# American cookbooks are crazy! (Warning: rant, contains excessive italics and possibly the phrase 'bloody colonials')



## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

Grrr. I've just spent fifteen minutes on allrecipe.com hunting for a good peanut butter chocolate chip refrigerator cookie, which you wouldn't think was asking the world. But all the top-rated recipes contain insane American ingredients! Peanut butter chips... what is a peanut butter chip? Where I come from (the back of beyond, admittedly, but we do have running water, spinning jennies, the wheel, and so on), 'chips' come in chocolate or newspaper, period. And even though Reese's Pieces mini peanut butter cups *are* actually available in NZ now, they're still far too much of a luxury item to be squandered on cookies.

But it's not just peanut butter cookies which suffer from strange and unholy ingredients. I'm sick of finding that all the American fudge recipes online contain marshmallow creme, or that all the American caramel sauce recipes contain '16 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped'. Heck, half the so-called 'homemade' top-rated allrecipes desserts seem to consist of cake mix, pudding mix, bottled topping and whipped topping, whatever _that_ is.

Am I the only person with a whisk whose pantry contains normal ingredients? Flour, sugar, cocoa and the like? Am I the only person who considers it a tad _insane_ to mix canned pumpkin pie filling with premixed pumpkin pie spice, pour it into a bought pastry shell, serve it with more whipped topping and call it a homemade dessert? The only person who sees a recipe calling for 'one package cream cheese frosting' and wants to slap the writer of said recipe upside the head? Crescent roll dough, biscuits sold in rolls, almond bark, butter essence... my world doesn't _have_ those things. More to the point, my _supermarket_ doesn't.

Hmph.

(All right, I couldn't bring myself to use the phrase 'bloody colonials'. I'm Australian, so it cuts both ways. But still, at least WE make our damper from scratch like the good Lord intended!).


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## pinksprklybarefoot (Jan 18, 2007)

Stay off of allrecipes.com!

If you want from scratch American recipes, go to Martha Stewart.









I work in a professional (allegedly, anyway) kitchen, and we not only have peanut butter chips (2 yrs old, BTW) but _chocolate caramel swirl chips_ (used regularly







).

A lot of American cooks use the convenience items. This all stems from back in the 50s/60s when processed foods were just coming into being. It was prestigious to use a cake mix. Ooooh! Technology! Processed food = cutting edge and affluent.

You think what you saw was bad - I collect early cold-war era cookbooks. You would not believe what these women would put jell-o in. I bet at least 20% of the recipes in cookbooks from that time involved jello of one flavor or another. Sick, sick, sick.


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## oneKnight (Aug 4, 2006)

I know what those things are, they DO carry them at the stores here, but I sure as heck don't buy them!

I share your pain!
For example when I see people buy hot chocolate mix I'm sitting there thinking _why not just add a spoon of cocoa and sugar into warm milk?_ and when I asked a friend about that once they replied "because we don't have cocoa and sugar in our pantry" SO I guess you are right. They just don't have that normal stuff in their pantry.
My New Orleans friend asked me why they sell roux at the supermarket when it takes nothing to make yourself.

Do you spend much time on the nutrition and food forums here? Many MDC'ers find that Cool Whip is not fit to eat, "fat free sour cream" (whatever the heck that is) is most intolerable, eating out or with a friend or relative that only serves margarine is a nightmare, etc. The holidays are almost impossible when you are used to eating real food and your family cooks with prepackaged, fake-tasting crap.


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## Calidris (Apr 17, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
(All right, I couldn't bring myself to use the phrase 'bloody colonials'. I'm Australian, so it cuts both ways. But still, at least WE make our damper from scratch like the good Lord intended!).


Hey, I'm Caribbean, I'll toss out the term Bloody Colonials!! for ya









I _totally_ know what you are talking about.


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

newspaper chips?

Anyway, I've never heard of a refrigerator cookie recipe with chocolate chips of any other bits in it. All the ones I've seen are always just dough with no pieces of anything. Seems kinda weird to have pieces in it since those kinds of cookies are always sliced.

I've always known almond bark to mean chocolate with almonds in it that is broken into irregular large pieces. Although I have heard in baking it sometimes refers to an artificial "white chocolate" used in candies.

Sounds like you need some good cookbooks. Internet recipes in general suck.


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## ledzepplon (Jun 28, 2004)

I like foodtv.com much more than most other internet recipe sites.


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## becoming (Apr 11, 2003)

I've given up on cookbooks. I just make up my own recipes now and hope for the best.


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

Hmm... try searching for "no-bake peanut butter cookie."

Are you talking about the oatmeal/peanut butter/cocoa/sugar/butter ones that you just spoon onto a sheet and then refrigerate? 'Cuz those are my FAVORITES. *drools all over keyboard*

But I'm totally with you on the "normal" pantry ingredients.


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

Quote:

newspaper chips?
You know, as in fish and chips? Fish and chips _do_ come wrapped in newspaper in America, right?? Or are they served in origami baskets made from _Cosmopolitan_?

I do have a fairly good selection of cookbooks, but sadly Kiwi cookbooks don't contain recipes for some of the foods I like. Pumpkin pie, for example, is almost unheard-of here (my parents picked up the notion while they were living in the US). Pumpkin breads and muffins, too, are generally only found in American-type cookbooks. Same with a lot of appley recipes, for some reason.

Arduinna: Ooh, I have a fantastic chocolate chip refrigerator cookie recipe! You just need a good sharp knife to cut the log.

So, what _are_ butterscotch chips exactly? Are they like hard little pieces of toffee, or softer? Can you eat them by themselves, or are they strictly for baking? What about vanilla chips?

Also: you can _buy_ roux? That's disgusting. I learned how to make roux when I was, like, eight... it ain't rocket surgery, people!


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## stormborn (Dec 8, 2001)

Ya I really don't get that at all. If I was going to cook something from a box I wouldn't need a recipe in the first place.







:


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## blizzard_babe (Feb 14, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
You know, as in fish and chips? Fish and chips _do_ come wrapped in newspaper in America, right?? Or are they served in origami baskets made from _Cosmopolitan_?

DANGIT! Now you're making me crave both DH's no-bake cookies AND a fish fry. See, I'm from Central Wisconsin, where Friday Night Fish Fry is a whole category of meal. Most places in the U.S., fish fries aren't a big seller. But us crazy Polish-American Catholics (well... cultural Catholics







) love our fish fry. Traditionally, in that area, it's served with french fries (fine, fine, CHIPS), cole slaw, and rye bread. They're not served in newspaper, though. Usually just on a plate or in one of those red plastic food baskets lined with plain kitchen paper.

But alas... Anchorage, for all its wonderful seafood, isn't as into fish fry as I'd like.


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## lalaland42 (Mar 12, 2006)

I'm American and I have both cocoa and sugar in my pantry.







Most people I know don't cook like I do though. I like recipezaar.com much better for recipes. Although if you are going to make something with cocoa, someone on MDC (superstella, I think) posted a recipe in TAO for banana brownies that are easy to make and oh-so-good.


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## Jwebbal (May 31, 2004)

two words for from scratch cooking, cook's illustrated. They have a website, their recipes are always amazing, and no weird ingredients.


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## MilkTrance (Jul 21, 2007)

I really want fish 'n chips now.

Darn you all.


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

Naw, I've never seen french fries served in newspaper in the States. Maybe they do it in the British Pubs? But I never go to those, if we are going to a pub it's an Irish one and they just serve the fish and fries on a plate. A few places serve them on paper in a basket but never ever newspaper. Cosmopolitan origami basket? Ya lost me there.

