British Measurements & Cooking Terms

[Tasty Tidbits]

Rubbing in butter: Cut the butter into small pieces and put it into the bowl with the flour, giving it a bit of a stir to coat all the butter with flour. Taking the tips of your two fingers next to your thumb and your thumb, rub the butter into the flour by lifting it up with the flour and gently rubbing it, dropping it back into the bowl and then repeating and repeating the movement until the mixture closely resembles coarse or fine crumbs, depending on what the recipe calls for. Hope this helps.

[swimlex456]

thank you, it did help a lot

[mmefont]

Can anyone tell me the British equivalent of cornmeal? Is it different to corn starch? or corn flour? Oh, and in the UK we have bicarbonate of soda and baking powder - which of those is baking soda?

Thanks

Kez

[Summerwine]

mmefont wrote:
Can anyone tell me the British equivalent of cornmeal? Is it different to corn starch? or corn flour? Oh, and in the UK we have bicarbonate of soda and baking powder - which of those is baking soda?

Thanks

Kez

Hi,
I am originally from the states and over there corn starch is what the UK call corn flour but they are the same thing; frequently used as a thickening agent.

Bicarbonate of soda is the same thing as baking soda.
Baking Powder is still called baking powder.

I have just bought 'fine' cornmeal (fine polenta) recently which looks like yellow flour. On the bag is reads "also known as maize flour and polenta, corn meal is high in protein and low in fat. It is widely used in Mexican and Creole cuisine. Perfect for making Italian polenta, American corn bread and Punjabi corn rotis."

Polenta is more coarse and this is what it reads on www.foodsubs.com:

"polenta meal Substitutes: yellow cornmeal (coarsely ground) OR ready-made polenta (saves time) OR hominy grits OR millet

cornmeal = mealie meal Equivalents: One pound = 3 1/4 cups Notes: Cornmeal comes in different colors: white, yellow, and blue. Yellow cornmeal has more beta carotene than the others, while blue cornmeal has more protein and turns baked goods purple. Larger supermarkets also carry stone-ground cornmeal = water-ground cornmeal, which is more tasty and nutritious than regular cornmeal, but doesn't keep as long. See also self-rising cornmeal. Substitutes: polenta OR corn flour (gives baked goods a lighter texture) OR (if using cornmeal for breading) crush corn chips in a blender until they have the consistency of cornmeal. "

I hope this helps.

[mmefont]

Thanks, it helps a lot, I wanted to make a corn bread recipe but had no idea how!

[hot coco]

Thank you very much for posting that wonderful list of cooking terms. It was quite comprehensive, but I still have a couple of questions. I just got a cookbook that was published in the UK and there are a couple of things I want to clarify.
What do these terms mean: rosti, rissole, natural yogurt, flageolet beans, runner beans and roasties?
TIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are quite a few things that I want to try'

[Tasty Tidbits]

hot coco wrote:
Thank you very much for posting that wonderful list of cooking terms. It was quite comprehensive, but I still have a couple of questions. I just got a cookbook that was published in the UK and there are a couple of things I want to clarify.
What do these terms mean: rosti, rissole, natural yogurt, flageolet beans, runner beans and roasties?
TIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are quite a few things that I want to try'

Rosti is like a potato cake, usually made with grated potatoes and fried. Rissole is type of a meat ball. Natural yoghurt is plain, unflavoured yoghurt ie, in it's natural state. Flageolet beans are a large white bean. Runner beans are long green beans, quite flat and about a foot long or so. The younger ones are better as they get a bit stringy as they get older. We usually shred them and then steam them to eat and roasties are quite simply delicious crispy potatoes that have been par boiled then rolled in fat and roasted in the oven until golden brown and crispy!

[Scotland]

I wish I'd known about this forum a few weeks ago. I was born and raised in Scotland and moved to the States 9 years ago when I was 25. I was only coming for 6 months!

I was making my Mum's (red) lentil soup and couldn't find Swedes anywhere. Now, if I'd just known they were called rutabagas here, it would have been half the battle!

I'll try and think of anything else I can for your list.

[Scotland]

stock cube – bouillon cube
jam – jelly
sausage meat – unseasoned pork sausage without casings, use country style
green chillies – jalapenos
tomato puree – tomato paste
plum tomatoes – roma tomatoes
butter beans – lima beans
crème fraiche – like sour cream
soured cream – has the consistency of half n’ half
sugar snaps – snap peas
gherkins – dill pickles
stock – broth
muffins – generally English muffins, although there are “American” muffins available too
apple crumble – similar to apple cobbler
cider – alcoholic apple beverage
Milk:
whole – 7.1% fat
semi-skimmed – 3.6% fat
skimmed – 0.6% fat

[J. Ko]

Scotland wrote:
stock cube – bouillon cube
jam – jelly
sausage meat – unseasoned pork sausage without casings, use country style
green chillies – jalapenos
tomato puree – tomato paste
plum tomatoes – roma tomatoes
butter beans – lima beans
crème fraiche – like sour cream
soured cream – has the consistency of half n’ half
sugar snaps – snap peas
gherkins – dill pickles
stock – broth
muffins – generally English muffins, although there are “American” muffins available too
apple crumble – similar to apple cobbler
cider – alcoholic apple beverage
Milk:
whole – 7.1% fat
semi-skimmed – 3.6% fat
skimmed – 0.6% fat

gherkin pickles are not dill pickles. Gherkins are a sweet pickle and have no garlic or dill. Dill pickles are sour and have dill and, frequently, garlic. Granted, I am from Canada and our terminology is not the same as in the U.S.

[-Sylvie-]

Scotland, thanks for adding to the list. That's brilliant.

[Scotland]

I found this on wikipedia:

"The Gherkin (French cornichon) is a small cucumber type vegetable, usually of the same species as the cucumber (Cucumis sativus), but of a different race. They are usually picked when 3 to 8 cm (1 to 3 in) in length and pickled in jars or cans with vinegar (often flavoured with herbs, particularly dill; hence, ‘dill pickle’) or brine to become a pickled cucumber.

The term can also be used to refer to the West Indian Burr Gherkin (Cucumis anguria), a related plant species, originally West African, that was introduced to the West Indies, probably by the Portuguese. This ‘true’ or Burr Gherkin or badunga cannot interbreed with the ‘true’ cucumber (Cucumis sativus), which is the condiment vegetable now generally known as the gherkin or dill pickle."

Hope it helps.

[JoyfulCook]

Scotland, if you go to page 1 of this thread, there is a long long list of what things are called in the UK and other countries, it should be of some help

[kazathena]

The UK term "Rub in " in a method means to, for example, for pastry, use your fingers to work the flour marg/butter/shortening between your fingers till it resembles a breadcrumb texture.

[JoyfulCook]

thats right!