dick and Marmite.

BTW, we call them "cookies".

Spotted Dick is not the name that would be found in a traditional English cook book - it's proper name is Plum Duff. It's a heavy stodgy pudding, steamed over a saucepan in muslin material. Poor people [[like us Londoners) would use a clean tea towel! Once eaten, you could miss a few meals because it took ages to digest!

[Methuselah2]

. . . Once eaten, you could miss a few meals because it took ages to digest!

!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theboyfromxtown]

And there's that many currants, you don't get too near a flame in case you set yourself on fire!!! LOL

Sorry to lower the tone of the conversation!

[Methuselah2]

A good laugh always enhances tone.
Tone on!

[arr&bee]

That's why when i travel i take an extra strong dose of this wonderful elixur[it cures anything].

[144man]

If you're able to pick up any imports, look for Wilkin & Sons Ltd [[Tiptree, Essex; fruit growers & preservers since 1885) products, particularly 'Hot Gooseberry Chutney'.

Gooseberries, wine vinegar, red currants, spices, etc...together with some sugar and salt.

Currently it is a 'hot' favourite of mine, as demand constantly outstrips supply of anything
homemade. Good with meats, cheese..or whatever tickles your palate.

You must have some wonderful varieties available to buy in the US [[I don't care for many of the ready made pickles available here in UK which, to my taste, are too harsh...) but I'll post a home recipe when I get a minute.....

I look forward to W&S Tiptree Morello Cherry Conserve every year. It's a very short season.

[westgrandboulevard]

Another one for your shopping list, Meth2......

[144man]

Meth2.....unless that is an American speciality I've not encountered, I would say those are 'mushy peas'....[[pronounced in the north of England as 'mooshy peas', and also at times by some of us down South..)

Check them out on wikipedia, which gives a pretty accurate account....

They taste about what you would imagine from roughly mashed peas. I like a certain amount of them. They are available in all our supermarkets....

wgb, do you remember affluent Labour politician Peter Mandelson was served mushy peas once and said "Great. Guacamole"?

[Methuselah2]

WGB - I've added the Lemon Curd and the Morello Cherry Conserve.

[westgrandboulevard]

A sure sense of style. See if it's as good, or even better, than a US variety. I've not tried their Lemon Curd, so it's now on my own shopping list.

Tesco 'Finest' is a clear winner in this home, to date.

I understand that curds are not as widely used there in US as here in UK. Try a dab on a favourite, good quality ice cream.....I'd say it works best with vanilla, but you have so many other varieties to choose.

[westgrandboulevard]

144man, no, I don't recall Peter Mandelson making that comment, but do not doubt its veracity.

I have a lasting impression of Peter M. as being someone who often seemed to say the wrong thing, but was paid handsomely for doing just that.

IMHO, he always came over as unbearably smug....especially so when he was made a Lord....

[144man]

In the unlikely event that I were ever made a Lord, I can assure you that I would take great pleasure in being unbearably smug.

[Methuselah2]

Attachment 9662

[[Couldn't resist. And I like Al Gore a lot.)

[theboyfromxtown]

144man, no, I don't recall Peter Mandelson making that comment, but do not doubt its veracity.

I have a lasting impression of Peter M. as being someone who often seemed to say the wrong thing, but was paid handsomely for doing just that.

IMHO, he always came over as unbearably smug....especially so when he was made a Lord....

And also when he got laid.......dont ask!

[arr&bee]

Curds?????hey jerry i'll meet you down at greasy grady's for lunch..at least we know what bugs are in his food.