Have you ever seen a recipe on a show or online and wondered what is it they are using? Maybe you have wondered what do they mean by that? Do you find yourself asking how can I make this when I don’t know what something is or that they mean.
With moving to England after living in the United States all of my life I have had to make adjustments to several things. I have had to purchase scales along with many other items for my kitchen which were not something familiar to me prior to our move. I have learned to either do without or substitute with something similar.
INGREDIENTS
DIFFERENCES IN INGREDIENTS
One prime example is flour. A staple in most kitchens and something that if you intend to bake you will most likely have on hand. You might think flour is flour, no matter where you are. I am here to tell you that this is not the case. In the United States most bakers use plain flour. Cakes, cookies, brownies, pies and the such are all made with plain flour generally speaking. When I moved here I found that several things did not turn out as they should. This was very frustrating and I couldn’t figure out why things were not turning out right. I have found that if I use self-raising flour for baking things generally turn out as they should.
NAMES OF INGREDIENTS
Creme fraiche is basically the same as sour cream, although they do sell sour cream here now. Bicarbonate of soda is the same as baking soda? Jelly is not something you spread on a piece of bread in England it is what we call Jello in America. A pancake in the United States is generally thicker and served with butter and syrup I don’t know why they find it necessary to have different names for things but there are several.
PRODUCTS MISSING
Cool Whip is readily available throughout the United States but at present is unavailable in the United Kingdom. It is a non-dairy item that is sold in the freezer section and used similar to whipped cream in many recipes. I tried one recipe to make it and some of us liked it but it wasn’t the completely the same. My mother used Bisquick while I was growing up to make pancakes, waffles and all sorts. You can not buy Bisquick in England. Again I tried a recipe I found online and really found it quite good. That one I will be keeping and using again.
MEASURING
Most recipes in England give you measurements which will require scales. American recipes will most generally have cups, ounces, tablespoons and teaspoons for measures.
The United States still does most things in Imperial where metric is used through most of Europe.
Many recipes in America use the phrase a “stick of butter”. Butter is generally sold in one pound packages that have 4 individually wrapped portions which we refer to as sticks, hence the stick of butter references. I hadn’t thought of this prior to my mother in law asking what a “stick of butter” was.
Generally speaking we don’t think of the many little differences or phrases we may use in our home country until we either watch a show, visit or move to a foreign country. I do find that most European countries use very similar phrases and measures so that transition is not as dramatic.
It is not insurmountable to get past these differences. I have adjusted so the rest of you can as well. I will do my best to give you some good pointers and try to help with different blogs and posts. My recipes will have measures and cups as well so that you will know what you need depending on which side of the world you are residing in. My recipes will also state if you need plain flour or self-raising flour so that you hopefully won’t have to face some of the issues I have.