I just bought Valrhona cocoa powder today when I was restocking the pantry. Yes some of us Americans have cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate, regular flour ( not that self rising flour popular in the south







) and sugar in our cabinets. I also have vanilla beans


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## cristeen (Jan 20, 2007)

This is a common complaint around here. I collect cookbooks and very few of my (American) books are from the modern era, and the ones that are are from high end chefs, the kind that commonly use foie gras and caviar in their recipes. The rest of my cookbooks are from the 70s or earlier. There's still some things like sweetened condensed milk on occasion, but there's no refrigerated biscuit dough, chips refer to chocolate, and pies are actually made from scratch. You have to deal with margarine, but that's an easy substitute.

Now if only candy recipes without corn syrup were as easy to find.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
You know, as in fish and chips? Fish and chips _do_ come wrapped in newspaper in America, right?? Or are they served in origami baskets made from _Cosmopolitan_?

LOL!!

Around here people would think you were insane if you put their food in newspaper. Instead they put it in styrofoam or plastic (styrofoam was recently outlawed in our city).









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
So, what _are_ butterscotch chips exactly? Are they like hard little pieces of toffee, or softer? Can you eat them by themselves, or are they strictly for baking? What about vanilla chips?

<shudder>

You ever tried finding a recipe for butterscotch pudding that contains neither butterscotch chips nor scotch? It is NOT easy. Butterscotch chips and vanilla chips both taste like little chunks of artificial flavoring to me. Trust me when I say that if you're familiar with the real thing, you will not enjoy the imitation. They don't even want to melt... if you put them in the oven for 10 minutes, they hold their shape. Texture similar to a chocolate chip, but chalkier.

The place I go looking for recipes is epicurious.com. It's the only website I use on a regular basis. I do read several food blogs, and will look something up on foodnetwork.com if I'm looking for something in particular, but even there it depends on the recipe author as to whether it will be from scratch or packages. A good place to find cookbooks are used book stores, I've found some great older books for really cheap there.


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## JustJamie (Apr 24, 2006)

I've seen fish and chips served in paper (not newspaper)...

but it was in Germany.









Call me stupid, but what do you mean by "refrigerator cookie"? A no-bake cookie? Cause I think I have a good peanut butter & chocolate no bake cookie recipe...I mean, I know it's good, I just don't remember if it has p.b. in it, but I think it does.


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## Hera (Feb 4, 2002)

You want Cook's Illustrated for online recipes, dear. Don't worry, not all of us cook that way









ETA: Hah, see, Jwebbal even said it first!

Search for "raw cookies" you'll have better results:
http://consciouskitchen.blogspot.com...w-cookies.html

But you know what? I just have to say "yuck! Don't put my food in a newspaper!" Fish and chips here come in a little paper food tray thingy, with a piece of wax paper or parchment in it.


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## Prensa (Jul 28, 2005)

1.) what's a damper?

2.) we don't really have "fish and chips" in america, that's what England is for, maybe in a few remote locations, but definitely not in newspaper, ew! unsanitary!









3.) the best place to search for recipes is BLOGS...if you go to google one of the options is to search blogs and there you will find awesome recipes accompanied by glorious pictures of delectable delights.
Sometimes I even just search Flickr for a picture of what I want to make because people who take pictures of their food usually blog about it too, and they host their blog pics on Flickr.

a good site for baked goods is Joy Of Baking

*butterscotch chips*: Ingredients: Sugar, palm kernel oil, powdered whey protein concentrate, soya lecithin, sorbitan tristearate, artificial colors (yellow #5 & 6 lake, Blue 1 lake), artificial butterscotch flavor, and vanilla. _This product contains soy and dairy and may contain trace amounts of wheat, eggs, peanuts or tree nuts_.


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## boadhagh (Sep 19, 2007)

Saveur.com is also a good website for recipes -- their database isn't huge, but what's there is pretty amazingly good, and they're not embarrassed to have good, solid "American" sort of recipes -- I think they even did an issue on Milwaukee fish fries a couple of years ago. No peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe, though. Sorry.


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

America... doesn't have fish and chips shops? Little takeaway shops where you order a scoop of chips, a piece of gurnard and they throw a potato fritter in for free, and hand it over wrapped in white paper and then in newspaper like a square package?

Well now, that makes me want to cry--and I of all people should not be accused of over-romanticising fish and chip shops, given that I worked at one when I was 14. But heck, I wouldn't have made it through my first trimester without our local fish and chip shop!

Prensa: Damper is a yeastless, scone-type bread made by early Australian settlers. It was cooked in a round freeform shape over a fire, although I've also heard of a version made with a thicker dough, twisted round a stick, held over the fire to bake and eaten with jam dropped down the hole. Traditional damper is somewhat doughy and tasteless, I think, but there it is.

Cristeen: Yep, we don't have corn syrup or light corn syrup in NZ. Golden syrup is a vague substitute, but I just tend to avoid those recipes. We don't have 'light' and 'dark' brown sugar either, just one kind; I use it in recipes calling for either and it always seems to turn out fine.

By 'refrigerator cookies' I mean the kind where you shape the dough into a log, chill it, and then cut it into slices and bake (or eat raw, as the mood strikes you; another thing you can't get in NZ is salmonella from egg yolks!).


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## Jane (May 15, 2002)

Can't you just invent one for the occasion?
What's in it? Peanut Butter, powdered sugar, regular sugar, some butter, flour, and baking powder, right? Just mix some until it's soft enough, refridgerate, bake at 350-400 for 10-20 minutes. Live on the edge!
Want me to guess some for ya?
1 cup peanut butter
1 stick butter
1-2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup sugar, some powdered, some regular
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips


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## frontierpsych (Jun 11, 2006)

I hate it when recipes call for processed crap. If I want to eat processed crap, I can buy it already made, I don't have to make it! If I'm cooking, I want to cook!

I've taken to just buying ingredients I like and making up recipes as I go along.


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## Jane (May 15, 2002)

My made up recipe was not too far off this real recipe:
http://southernfood.about.com/od/pbc...r/bl50827c.htm

Try searching "cooky" instead of "cookie" to get old-fashioned recipes. Also, try "ice box" instead of "refrigerator". I sometimes specify ingredients in my searches, like "ravioli flour butter pumpkin roll inch" to get ravoli recipes that include a pasta recipe. For a peanut butter cookie, I might try "peanut butter cookie butter flour chill wax paper".


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## fhqwhgads (Oct 30, 2007)

Oh man...I gotta find my mom's recipe for peanut butter criss-cross cookies and add some good dark chocolate chunks to it.

And since when are peanut butter cookies NOT made with peanut butter?!?! Like, from a jar?!

THIS IS MADNESS!


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## cristeen (Jan 20, 2007)

Since you expounded upon what you were looking for, a lightbulb went off in my head.









My vintage cookbook collection strikes again. Mind you I haven't tried this recipe, but I've never had a recipe from this book fail (1969 Betty Crocker).

Vanilla Refrigerator Cookies
1 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
1tsp salt
1/2 c chopped nuts

*PB variation:* decrease butter to 1/2 c and add 1/2 c crunchy PB; sub 1c brown sugar for the sugar. Omit nuts.

Mix thoroughly buter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and nuts. Divide dough into 3 equal parts; shape each into roll 1 1/2 inches in diameter and about 7 inches long. Wrap, chill at least 4 hours.

