Brit-Speak: Food and bonfires

[justcarol67]

Alshain:
> > How about placing the tin in a gently simmering bain marie for a 
> couple of minutes before using it? That's at least what you're 
> > supposed to do with recalcitrant honey. 
<snip>

> Carol:
 
> Bain marie? <big snip>
> 
  
> 
~Yb:
> Aha! Something I know! Carol, if you're wondering about the'bain
marie,' it's a cooking term for a hot water bath. They work well for
(above) making sticky things less sticky (heat reduces viscosity, you
know). I would NEVER cook a bread pudding without one; keeps the good
stuff from overcooking, burning, scorching, etc.

Carol again:
Okay, so Alshain is suggesting placing the tin (or "can," in American
English) of treacle (= molasses) in a pan of hot water to make it
pourable? (I've done that for honey that has started to crystallize.)
But what you're suggesting sounds more like putting a pan of water on
the lower shelf of the oven (as in my fruitcake recipe somewhere
upthread). Or maybe you cook bread pudding in a double boiler (I've
seen photos of them in my mother's old cookbooks but have never
actually seen one)?

Carol, who thought she'd feel at home when she went to England and
instead found herself a stranger in a strange land (but still wants to
come back for more!)

Carol, who should have remembered that "bain" = "bath" but is still
puzzled as to how "marie" fits in