Re: OT: Two countries separated by a common language

On Sat, May 17, 2003 at 09:57:31PM +1200, Wesley Parish wrote:
> I find this too irresistable a topic - for me:
>
> muffins are light cake-like things, often sold with chocolate or fruit or
> cheese mixed in, generally baked in flat trays with cup-cake-sized
> indentations;
That is true here, too, for the unadorned term "muffin".  However,
"English muffins" are an entirely different beast from "muffins".
I have no idea where English muffins got the name, but they're not
muffinlike at all.


> scones are heavier, bread-like things, often sold with either cheese or dates
> or sultanas mixed in, generally baked on top of flat trays;
Yup.  And Southern US biscuits are similar - fluffier than scones and
generally without admixtures, and served fresh and hot.

> biscuits are sweetened flour mixtures, sometimes with chocolate or peanuts of
> suchlike mixed in, baked on top of trays;
Them's what we call "cookies" 'round these here parts. :)

> slices are sweetened flour mixtures, baked in a hollow tray and generally with
> a sweetened topping - sometimes they may be flaky and soft with a fruit
> filling - eg, apple-crumble style, other times they may be harder, eg ginger
> slices.
Well, we'd call those slices, too, but I don't think of "slice" as a cuisine
term.  They're called slices because they look like slices of something. :)

> Now that's an interesting challenge - to come up with an entire cuisine
> yourself for the inhabitants of at least a small part of your world ...
That's a challenge, all right.  Whoo-ee. :)

-Mark

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