Heat oven to 400F. Place slice 1 inch apart on ungreased sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown.

Makes about 7 dozen.

Lots of other variations, too... PM me if you'd like me to type them up for you. There's also a couple other recipes for refrigerator cookies.


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## Prensa (Jul 28, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
America... doesn't have fish and chips shops? *Little takeaway shops where you order a scoop of chips*, a piece of gurnard and they throw a potato fritter in for free, and hand it over wrapped in white paper and then in newspaper like a square package?

errr...we call those "McDonalds" here and the chips are called "fries"

seriously though, unless it was a novelty or a "theme town" I can't see a place like that existing anywhere around here

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
Well now, that makes me want to cry--and I of all people should not be accused of over-romanticising fish and chip shops, given that I worked at one when I was 14. But heck, I wouldn't have made it through my first trimester without our local fish and chip shop!

Prensa: Damper is a yeastless, scone-type bread made by early Australian settlers. It was cooked in a round freeform shape over a fire, although I've also heard of a version made with a thicker dough, twisted round a stick, held over the fire to bake and eaten with jam dropped down the hole. Traditional damper is somewhat doughy and tasteless, I think, but there it is.

mmmmm! jam in the hole! sounds good, I'm a sucker for breads though









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
Cristeen: Yep, we don't have corn syrup or light corn syrup in NZ. Golden syrup is a vague substitute, but I just tend to avoid those recipes. We don't have 'light' and 'dark' brown sugar either, just one kind; I use it in recipes calling for either and it always seems to turn out fine.

I refill my brown sugar container with alternating bags of dark and light (looks pretty!) and use them interchangeably too and never noticed a big difference. I thing the only difference is dark has more molasses content

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
By 'refrigerator cookies' I mean the kind where you shape the dough into a log, chill it, and then cut it into slices and bake (or eat raw, as the mood strikes you; another thing you can't get in NZ is salmonella from egg yolks!).

didya find a recipe ya like yet?

*I forgot to mention this reminds me of the time I was looking for a recipe for Alfredo Sauce. I searched forEVER and they all started with "open a packet of alfredo sauce mix" or "empty one jar of alfredo sauce into a pan"







:


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## flapjack (Mar 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Arduinna* 
Naw, I've never seen french fries served in newspaper in the States. Maybe they do it in the British Pubs? But I never go to those, if we are going to a pub it's an Irish one and they just serve the fish and fries on a plate. A few places serve them on paper in a basket but never ever newspaper. Cosmopolitan origami basket? Ya lost me there.


Nope, we don't serve fish and chips in their paper in the pubs. Fish and chips is a takeaway meal served wrapped in blank newsprint, best eaten directly from the paper sitting overlooking a harbour where the fish was landed a few hours earlier.







: (I am a total snob about eating in the street, but for this one I make an exception. It was my childhood treat.)

Sadly, I know exactly what you mean, though I've never dared use the words bloody colonials around here. American cookbooks are a strange and bewildering world to me, but I saw peanut butter chips in a Nigella recipe the other day







. What IS the world coming to?


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## SevenVeils (Aug 28, 2006)

Allrecipes is awful. I don't cook that way either. Epicurious.com is good, or the recipe forums at finerkitchens.com.


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

Cristeen, you're a marvel! I'm gonna make those... as soon as I can get hold of some chocolate chips, silly husband couldn't find them at the supermarket.









flapjack: Nigella? How dare she. I think I'll stick with Alison Holst; there's something supremely comforting about a woman who does world tours, has sold tens of millions of copies of her books, and still starts off recipes with 'Normally I consider a three-egg pudding extravagant...'.


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## SevenVeils (Aug 28, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
America... doesn't have fish and chips shops? Little takeaway shops where you order a scoop of chips, a piece of gurnard and they throw a potato fritter in for free, and hand it over wrapped in white paper and then in newspaper like a square package?


Tragically, no. I live in California, and you can get fish and chips, there are even fish and chips stores but not like that.

What are newspaper chips?

My son and I always laugh and laugh when we're in the baking aisle and see corn syrup. My son is completely flabbergasted that you can buy such a thing. When I told him that you can also buy MSG he really didn't know what to think. He sort of got a case of the hysterical giggles, right in the grocery line. He's 10, by the way.


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## Ziggysmama (Dec 26, 2007)

OMG Smokering. Your posts has made my NIGHT!!! I am literally out of breath I have been laughing so hard








As a kiwi who lived in the states for many years I missed fish and chips SOOO much, it was the first thing I ate when I got off the plane back here....then a pie....







yum nothing quite like kiwi comfort food...








Oh and you want to know something funny? My MIL sends us boxes of cake mix from America on a regular basis. We've never asked she just puts them in her packages for our son. She also sends Mac and Cheese (which makes my American partner supremely happy)....
Oh and I







Allison Holst


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## anubis (Oct 6, 2006)

I managed to misread the title of the thread as "bloody colons". I thought wow, you sure aren't kidding about them crazy American cookbooks.

On a more or less related note, many chip shops here have stopped using newspaper because of health and safety concerns. Then again, we also had a guy come in and make a hole in the floor "in case there's a fire" (














and there was the school that banned pencil cases because they might conceal sharp objects. Health and safety, baby. Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry.


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## ChristyMarie (May 31, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *skyastara* 
Allrecipes is awful. I don't cook that way either. Epicurious.com is good, or the recipe forums at finerkitchens.com.

I was also going to suggest www.epicurious.com









Another good one is www.foodandwine.com

Or for lighter versions www.cookinglight.com though admittedly they have a lot of "fast" recipes that use convenience foods but it is a nice balance.

Not all Americans eat out of a box. Some of us still actually *cook* real food.


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## kristenok18 (Jun 26, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *anubis* 
I managed to misread the title of the thread as "bloody colons". I thought wow, you sure aren't kidding about them crazy American cookbooks.









: That's about right!


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## superstella (Aug 25, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *anubis* 
I managed to misread the title of the thread as "bloody colons". I thought wow, you sure aren't kidding about them crazy American cookbooks.

On a more or less related note, many chip shops here have stopped using newspaper because of health and safety concerns. Then again, we also had a guy come in and make a hole in the floor "in case there's a fire" (














and there was the school that banned pencil cases because they might conceal sharp objects. Health and safety, baby. Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Oh my this made me







and







: Too funny. A hole in the floor? Are you supposed to escape through it? Bloody colons







.


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## tinybutterfly (May 31, 2004)

I dunno....could Long John Silver's be considered a "fish and chip" shop?

JUST KIDDING!

I DO like LJS's hushpuppies, though.







:

Older American cookbooks should be fine...old editions of Joy of Cooking, Betty Crocker, Fannie Farmer...and I mean OLD, not from the 1970s on up.

Nikki and Dave Goldbeck ( are they Amercian?) had a good whole foods cookbook, and La Leche League used to put out a good cookbook.

These are the kind of recipes I got from my aunt or lots of people get from their grandmothers, so to search for them on the internet you'll need to specify old-fashioned recipes.

TB ( who has cocoa, sugar and flour in her pantry...but doesn't really like to cook)


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## aussiemum (Dec 20, 2001)

I have a late 1990's version of the Joy of Cooking which I absolutely love. It is my favourite cookbook by far- very, very few weird ingredients, & it teaches you how to make a true roux, amongst other things.









A close second fave would be Stephanie Alexander's A-Z of ingredients & recipes, and I also rely heavily on Marcella Hazan's Italian cookbooks for everyday dinner meals. Some of her recipes are great for a simple weekday night meal, as are many of Jamie Oliver's recipes (another well-liked chef in our family).


