How recipes are interpreted in different countries....

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Paint

Senior Cook
Joined
Mar 10, 2004
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358
Location
USA,Colorado
I'm sure you all have plenty of examples, but the few I've found to be very different....

Chilli, in England, is much thicker (like a sauce), and served over a bed of rice, while in the USA it is served as a much thinner soup with crackers.

Lasagne, in England, is made with layers of pasta, bolognaise sauce and a cheese sauce made from sharp cheddar. No ricotta in sight LOL!

'Hard Sauce' (known as Brandy/Rum Butter in Britain), is served melted over plum pudding in the USA, but in Britain it is served as a solid, cold butter which then melts with the heat of the pudding.

Custard, in Britain is usually served as a hot, runny sauce over steamed or sponge puddings, or over fruit pies. It is only served cold as part of a trifle or with Jelly (jello).

Eclairs, profiteroles and other 'cream cakes' are always filled with fresh whipped cream, whereas I've only found them filled with cold 'custard' or fake cream over here.

I'm sure there must be countless ways in which foods are interpreted differently by different countries.....some of them far removed from any authentic version, but still good :)

Paint.
 
Two Nations seperated by a common language, Paint! :LOL:

I got a "Celtic Cookbook" (Traditional Recipes from Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales) that was "translated" for the American kitchen ... it wasn't. I've read it several times and the best I can figure out is that in some places when it calls for "yeast" it would be what we in the USA would call "sourdough starter".

Chili in Philadelphia is nothing like chili in Georgia, which is nothing like that in Texas, which isn't the same as some of the stuff they make in New Mexico! Heaven only knows what they call chili in California! (SPAM and pineapple with bean sprouts and tofu????

BBQ sauce is another thing that really changes from region to region.

America might be a "melting pot" of cultures - but we are as regional in our cooking as France, Italy, or the UK.
 
And so it should be.....because if we all used the same recipes and cooked exactly the same food, how boring it would be ;)
Paint
 
Paint, I love your posts and adore your take on British and American food.

But y'all have to understand one thing about us colonials, we take our chili very seriously.

And there are many different approaches to the dish.

Yes there are people who make their chili soupy, and I will admit I would find some of the stuff edible if I were on a desert island with little else than grubs to eat.

OK, OK, I have eaten a few watery bowls of red that did not make me sick, but I am in a generous mood today.

Most chili made in this country is fairly thick, and will often contain both beans and tomatoes, something a Texas chili should never ever do.

But I am not from Texas and always toss both those items in.

And then there are those folk in Cincinnati that will claim that any chili needs cinnamon, cloves and allspice.

I am sure they are fine people and if they want to eat such it is their right.

There is nothing in the Constitution about chili, but as far as Cincinnati chili goes, there should be.

The bottom line is there are many approaches to chili in this country.

Most are not soupy and are similar to the stuff people in Britain put over their jacket potatoes.

But there are people who, gag, spit, like the watery stuff.

Why? I have no idea.

But, Paint, chili is one of the complexities of the American experience.

Welcome aboard.

LOL
 
LOL! nearly every Chilli recipe I come across is so different - different beans, no beans, ground beef or stewing beef...... The chilli's I have had here in Colorado have all been served either as a soup, or as a sauce over burrito's etc. Some of them have had beans in, some not. Most of them have been yummy though :)

I just came across a curious thing....apparently (some time ago, don't know when) someone discovered a very old recipe book (14th century) which supposedly had a recipe for lasagne in it....so leading British newpapers to claim that Lasagne was a British invention! I don't think so!!! that idea was very soon quoshed by various historians.

I also came across some French and Dutch recipes for Lasagne, and it seems that many countries adapt the recipe with cheeses that are local. The French recipe used swiss cheese, for example - similar to the British using Cheddar. I think the American version must be the most authentic - at least it uses Italian cheeses ;)

Paint.
 
In my home town every mom made "spagetti" which was noodles in a nasty, slightly orange and very tangy paste. To this day I have no idea what I was eating.
 
Michael in FtW said:
Heaven only knows what they call chili in California! (SPAM and pineapple with bean sprouts and tofu????

Michael, that is just disgusting. lol!! At least where I come from in California, chili is chili. Some with beans, alot without beans.

