Arrrrrr shiver me timbers!

I've been missing a few things from good olde Blighty -

An internet connection (the Blackberry is great but limited), shops in walking distance, public transport/my car.

But what's really been tweaking to old homesick strings are pate and fish & chips!

Pate surprises me as I didn't have it that often in the UK but I crave a nice smooth duck and orange or an Ardane or even a Brussels pate.

So I start looking in the supermarkets but find nothing. Next the specality shops like Central Market but they don't even know what it is! Come on America! Its a widely eaten European food! The French love it as do the Dutch, Belgians and several other nations! But when you look in the "European foods" section you tend to only see Italian, Polish and a touch of German foods... What happened to the rest of Europe?

That brings me onto Fish & Chips - the classic UK fast food. The first Chippies appeared in the late Victorian era and became an instant hit! Unfortunately it never crossed the Atlantic...

Americans don't understand chips. For a start to you a chip is a slice of potatoe deep fat fried. That's a crisp to me. A chip to you is a (French) fry. Ok a chip is like a steak fry but not as well done. The outside is soft as is the inside - its hard to explain without having one! I can suggest some great chippies and warn you off some bad ones!

Onto the fish part. It has to be Cod (although Haddock is acceptable) in batter. The closest thing I have found here is beer batter, not quite right but damn nearer - close enough for government work (love that phrase). Deep fat fry it so the batter is crisp and the fish falls apart to the touch. Lovely

I would add some mushy peas ti the meal but I don't think you are ready for that just yet.

But what has any of this has to do with the title? Good question. Last night we went to Long John Silvers last night. I was pleasntly surprised. Ok they don't do chips but their fish was good! It wasn't quite Chippie fish but good enough to sate the craving.

Another good place for fish is BJ's at the North West mall (no idea what city its on but its near North Richland Hills). Try the fish and chips and get a taste of Britain!

Scones in Cup measurements

1 Cup self raising flour

1.5oz 3 tablespoons of butter

1/2 Cup or 1/4 pint of milk

1.5 tablespoons of caster sugar

If you don't have self raising flour use General purpose and add 1 teaspoon of baking powder

Rub butter into the flour (and baking powder) then add the salt and sugar. Then slowly fold in the milk to make soft dough. Kneed to make a dough ball. You want it to come out of the ball clean and stay together. If too wet and sticky add flour, if too dry and crumbly add milk.

Shape into ball and flatten to a thickness of 2 cm - you can be neat a roll it out and use a circular cutter.

Bake in preheated oven @ 425F for 12 -15 mins or until golden brown.

Conversion tables

After a little digging and some experimentation to check I have found rough conversion tables

1 tablespoon = 1/2 ounce
1/4 cup = 2 ounces
1 cup = 8 ounces

In future I'll use ounces and cups

Scones revisited

Ok as requested here's the scone recipe in 'yank' measurements - well in ounces instead of grams.

The measurements are in Imperial units which are slightly bigger than American ounces but it shouldn't matter as the ratios between ingredients will be the same.
8oz self raising flour
1.5oz butter
0.25 pint of milk
1.5 tablespoons of caster sugar

No idea about converting to cups as that's a volume measurement and things have different weights by volume - sugar is heavier than the same volume of flour..

If anyone can find a conversion table between weight and volume let me know! Until then you best get some scales!

Gravy news

Just in

Sawmill gravy DOES have meat products - grease/oil/meat drippings, flour, water/milk plus bits of your meat.

Biscuit gravy is pepper gravy - a white sauce with pepper and/or spices in it.

Although some folks use sawmill gravy on biscuits.

Now I know. :)

Its still not my idea of tasty! :P

Biscuits & gravy oh my!

It struck me that there is quite the back catalogue of American foods that I have tried. Well, not being one to hold back on a bit of cullinary gossip I thought I'd start sharing some of my experiences of the new world (if my fingers can find the right keys on the Blackberry - I need a stylus).

Let's start with a classic American food - biscuits and gravy.

Ok, ok I have trouble with this one right from the start. Its the name. A biscuit is not a bread like roll,its a hard snack best served with a cup of tea. For my American readers I'm talking about something along the lines of an Oreo.

That aside, they aren't too bad. I love the home bake type as fresh bread in the morning is wonderful! Flakey biscuits are the best by far as they taste like crossiants (or crescents as some people call them here) AND they are fun to peel the layers apart - plus you are ALLOWED to do so! How awesome is that? The non- flakey kind are just wrong and are kind of like a fluffy scone gone wrong and that is never a good thing!

So far so good. Now we have the (sawmill) gravy. Firstly its a white sauce not a gravy as there are no meat products in it (but I'm being picky). Secondly, why ruin a nice continental breakfast by getting it all soggy?! You can tell I'm not a fan. I've tried so hard with this one as my wife loves it but I just can't! The gravy would be great as an interesting alternative to a cheese sauce for pasta but not at breakfast! I'll stick to butter and/or jam (jelly)!