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## DarkHorseMama (Mar 8, 2003)

Straight from my bookmarks, tried and true:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1710,...241195,00.html

NO BAKE CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES

2 cups sugar
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup Pet milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups oats

In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients except peanut butter and oats and cook over medium heat. Let boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and oats. Spoon out quickly onto wax paper or aluminum foil. Cookies will harden as they set.

Although, I have to laugh that the recipe actually calls for "Pet" milk.







My grandmother still uses that term. http://petmilk.com/ You can use the "Pet" evaporated milk in a can or







just plain ol' milk like I do.

But DAMN! Now I want some of these cookies! Evil thread.


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## tinybutterfly (May 31, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aussiemum* 
I have a late 1990's version of the Joy of Cooking which I absolutely love. It is my favourite cookbook by far- very, very few weird ingredients, & it teaches you how to make a true roux, amongst other things.









I hadn't thought of that...if it's a classic, basic cookbook, they might not mess around with it too much when they do updates.


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## madskye (Feb 20, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
America... doesn't have fish and chips shops? Little takeaway shops where you order a scoop of chips, a piece of gurnard and they throw a potato fritter in for free, and hand it over wrapped in white paper and then in newspaper like a square package?


Nope, we don't have that. My nanny is from Belfast, so I know what you are talking about, but you would only get that here at a twee "theme pub" with kitchy decor.

I do live at the beach though, and can tell you that we have two cool things--outside restaurants where you can get all kinds of fresh fried seafood and fries (chips) in paper boats, and we also have drive-in restaurants, where you pull up the car and place your order via a speaker, and then a waitress comes out and attaches a tray with hamburgers, hotdogs, rootbeer floats, and fries to your car window.

I think hot dogs from the street cart might be the equivalent of your fish and chips. We call them "dirty water dogs"!


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## mamaley (Mar 18, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jwebbal* 
two words for from scratch cooking, cook's illustrated. They have a website, their recipes are always amazing, and no weird ingredients.


I second this.


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## Datura (Mar 18, 2005)

OMG Smoke, I so needed this. We need to do some baking and yakking to distract me from this dang prodromal labor.

Trust me, if it calls for butterscotch chips you aren't going to want to eat it.

My grandmother was a nurse and said that newspaper is actually a very good food wrap as it is essentially sterilized by the heat of the press. And with modern soy inks, how could you say no?







As an American living in NZ, let me just say that I give fish n chips my stamp of approval, so long as the fish isn't mullet. A pox upon the head of those who sneak a fish that tastes like mud into my meal.

Give me a ring next time you want a recipe like that. I'll break out my much beloved Joy of Cooking which is both American and pre-Betty Crocker age.

And I totally agree, it's frustrating trying to cook American when you can't find the prepackaged junk that most of them seem to call for. I've gotten absolutely archaic with my recipes or I've been doing some odd substitutions. You don't even want to know what I've been making Mexican food with....

I'm rambling, it's off to bed for me.


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## accountclosed3 (Jun 13, 2006)

as an american, living in the good old US of A, i am equally frustrated by these sorts of recipes.

they do make me nuts.

i prefer to work from scratch because then i know the ingredients very well. most of the convenience stuff out there is really crappy for you. so, i don't want to eat it--not even in a cookie!


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## onlyzombiecat (Aug 15, 2004)

I think it depends on where you are looking for recipes. A lot of recipe sites have recipes using convenience items. I have better luck just searching google for the recipe I want.

A peanut butter chip is like a chocolate chip but peanut butter.
http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/prod...ing-pieces.asp
I have never used them.
Does it have to be a refrigerator dough? I found a recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies but it is not refrigerated.

This fudge recipe doesn't use marshmallow creme. Are the other ingredients odd to you?

This pumpkin pie recipe does not use canned pumpkin or pumpkin pie spice.

The first result from a google search for caramel sauce yielded a recipe that did not have you unwrapping candy.


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## momtoalexsarah (May 21, 2005)

My husband spent a year in NZ as a teen and we spent a month visiting again just after we where married so I understand exactly what you are talking about LOL.
I'm in Canada an here we do have fish and chips served in newpaper - and we even have a F&C shop in our little town (we are way inland too but in the summer they use fresh lake trout or salmon).

I use a simple all purpose Peanut Butter cookie that is flourless it is great as a drop cookie or a refrigerator cookie

1 cup Peanut Butter (Kraft if you have it there, if you don't then any PB will work with an alteration)
1/2 cup white sugar(granulated) if you are useing Kraft PB
If you are using a natural PB then use 1 cup Icing sugar(powdered sugar, confectionary sugar) that contains corn starch
If your Icing sugar does not contain corn starch then you can use the 1/2 cup of regular sugar and 2 tbs of corn starch(maize starch - white powder made from maize)
(I know this is confusing - but the kraft PB has cornstarch in it)
1 egg
1/2 cup additives (coco chips, raisins, nuts, ect) if useing
Mix PB,egg and Sugar and add ons(and corn starch if needed) untill it all thickens into a lump.
This can them be droped on a cookie sheet as drop cookies or wraped in wax paper/oiled paper and placed in the fridge and used as a rolled and cut cookie (with cookie cutters) I made a batch yesterday and they turned out great as usual. To roll the dough out use a little icing sugar on the surface and your rolling pin instead of flour
Cook at 325 deg F for 12-24 min depending on size of cookie - Makes 2 dozen


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## aussiemum (Dec 20, 2001)

I have to admit, any recipes with the words 'condensed soup' or 'italian dressing' are a turn off for me. I might look at that recipe for ideas on how I could adapt it, but I would never follow it.

Every Thanksgiving I make from scratch pumpkin pies- we don't have canned pumpkin here . I basically follow the Joy of Cooking recipe & use fresh roasted pumpkin instead of canned, cup for cup- as long as the fresh is well roasted & mashed.

And I am always amazed by how much they taste just like the canned pumpkin pies I ate as a child.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

And what is up with chocolate chips in fudge recipes? If I *have* chocolate I don't need to make fudge!

Canned mashed pumpkin is great though, especially for cooking pumpkin pie out of season.

Do people seriously publish "recipes" that call for filling mix and a pre-made crust? Wouldn't the "recipe" in that case already be on the mix label? I mean, who needs anything more than a single sentence instruction "Pour filling into prepared crust." for something like the cheesecake filling?


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *pinksprklybarefoot* 
Stay off of allrecipes.com!

Why?

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peanut-...ks/Detail.aspx

There are also a number of fudge recipes that start from cocoa powder, butter, and milk.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *oneKnight* 
For example when I see people buy hot chocolate mix I'm sitting there thinking _why not just add a spoon of cocoa and sugar into warm milk?_

Because when I do that I end up with vague chocolate flavored milk topping a sludge of bitter chocolate. And that's *after* cooking the cocoa and sugar together with a bit of milk on the stove top until smooth--about 20 minutes of standing at the stove on top of the time to actually add the milk and continue cooking. If I tried adding a spoon of cocoa and sugar into warm milk I wouldn't even get the vaguely chocolate flavored milk on top.

Compare to 1 second to turn on electric kettle, 2 seconds to put cocoa mix into cup, 2 seconds to pour hot water from kettle (I use the minute the kettle takes to work to wipe off a counter or start up some toast).