It is amazing how the same item may have a different name. For example, the other day I said I had waffle fries, which are crisscut fries to some. What is salsa to some is pico de gallo to others. That is what make cooking so interesting and fun!! ;)
 
Hello Paint
I've made lasagne more times than I care to count (I'm Scots) but I've NEVER used cheddar and, as far as I know, neither do friends - only ricotta and mozarella cheeses - So you see, even with the UK, there seem to be regional differences in 'foreign' dishes :LOL:
 
Hi Ishbel,

I was taught to make it with cheddar cheese sauce in home economics classes at school (many years ago).....I'm thinking that ricotta/mozzarella may have been just too 'ethnic' or 'expensive' for my school, so they substituted what was widely known and available....this would have been around 30 years ago, we didn't have as wide a choice in local supermarkets then, (just one tiny, tiny grocery store in the town I came from). I know that all my family and friends from where I lived made it the same way, but nowadays - looking through some more modern British cook books, it's made with ricotta and/or mozzarella or parmesan, whereas in my ancient cookbooks, it's made with the cheddar cheese sauce. I have to admit though, that I prefer it with Cheddar ( :shock: ), it's a lot more hefty on the flavour that way, even if it's not quite authentic LOL! (now hiding under my desk ready for the barrage of protests :LOL: ;) )

Paint.
 
Paint
Have a look at this Edinburgh site - I went to school with the daughters of one of the families involved. It's a foody's paradise and tea invitations were eagerly sought.. and that was over 30 years ago! The Scots are famous not only for deep fried Mars Bars but for good fresh produce and lots and lots of Italian chip shops, ice cream shops and coffee bars!
http://www.valvonacrolla.co.uk/

I've seen J K Rowling in there.... (Harry Potter writer!)
 
MMMMMmmmmmmm, that menu does look good! But then you are talking about the cultural capital of Scotland. All we had in our tiny market town was a back-street, grubby, dingy pizza parlour called 'Franks Pizzeria' full of dusty chianti bottles and plastic vines, where Frank cooked his pizza's dressed in his string vest (when he wasn't yelling in Italian at his sons in the back room), and if you wanted the candle lit at your table, he would throw a box of matches at you! His pizzas were very good though :)

Paint.

OMG, He is still in business, I just checked!!! I don't believe it, I mean I used to go there as a kid when I was still in high school. Oh, that's got to be worth a visit if I ever go back home!!!
 
Another confusing item here in the US is with Chicken and Dumplings versus Chicken Pot Pie as far as Pennsylvania is concerned. I described my chicken and dumplings and I was told it was actually pot pie - wherein I did some research and it seems that the Dutch dish is actually called Bot Bai - and therein lies the confusion. The Dutch Bot Bai through the years has taken on the the similarly sounding name pot pie - but it is actually the same as Chicken and Dumplings.

A long time ago a friend invited over for supper because her mother had sent her some of her wonderful "gravy" - she's Italian - I had no idea "gravy" was spaghetti sauce! LOL
 
Elf, you're right--PA Dutch is a language unto itself! I remember when my family moved from NY to PA, I was very confused the first time I was served pot pie. Boy is it good, though!

My DH went to college in the middle of PA Dutch country and even though he has none in his family background, after 4 years, he picked up some "Dutchie" accent. To this day, every once in awhile it comes out!
 
PA Baker said:
Elf, you're right--PA Dutch is a language unto itself! I remember when my family moved from NY to PA, I was very confused the first time I was served pot pie. Boy is it good, though!

My DH went to college in the middle of PA Dutch country and even though he has none in his family background, after 4 years, he picked up some "Dutchie" accent. To this day, every once in awhile it comes out!

Did he used to say 'Let's red up the house'? My mother used to use that expression.

Pam
 
No, but my grandparents did! My grandpa's father was PA Dutch. Hubby's is more just the drawn out vowels, sometimes, more than the colloquialisms.
 
We use 'red up' in the sense of straightening, tidying or cleaning 'red up your bed' was my Mum's cry when I was a girl... Red up the table was to tidy it before a meal!

But we have no Dutch or German bloodlines, just Scots :LOL: We were told it was a corruption of the phrase 'make ready'...
 
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