A shrimp cocktail ( or a tableside Caesar salad), followed by a steak dinner with a baked potato (jacket potato in UK Speak) and Black Forest Cake would have been a celebration dinner in Ontario or Saskatchewan, and I suspect also throughout the Midwest, in the 70s and 80s.
Quite a few steakhouses- the ones that have been open 40 or more years- keep these types of dishes on the menu, and often have some sort of prix five or full dinner that includes soup or salad, bread and butter, steak, and choice of potato.
I always assumed that the âconfusionâ was intentional. My impression was that it was the only thing that made the store notable. It appears that the use of the logo in the UK was not without controversy either.
I am usually amused at these comparisons. Sure, there are differences but nothing you shouldnât be able to decode.
Much more idiosyncratic are regional names for a simple cup of coffee. Like in NYC, Black, Light, Extra-Light, or Black-and-Sweet . However, coffee with milk and sugar is a âRegular Coffee.
Name your region and it just gets more regional and inbred.
3 Likes
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
65
I think this may be a fairly general difference in an abbreviation for âvegetablesâ
I attribute the use of âveggieâ as more cutesy than a deliberate American choice. But maybe it is an American chef choice - donât know enough of them to say one way or another. But I still like the abbreviated âvegâ vs. the full word.
Yes, there are some American chefs and/or cooks (i.e., Rachael Ray is one example) who use the term veggie vs. saying the complete word. Then again, Ray has so many Rachael-ismsâŚand since thereâs so much out there about her, Iâll just leave that here and let you draw your own conclusions.
Any North Americans I know that say âveggiesâ are using it in an cutesy manner, including both Americans and Canadians. If they use veg, itâs an abbreviation.
Itâs not really common in the US, either, just a famous (and much-derided) affectation by Rachael Ray, who had a long-running Food Network show called 30-Minute Meals.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
76
I used to watch them on trips to the States. And I bought a number of her cookbook - although that wasnt successful. Recipes included many âshort cutâ ingredients which were just not available here.
Question: Iâve read about dishes being âclaggyâ or âbutchâ as described by UK food writers but am unclear as to what those descriptions mean.
A random New Zealand thing:
Edited to add:
Flapjack (US) is an older word for pancake, but in the UK itâs similar to a chewy granola bar, as I understand it:
And one more edit for this link (and to remind myself to explore more of the blog):
1 Like
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
78
Claggy - sticky, clumping together - for example, like a badly made risotto.
Butch - opposite of dainty/restrained. Taken, I presume, from the American word describing certain lesbians.
Thank you, @Harters. Does âclaggyâ have a positive or negative implication or is that in context? (Would something intentionally sticky/clumping together be called âclaggyâ?)
Regarding âbutchâ: I was wondering if it came from the lesbian/gay community.
In what Iâve seen of judgesâ comments on Great British Bake Off, claggy is there used negatively, for e.g. cakes that are dense and gummy or underdone.