Let see, why don't I take 20 minutes to make something nasty when I can spend 2-4 dollars less (hello milk prices!) and have a can of stuff that lets me make yummy cocoa in about 5 seconds of work?

And I do have cocoa on hand pretty much constantly and will buy sugar when I need to make brownies. I only have milk in the house when it's gone on sale, so like twice in the last 3 months.

Mind you, I also can't use dried beans as none of the 6 different ways I've read about of cooking them has ever worked for me.


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## orangebird (Jun 30, 2002)

I just need to know, what are...

1) Newspaper chips

2) damper

3) spinning jennies


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## Brown Lioness (Dec 28, 2005)

Well, in Kentucky, where I was mostly raised, i guess the closest thing to a "fish and chips" shop would be Moby Dick's. I used to LOVE going there and getting some clams and french fries (so i guess its fish and chips to you, sort of) lol. But no, they CERTAINLY did NOT come in a newspaper (gag, newspapers are nasty things), but in the red wire basket and wax (?) paper lining that a pp mentioned.

OMG, im hungry now!!!!







:


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## accountclosed3 (Jun 13, 2006)

i just use chocolate to make hot cocoa. i take milk and chocolate and put it over a double boiler until it gets to the consistency that i like, and that's that.


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## kittyhead (Oct 28, 2005)

huh... i live in california and i can think of a handful of bars (pubs to some of you) that serve fish and chips. none serve them in newspaper, though. my favorite fried fish place has a combo basket that has fish, shrimp, scallops and calamari, with a side of fries and coleslaw.







:







: i love fish and chips.

i find myself frustrated by recipes that i find on the internet as well. those darn "cream of whatever" soups...


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## bwylde (Feb 19, 2004)

I live in a little fishing town so every non-fast food restaurant (and even some







) sell fresh fish and chips but I've never seen it sold in newspaper, usually in baskets or plates. All I can think is does the ink come off on the food?

I'm tired of the recipes that call for convenience food. What's the point of making something using all already prepared foods. What about real food? I basically had to teach myself to cook as everything growing up was open this box, open that can, add this pouch, ect...


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## slymamato3 (Jan 16, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jwebbal* 
two words for from scratch cooking, cook's illustrated. They have a website, their recipes are always amazing, and no weird ingredients.

Yup I LOVE cook's illustrated.

Smokering~ I ran in to the same issue looking for crockpot recipes recently.
Why on earth would you use packaged convenience foods in a slow cooker?
Its a strange strange world!
And I am another american with a pantry full of stuff for from scratch cooking!

Did you find a recipe for the cookies yet?


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## messy mama (Jan 14, 2005)

Whatever you do. Do not check out this lady's recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show..._14521,00.html
She even has a TV show. It is called Semi-Homemade Cooking, it's in the title for all the world to see. Blech.

Now I know what me and DS are eating for lunch. Fish n' chips. MMMMMMM. It won't be served in newspaper, but we will sit on a bench and watch the boats sail by. Dreamy.


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## FancyD (Apr 22, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *oneKnight* 
I My New Orleans friend asked me why they sell roux at the supermarket when it takes nothing to make yourself.

I've only got to this quote, but what in the netherhell?!?! They SELL roux? Man, they should work on selling freezers to the Inuit next.


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## calpurnia (Sep 26, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *orangebird* 
I just need to know, what are...

1) Newspaper chips

2) damper

3) spinning jennies

1. Newspaper chips ie potato chips deep fried served (in takeaway fish & chip shops) wrapped up in a little newspaper parcel. Altho' these days they don't tend to use printed newspaper, but blank white paper of a similar texture. Hence the saying "today's news, tomorrow's fish & chip wrappings".

Now I really fancy fish n chips!

2. Damper - an Australian/NZ thing, a basic bread - flour, water, salt - baked in the embers of the fire.

3. Spinning jenny - a mechanized spinning wheel invented in the late 18th century, changed spinning/weaving from being a cottage industry to factory based - big part of the industrial revolution.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zoebird* 
i just use chocolate to make hot cocoa. i take milk and chocolate and put it over a double boiler until it gets to the consistency that i like, and that's that.









Of course, start with chocolate that's already smooth!







If I ever have chocolate and milk and want cocoa I'll try that. Cocoa for me is "chocolate that can survive more than a week in my house", though.


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## leanbh (Mar 22, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
America... doesn't have fish and chips shops? Little takeaway shops where you order a scoop of chips, a piece of gurnard and they throw a potato fritter in for free, and hand it over wrapped in white paper and then in newspaper like a square package?

Well now, that makes me want to cry--and I of all people should not be accused of over-romanticising fish and chip shops, given that I worked at one when I was 14. But heck, I wouldn't have made it through my first trimester without our local fish and chip shop!

By 'refrigerator cookies' I mean the kind where you shape the dough into a log, chill it, and then cut it into slices and bake (or eat raw, as the mood strikes you; another thing you can't get in NZ is salmonella from egg yolks!).

i feel your pain having lived in ireland and then moving to the states. then i got pregnant, and all i wanted in the world was some decent chips and garlic sauce. we went back to visit when i was five months, and i kid you not, i ate chips and garlic sauce with EVERY meal, even breakfast.

i loved fridge cookies when i was little. and my mom, when i got married, gave me this immense kit of cookie recipes, cookie cutters, and decorative things to use with my kids. i can't wait to make them with my kids for the holidays.


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## saintmom (Aug 19, 2003)

Ah yes,real food real recipies,made by real people.Quite a concept,don't you think.I'm sure they'll find a way to market that one next.

I learned to cook from old cookbooks,Better homes and gardens,Pillsbury,Mrs.Beeton"s and old church cookbooks I'd find at yard sales.
http://www.bytecellar.com/archives/000102.php This site has some basic recipies.

www.waltonfeed.com has some basic recipes
http://always-in-my-kitchen.blogspot.com/ I posted my piecrust recipe on my blog.I kept thinking I should take my "secret" recipe with me to the grave but oh well it's probably better to leave something to humanity LOl so I guess thats my contribution









Reeses pieces work fine in recipies calling for chips,choclate butterscotch or whatever.I've also unwrapped piles of leftover christmas and easter choclate kisses or eggs and thrown them in cookies.

Basic cookie dough:

3 cups flour- can use half whole wheat pastry

1 cup buter- can use half peanut butter

2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar- can use 1 cup sucanat,let it melt with the eggs and butter
1/2 white sugar
2 tsp soda

1 tsp salt
1-2 cups whatever,chips , nuts coconut,
Mix after each ingredient,bake 375 oven 10-12 min

I usually double this recipe,If the dough seems to thin add more flour.


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## boadhagh (Sep 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
America... doesn't have fish and chips shops? Little takeaway shops where you order a scoop of chips, a piece of gurnard and they throw a potato fritter in for free, and hand it over wrapped in white paper and then in newspaper like a square package?

I'm in Oregon, and there's a fish and chips window 3 blocks from my house -- the newsprint is blank, though.

Do you have the meat pies floating in pea soup in NZ? I used to see people eating that in Australia -- Americans aren't the only ones who eat strange food







.


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## a(TM)?Star (Oct 13, 2005)

I'm with a PP. I'm a professional chef, and when I needed a baking recipe (I don't bake well







) I always check out Martha Stewart's cook books.


