Yorkshire Pudding: and other Brit Food

[or.phan_ann]

> bboyminn:
> 
> Aren't Hob Nobs an oatie biscuit (cookie in the USA)
> that have chocolate drizzled across the top? I'm sure 
> I've seen them in stores in the USA, and even bought
> a box once.
> 
> What I would like to try are 'Jammy Dodgers', they
> sound good.
> 
> Also, Jaffa Cake...is it a cake or is it a cookie;
> inquiring minds want to know? I think the government
> got involved and officially ruled Jaffa Cake to be
> cake. I'm under the impression that they are very
> popular amoung kids.
> 
> Also, 'Squash'; isn't that a soft drink made from
> currants? Sounds like something I might like.
> 
> Of course, who wouldn't like to sample a tracle tart?
> Still I wonder if Tracle Tarts are as common as
> HP books make them seem? Could I walk into most
> bakeries and find one?
> 
> Also, 'Spotted Dick' which I understand is a desert.
> Though I don't think I want to try the 'dick' that
> comes in a can (Heinz Canned Spotted Dick). The only
> thing that bothers me, is that, unless I am mistaken,
> it is made with suet (a type of hard beef fat).
> 
> Finally, the British seem to appreciate a good Ginger
> Ale or Ginger Beer. Something Americans definitely 
> don't do. I would especially like to try Fentiman's
> Ginger Beer as well as their Shandy. Idris Fiery
> Ginger Beer sound appealing too. There is a third
> brand of really fiery ginger beer/ale but I can't
> seem to track down the name at the moment. They
> were suppose to sell it in 'Whole Foods' stores in
> the USA but I've never found it there. 
> 
> Christmas Pudding might be interesting too. It's come
> up in the books. I would be willing to give it a try
> as long as it doesn't turn out to be an overblown
> variation of Christmas 'Fruit Cake'. 
> 
> Sorry, just rambling.
> 
> Steve/bboyminn

Ann:
Hob Nobs are oat biscuits, but they don't always have
chocolate on them. Jammie Dodgers I'm not too fond of. 
They're two round biscuits with a sort of sugary jamlike 
goo in between. The top biscuit has a heart-shaped hole 
in the middle. I'm not too fond of these because the 
biscuit's very dry and crumbly, and they're too big to 
fit in my mouth all in one go :)

Jaffa cakes, now, they're more like it. They are indeed
biscuits, a nice thin cakey bottom with very thick 
orange-derived something (I think gelatine's involved) 
on top (but not covering all of the top), all covered 
with chocolate. Excellent stuff! The proper way to eat 
them is to eat around the edges, then peel the chocolate 
off the orange bit, then peel the cake off and eat that
and only then go for the orange.

Squash is concentrated fruit juice, watered down quite
heavily to serve. Can be of any flavour. Ribena is a
popular brand. Really, you're not missing anything.

Treacle tart is delicious and fairly common. Highly
recommended! Ditto Spotted (not "spotty") Dick, which
is suet pudding with currants, and served with custard.
Suet pudding by itself is also very nice, and I can't
remember offhand if bread-and-butter puddings are 
mentioned in HP, but they're good, too, and are just 
what they sound like. Ginger beer I don't like, and 
curse Enid Blyton's eyeballs for popularising the stuff.

Christmas pudding is plum pudding. I think it's called
figgy pudding in the US. Before being eaten it's doused
in brandy and set alight - it burns all over with a 
lovely blue flame, and we're never allowed to serve it
before all the flames have died down, alas. A silver
sixpence (Percy breaks a tooth on one in PS, I think)
is baked into it and considered lucky for him that finds
it, presumably because he avoided choking on it.

Yorkshire pudding - when I was at University one of my
American friends encountering it for the first time 
was lost for words and called it a "bread shell" on the
assumption that it was related to bread somehow. He was
much mocked for this, and started a small trend (OK, just
me) of calling apples "redrounds".

Also: here's an old Mugglenet editorial on English food
I found, which has a couple of other food types, though
the Mars bar doesn't look quite right...

http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-FischerR03.shtml

Ann
P.S.: Do Americans break the wishbone in a chicken?