Today I Learned...

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Dutch cookies?

I thought hollandaise was French?

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Biscuits and gravy is a breakfast staple. Gravy is sausage or "country" gravy. Every breakfast house has it.

We used to drive 30 minutes to restaurant in Adrian Oregon (tiny little farming town) on Sundays for their b&g (only served on Sundays). Best b&g ever. Unfortunately they didn't survive covid. Now we make our own.

The biscuit but looks much like a Yorkshire pudding or possibly a scone...

Shame about your fav restaurant...

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by JD001

The biscuit but looks much like a Yorkshire pudding or possibly a scone...

Shame about your fav restaurant...

Scones and American biscuits are very similar. Scones use less butter and are a bit more dense. My wife often makes scones and clotted cream for her tea parties. I get the leftovers.

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Stephen W.

In the village where my mother lived there is an Irish pub that serves some very tasty grub. My favourite is there Bangers n’ Mash. Its two large farmers sausages, baked beans and colcannon (Irish mashed potatoes) with fried onions and gravy. Served with a side of soda bread. A little mustard on the sausages and it's Yumtastic!
Their Fish n’ Chips not so much. Their French fries are always great but twice I’ve had fish that was not completely drained so a little oily and of course went mushy on the plate side. Still looking for the perfect Fish n’ Chips shop.

When I lived in San Jose we had Britannia Arms for British food. Love a banger sandwich and a pint.

[Stephen W.]

Originally Posted by JD001

Where is this village?

I love fish 'n' chips, always on a lookout for decent chippys.. A strange observation, the further and closer you get to the sea = decent chippy.. but inbetween these two areas the chip shops are a hit and miss..

Well, officially it is called; the Town of Newcastle in the municipality of Clarington in the Region of Durham, Ontario Canada. Isn’t that a mouth full!
Until the 1990’s building boom it still felt like a small village with only one traffic light at the main four corners. My mother was born and grew up there. She attended both the United and Anglican Church services every Sunday. My father passed in 1980. After her brother passed a few years later she sold the home I grew up in. She had inherited her brother’s home which was right across the road from that same United Church.

I agree on the Fish n' Chip shops. I seem to live in those in-between areas

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by JD001

The biscuit but looks much like a Yorkshire pudding or possibly a scone...

Shame about your fav restaurant...

A proper US buttermilk biscuit is made from flour, baking soda, cold butter mixed together then with buttermilk add last before rolling it out and cutting with a biscuit cutter or forming by hand.

For proper biscuits the butter needs to be cold. That's what makes the biscuits flaky when cooked (it lets off steam during the cooking process). They are much lighter than a UK Scone, but very similar.

You can use self-rising flour rather than flour/baking soda. Also, some style biscuits are made with shortening (or lard) rather than butter because butter is expensive if you use it all the time.

I'm not really a biscuit and gravy fan, but I love biscuit and tomato (sliced tomato on a biscuit), or biscuit and homemade blackberry jelly.

The breakfast biscuit sandwich is also a big thing in the Southern US, often the best ones sold in independent convenience stores or gas stations. In my morning commute (about 40 miles) I know of 8 different places I can get a breakfast biscuit, each with their own take on it. I'm a fan of country ham biscuits or sausage biscuits myself, nothing complicated.

I didn't realize until recently that real scones where not those hard tack like things in coffee shops.

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

When I lived in San Jose we had Britannia Arms for British food. Love a banger sandwich and a pint.

Local cafe near our office does a great English breakfast, served all day.. and it's Itallian owned, get a mix of Brit and Deli stuff..

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by JD001

Cookies & gravy... Is that a thing? We have cookies, biscuits.. Gravy only for main meals over meat, roasties etc...

I was just kidding.

BTW - for my brithday treat, I took my wife to a traditional Pie and mash shop in London, very near Tower Bridge. One of the oldest shop/resturants still operating as a pie and mash..

You've guessed it, they only serve pie and mash with liquor (gravy) and eels.. She enjoyed the experience as the setting/shop fixtures and furniture, all very old, luckly they served vegan pies as she's a vegetarian.

https://www.manze.co.uk/

I'd love to visit London someday.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

I thought hollandaise was French?

Then why don't they call it francaise sauce?

[Stephen W.]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Then why don't they call it francaise sauce?

For the same reason that French Fries are not called Belgian Fries or Baked Alaska is not called Norway Omelet. It’s not so much about where a thing comes from or even who invented a thing. It’s all about who makes a thing famous or why it becomes so well known.
However, like in all things there are exceptions. Example; Buffalo Wings are well documented as coming from a single restaurant in Buffalo New York.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I'd love to visit London someday.

It's been a while (mid '80s) but I loved the 3 weeks I spent in London. Hey, @JD001 does everything still pretty much close down mid-day Saturday for the weekend? That was my experience then, but I was there on business and was limited to the areas I had time to visit.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Stephen W.

For the same reason that French Fries are not called Belgian Fries...

I was just trolling Sapphireho.

Yeah! Chicken wings! I was a teenager in Western New York at the time. I'm a master of the original recipe.

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

It's been a while (mid '80s) but I loved the 3 weeks I spent in London. Hey, @JD001 does everything still pretty much close down mid-day Saturday for the weekend? That was my experience then, but I was there on business and was limited to the areas I had time to visit.

Nah.. UK has changed.. Shops open all hours, Sunday trading restricts opening from 10.00 - 16.00. However, the finanical district is a ghost town over the weekend.

Service industry is improving but can't beat what you guys have.. London is always a great place to visit though.

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I was just kidding.

I'd love to visit London someday.

It's a great place to visit, lots and lots to see and do. You can easily spend a week or two in London and not cover the same areas. And, as the UK is very London centric, it's easy to get to places outside of London or even Europe via the Eurostar..

We live about 25min train journey outside of London, commute into London every day and still head into London over a weekend to have a wonder or shop..