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## ~Yola (Sep 2, 2006)

Lol, my Dh and I were just discussing the pre-packaged food recipies phenomenon last night, he was looking for a biscuit recipe and whent to cooks.com, and thought it rather ridiculous they all seemed to call for bisquick







Why the heck would you be looking for a biscuit recipe if you had bisquick in the cupboard??? And who in their right mind would be satisfied with bisquick tasting biscuits if the were going to bother looking for a recipe? Besides...last I checked they don't make whole wheat mix









Oh and we serve our fish & chips in newspaper here too! Though the chips come in a paper cone so you don't have to sit and unwrap them to eat 'em







At least, the takout stands on the docks do, they come in paper-lined baskets at pubs and restaurants.

THis is what I think of when I think fish n' chips...http://www.barbsplace.ca/index.htm

I can't for the life of me find the file that has my recipies in it, I think Dh must have burned them to disk on me







:
But I did a google search and found the first one that looked similar...just add chocolate chips (about 1 cup?)

Peanut Butter Refrigerator Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
PREPARATION:
Cream shortening and butter with sugars until light. Add peanut butter and eggs; blend well. Sift together the flour and baking soda; stir into creamed mixture. Shape into 2 rolls about 2 inches in diameter.
Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Slice rolls about 1/8-inch thick; bake at 350° on ungreased baking sheets for 8 to 10 minutes.
Makes about 8 dozen cookies.


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

Hehe. Calm down, people; the chips aren't lying directly on the printed newspaper. There's a layer of newsprint--the white, non-inky stuff--on which they are placed, and the layers of newspaper are just for wrapping/insulation. The smell of hot grease and newspaper is just divine...

Meat pies in pea soup? That IS crazy. Never heard of such a thing.

Datura: Yes indeed, we must get together! You're having prodromal labor? How exciting, in a gah-make-it-stop way of course...

onlyzombiecat: Nope, that fudge has all available-in-NZ ingredients. Thanks! I know there are 'real' fudge recipes out there with cocoa, sugar and butter, but I'm ashamed to admit I suck at fudge-making, so I need an easier version; just not one that contains marshmallow creme. I have a delicious caramel fudge recipe which uses sweetened condensed milk, so that's promising! (Although, 3 cups of chocolate? I suspect my husband would rather just eat the chocolate! He does like fudge though...).

Shortening is available in NZ, but nobody uses it. *shrugs* My sister subs coconut oil; seems to work OK. Nobody uses molasses much here either, although it's available (presumably because molasses is foul and ghastly stuff, unfit for human consumption). It's funny how cultural tastes differ. Cherry and Vanilla Coke never really took off here either, and they never even bothered trying out Lemon Coke as far as I know. Then again, we eat Vegemite and Marmite over here, which is just too staunch and manly for you lot.


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## annamama (Sep 23, 2005)

Opportunity to post pictures of us eating fish and chips on the pier shamelessly exploited.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2..._0697Small.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2..._0688Small.jpg
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...i/IMG_0694.jpg


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## onlyzombiecat (Aug 15, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *annamama* 
Opportunity to post pictures of us eating fish and chips on the pier shamelessly exploited.


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## onlyzombiecat (Aug 15, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
onlyzombiecat: Nope, that fudge has all available-in-NZ ingredients. Thanks! I know there are 'real' fudge recipes out there with cocoa, sugar and butter, but I'm ashamed to admit I suck at fudge-making, so I need an easier version; just not one that contains marshmallow creme. I have a delicious caramel fudge recipe which uses sweetened condensed milk, so that's promising! (Although, 3 cups of chocolate? I suspect my husband would rather just eat the chocolate! He does like fudge though...).

Shortening is available in NZ, but nobody uses it. *shrugs* My sister subs coconut oil; seems to work OK. Nobody uses molasses much here either, although it's available (presumably because molasses is foul and ghastly stuff, unfit for human consumption). It's funny how cultural tastes differ. Cherry and Vanilla Coke never really took off here either, and they never even bothered trying out Lemon Coke as far as I know. Then again, we eat Vegemite and Marmite over here, which is just too staunch and manly for you lot.










We got Vegemite once but weren't really sure what to do with it. How do you like to eat it?

The fudge recipe I use is idiot proof because I could never get it quite right either. No odd ingredients but it does use the microwave.

_Microwave Fudge
3 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar (1 pound)
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Combine cocoa and sugar in a 2 quart microwave-safe bowl.
Place the stick of butter on top of mixture. Pour milk over all. DO NOT STIR!!!
Microwave on High for 3 minutes
Stir well and add vanilla and chopped nuts.
Pour into greased 8"x8" pan. Cool 20 minutes. Cut into squares._


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## Ziggysmama (Dec 26, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *onlyzombiecat* 
We got Vegemite once but weren't really sure what to do with it. How do you like to eat it?



Get a piece of toast, spread butter on it, then spread an even, *light* amount of vegemite over the top







mmmmmmm add cheese or tomato for a real treat







Whatever you do, do NOT use Vegemite/Marmite as a dip, glaze or filling








Although Vegemite sucks, we only have Marmite in this house









But I have yet to meet an American who like Marmite/Vegemite. I used to get all my friends when they came to my house to try it and watch their reaction. My partner can tolerate it now, but just barely


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

I like Vegemite spread on toast. Spread it thinly though; if you slather it on like peanut butter you'll regret it. You just need the merest scraping.

Last time I made an American try Vegemite he gagged and choked and accused me of trying to kill him. So you have been warned. It's very nutritious though...


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## Laggie (Nov 2, 2005)

Quote:

I think hot dogs from the street cart might be the equivalent of your fish and chips. We call them "dirty water dogs"!
I think you mean "street meat."

But I have a huge craving for fish and chips now. huge. I might have to stop and get some on the way home, even though DH is allergic. I don't think it will come wrapped in newspaper though, but we'll see. I have had it like that but it's not common. The place on my way home also sells Chinese food so I wouldn't be surprised if it came in one of those round foil containers.

To stay mildly on topic, my mom gave the recipe for a yummy pumpkin dessert she made... it involved canned pumpkin, a few other things and... a package of cake mix sprinkled over the top. It didn't seem quite so tasty once I knew that!


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## Benji'sMom (Sep 14, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
You know, as in fish and chips? Fish and chips _do_ come wrapped in newspaper in America, right??

No. Well, there was this one restruant we used to go to when I was in college and they did have the fish and chips wrapped up in paper, like a paper cone with the fish and chips sticking out. You have to find a casual resturant that sells fried seafood, but it's not like you can find them everywhere. And they aren't called fish and chips anyway, it's called fried fish and french fries. But generally, no they don't come wrapped in anything.

Quote:

So, what _are_ butterscotch chips exactly? Are they like hard little pieces of toffee, or softer? Can you eat them by themselves, or are they strictly for baking? What about vanilla chips?
I have no idea! I know they make butterscotch candies that are like hard caramels except they taste like butterscotch. I don't know if that's a "chip" or not. I don't know what a vanilla chip is. Never seen that before.

Quote:

Also: you can _buy_ roux? That's disgusting. I learned how to make roux when I was, like, eight... it ain't rocket surgery, people!
Okay I admit I sometimes buy roux because when I need a large amount, like for a gumbo or something, I really don't know how much to make, but I can judge how much to use when scooping it out of the jar. Now you know my secret! It's really not that bad because it's commercially made but it's local (for me, where I live, it's locally made)







My mom never taught me to cook, okay!!!!


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## mouso (Feb 8, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
Hehe. Calm down, people; the chips aren't lying directly on the printed newspaper. There's a layer of newsprint--the white, non-inky stuff--on which they are placed, and the layers of newspaper are just for wrapping/insulation. The smell of hot grease and newspaper is just divine...










From http://www.axelspringer.com/inhalte/...rvice/faq.html :

Quote:

Is newspaper sterile?
Almost. Because of the high temperatures (up to 130 degrees Celcius) in the paper machine, most germs are killed off.
My dad always said newspaper was sterile or close to it. According that site he was right.

DH and I are addicted to real French Fries. We used to live by this place:
http://www.chipshopnyc.com/
And we always search out Pommes Frites shops. Yummmmmmmm...







:

And I hear you on the people not having and cooking the basics. Roux in a jar!? Yuck.
It feels so wrong to me to not have baking supplies in my pantry. Like I'm naked or terribly unprepared for emergencies or something. Although I will admit to using boxed cake mix- there is one flavor that I luurve.


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## Laggie (Nov 2, 2005)

Is a mcdonald's cardboard french fry box sterile? Bizarre that people would eat out of that without even thinking, but are afraid of newspaper!


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Laggie* 
Is a mcdonald's cardboard french fry box sterile? Bizarre that people would eat out of that without even thinking, but are afraid of newspaper!

Inside of the cardboard is waxed, not ink.


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## Storm Bride (Mar 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aussiemum* 
Every Thanksgiving I make from scratch pumpkin pies- we don't have canned pumpkin here . I basically follow the Joy of Cooking recipe & use fresh roasted pumpkin instead of canned, cup for cup- as long as the fresh is well roasted & mashed.

OT here, but...roasted? How exactly do you prepare it? I cut up all my Halloween pumpkins, cook them, mash them and freeze them for pies, cookies and muffins. I cook the pumpkin in a saucepan, with just a little bit of water, though - I've never heard of roasting it before.


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## mamaley (Mar 18, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
Why?

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Peanut-...ks/Detail.aspx

There are also a number of fudge recipes that start from cocoa powder, butter, and milk.

I like allrecipes, too. You have to pick and choose, but then again, when don't you?


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## boadhagh (Sep 19, 2007)

nak

not sure what aussiemom does, but i just cut my pumpkins in half, turn them cut side down on a buttered cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for an hour or so. then i scrape out the pumpkin and use it from there. also, you should try to get some small, pie pumpkins -- jack'o'lantern type ones can be really watery and bland in comparison


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## Stinkerbell (Aug 11, 2005)

OP, you made me laugh out loud. That was an excellent rant.









For the record, I'd much rather spend my time doing other things so yeah, I DO use premade mixes to achieve "homemade" things. THings like cake mixes, IMO, are already perfectly blended amounts of the ingredients so it saves me lotsa time!

Go to FoodTV.com. They usually have very bare bones recipes.


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## Jennifer Z (Sep 15, 2002)

I think most of the time americans say they "cooked from scratch", what they really mean is they "assembled at home".









signed, an American who does actually cook from scratch and is extremly frustrated at what passes for a "recipe" these days too.


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## DashsMama (Dec 1, 2001)

I'm an American who loves Marmite!







One of my English friends introduced me to it a few years ago and now I'm hooked. I like Branston Pickle too, but I won't buy it 'cause it's made by Nestle.

Fake food recipies drive me crazy too. I like to cook from scratch and wading through the convenience food recipies can be a real drag. People keep disparaging the Betty Crocker Cookbook, but honestly it's one of my favorites. It really isn't full of convenience food recipies, there are a few, but mostly they are easy, basic, from scratch, recipies. I think its a wonderful cookbook for someone just learning to cook from scratch.

Yum, I love fish and chips, but it doesn't come in newspaper here, and shops are few and far between. Some places serve it in bags printed to look like newsprint, but not actual newspaper. I remember many years back, the English government made the fish and chips shops in London stop using newsprint. There was a huge outcry, not only because of losing a tradition, but also because the ink added a unique flavor to the fish and chips that was going to be lost.

Maybe we'll get some fish and chips tonight. There's a fish and chips place in my neighborhood that I've been wanting to try.


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## _betsy_ (Jun 29, 2004)

I don't eat fish and I don't cook - case in point, I'm off to Google what roux is! - but people seem to rave about this woman's recipes. I think a lot has to do with presentation, she generally takes good pictures which can be hard to do with food: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/


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## shayinme (Jan 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Stinkerbell* 
OP, you made me laugh out loud. That was an excellent rant.









For the record, I'd much rather spend my time doing other things so yeah, I DO use premade mixes to achieve "homemade" things. THings like cake mixes, IMO, are already perfectly blended amounts of the ingredients so it saves me lotsa time!

Go to FoodTV.com. They usually have very bare bones recipes.

I'm with you, I do make some things from scratch but honestly some things like cakes are easier to make from a box.. especially if you don't have all the equipment to really cook from scratch (stand mixer, bread machines, etc). In my case I bake 2-3 cakes a year so a box is fine.

That said so many folks are truly pressed for time that I do get why so many recipes have convenience ingredients.

Shay


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## Storm Bride (Mar 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *boadhagh* 
nak

not sure what aussiemom does, but i just cut my pumpkins in half, turn them cut side down on a buttered cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for an hour or so. then i scrape out the pumpkin and use it from there. also, you should try to get some small, pie pumpkins -- jack'o'lantern type ones can be really watery and bland in comparison

I may do that, but I already have the jack'o'lantern pumpkins, and I don't like to waste them. I can usually get enough for about 3-4 pies, a couple of batches of muffins, and a few batches of really yummy cookies.


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## mommajb (Mar 4, 2005)

OP, you sound like me when I am trying to cook only the rant is more along the lines about how none of my neighbors buy and stock ingredients. I can't remember what I was looking for but one woman stated she didn't even know they still made such things. It was probably real butter or confectioner's sugar or something carzy and bad for me.


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## Jennifer Z (Sep 15, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *_betsy_* 
I don't eat fish and I don't cook - case in point, I'm off to Google what roux is! - but people seem to rave about this woman's recipes. I think a lot has to do with presentation, she generally takes good pictures which can be hard to do with food: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/


roux is basically flour, fat and liquid. Gravy is a roux, a lot of sauces are roux with cheese or other flavorings, all of the 'cream of.." soups are a roux with the flavoring of chicken, or veggies, or whatever. It is one of the most basic things you can make. You vary the flavor of the roux by how long you cook the flour before you add the liquid, and by what liquid you use (broth, milk, or other liquid).

Pioneer woman is really good. She uses a mixture of conveince and from scratch, leaning a lot more towards the "from scratch" side in most of her recipes.


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## BetsyS (Nov 8, 2004)

I've seen roux in the store; I'm too cheap to buy it, though. My mom makes big batches, and she freezes it. I tend to make it each time. It does take a long time to get a good chocolate roux, though. I can totally see the appeal of buying it.


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## 2 in August (Jan 6, 2006)

I've never seen pre-made roux. I don't use boxed cake mixes after I started making wacky cakes. Totally from scratch and my dd loves to help make them.

I live by a big freshwater lake, but we can't eat the fish because of mercury...









I hate recipes that call for a bunch of pre-packaged stuff too. If I wanted pre-packaged, I would follow the box directions and not look up a recipe.


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## lmonter (Feb 26, 2004)

You're not alone. You need to get your hands on a pre-1950's cookbook or something. "Vintage" recipes and all. Before cream of mushroom soup. Blech.

(Although I do use bricks of cream cheese... cream cheese frosting for carrot cake [made with real carrots and fresh ground nutmeg!] or cheesecake or something...)









Oh, and those peanut butter chips? Eww. Tried 'em once in a regular cookie recipe. Regular peanut butter's *much* better.

Of course I'm also the freak who when making my first ever batch of homemade chicken noodle soup refused to eat more than a few bites because the store-bought noodles in them made it taste awful. Hubby thought I was insane, but then the next time I had remembered to get the stuff ready for homemade noodles, and he was a convert.







It's how my grandma made chicken noodle soup...


----------



## Canadianmommax3 (Mar 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
Because when I do that I end up with vague chocolate flavored milk topping a sludge of bitter chocolate. And that's *after* cooking the cocoa and sugar together with a bit of milk on the stove top until smooth--about 20 minutes of standing at the stove on top of the time to actually add the milk and continue cooking. If I tried adding a spoon of cocoa and sugar into warm milk I wouldn't even get the vaguely chocolate flavored milk on top.

Compare to 1 second to turn on electric kettle, 2 seconds to put cocoa mix into cup, 2 seconds to pour hot water from kettle (I use the minute the kettle takes to work to wipe off a counter or start up some toast).

Let see, why don't I take 20 minutes to make something nasty when I can spend 2-4 dollars less (hello milk prices!) and have a can of stuff that lets me make yummy cocoa in about 5 seconds of work?

And I do have cocoa on hand pretty much constantly and will buy sugar when I need to make brownies. I only have milk in the house when it's gone on sale, so like twice in the last 3 months.

Mind you, I also can't use dried beans as none of the 6 different ways I've read about of cooking them has ever worked for me.

yeah i tried to make hot chocolate like this for the kids once. Uh tasted kind of gross and the kids weren't impressed!


----------



## jenmary (Jul 7, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
America... doesn't have fish and chips shops? Little takeaway shops where you order a scoop of chips, a piece of gurnard and they throw a potato fritter in for free, and hand it over wrapped in white paper and then in newspaper like a square package?

Well now, that makes me want to cry--and I of all people should not be accused of over-romanticising fish and chip shops, given that I worked at one when I was 14. But heck, I wouldn't have made it through my first trimester without our local fish and chip shop!

God, I would kill for a local chipper, even a street cart. I am craving some curry chips right now! Sadly, here in North Central Florida the closest thing is ******'s (the beer company) Alehouse restaurant. Fish and chips with malt vinegar, though they serve them on a plate.

But you must tell me, what is a gurnard?


----------



## Canadianmommax3 (Mar 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jennifer Z* 
roux is basically flour, fat and liquid. Gravy is a roux, a lot of sauces are roux with cheese or other flavorings, all of the 'cream of.." soups are a roux with the flavoring of chicken, or veggies, or whatever. It is one of the most basic things you can make. You vary the flavor of the roux by how long you cook the flour before you add the liquid, and by what liquid you use (broth, milk, or other liquid).

Pioneer woman is really good. She uses a mixture of conveince and from scratch, leaning a lot more towards the "from scratch" side in most of her recipes.


just went to her site, she is a hoot! Love it!


----------



## Viola (Feb 1, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DarkHorseMama* 
1/2 cup Pet milk


That's milk in a can, dagnabit!









Actually, I have canned pumpkin in my pantry, but I don't usually have evaporated milk. I was going to make the pumpkin pie recipe from the can of my pumpkin, but it called for sweetened condensed milk, so I had to make that.







I bought a case of organic canned pumpkin from my food co-op once, and it was really handy; it lasted a long time. I tried making it myself from organic sugar pumpkins, but it was more expensive that way. My puree was beautiful and I was excited by it, but then I tasted it and tasted just the same as the Farmer's Market organic canned pumpkin I had. I was able to freeze it, however, so it didn't go to waste. I think I used it a year later, but I bought the case of pumpkin after that because I wanted it available for when I decided to whip up a pumpkin bread or some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies or something.


----------



## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

omg. the OP's post was the funniest post I've seen in a while.


----------



## cristeen (Jan 20, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
Because when I do that I end up with vague chocolate flavored milk topping a sludge of bitter chocolate. And that's *after* cooking the cocoa and sugar together with a bit of milk on the stove top until smooth--about 20 minutes of standing at the stove on top of the time to actually add the milk and continue cooking.


Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
Of course, start with chocolate that's already smooth!







If I ever have chocolate and milk and want cocoa I'll try that. Cocoa for me is "chocolate that can survive more than a week in my house", though.

LOL!!

That's the big difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate.

Hot cocoa: Heat up your milk until it's steaming, whisk in your cocoa powder. Never add cocoa to cold liquid.

Hot chocolate: Put cold milk and chocolate into pan, heat gently until melted. Sweeten to taste.

I make my hot chocolate with unsweetened chocolate, that way I don't have to worry about eating it before it makes it into the pan.

And yes, there are a few f&c places like that in the US. I wish I could find one locally to me now, but there was one where I grew up. We did just find an Irish pub last week that was FABULOUS, and I'd be willing to bet their fish and chips are as well (I know their chips were divine).

Now I have to walk down to the grocery store to pick up fish to make fish and chips for dinner. I guess lamb will wait until tomorrow.


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## zipworth (Jun 26, 2002)

WHAT is 'pet milk' ?????


----------



## HarperRose (Feb 22, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zipworth* 
WHAT is 'pet milk' ?????

It's a brand!

Pet brand evaporated milk.


----------



## annekevdbroek (Jun 5, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jwebbal* 
two words for from scratch cooking, cook's illustrated. They have a website, their recipes are always amazing, and no weird ingredients.

I just encountered this magazine for the first time this weekend. I have to say that it is 100% totally awesome. I already put in my subscription and ordered last years copies too. It is the kind of cooking I really love - from scratch but not overly fancy (e.g. Gourmet or Bon Appetite) or complicated.

They do have a website but I think you need to subscribe to get most of the content.

I also do not understand "cooking" that involves mainly opening cans and boxes. Like the dishes that you "make" with a can of precooked chicken, a can of soup, and instant rice.


----------



## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jennifer Z* 
roux is basically flour, fat and liquid. Gravy is a roux, a lot of sauces are roux with cheese or other flavorings, all of the 'cream of.." soups are a roux with the flavoring of chicken, or veggies, or whatever. It is one of the most basic things you can make. You vary the flavor of the roux by how long you cook the flour before you add the liquid, and by what liquid you use (broth, milk, or other liquid).


Actually, roux is a base to soups and sauces. A roux, depending on the thickening power, is usually a 1:1 ratio of fat (usually butter for soups and sauces) to flour. There is no liquid _in_ roux. You _add_ liquid _to_ roux to make soups, stews, gravys or sauces.


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## battymama (Jan 15, 2008)

I cant believe you don't have fish and chip shops, if you have never had it you don't know what you are missing out on. Usually around here though they use blank newspaper (before it is printed on) I love fish and chips, bringing it up to a pregnant lady is evil though, all i can think of is crispy light batter over fresh fish, with hot crispy chips, and chicken salt







:







: I knew my DH was the one for me when he ordered me extra crispy chips when he first ordered me fish and chips, i love crispy chips.

One of the best deserts in the world is to take a mars or snickers bar into the fish and chip shop, and ask them to batter and fry it for you. OMG bliss! and so healthy too! And Americans thought they were the only ones who knew how to deep fry stuff.









As for Vegemite, how does everyone else in the world get through their first trimester? it was one of the few things i could keep down. It is delicious, salty, tarry goodness, But very much an acquired taste, you just got to keep eating it until you love it. Watching a baby have their first taste is quite an experience, its good for teething (and mouth ulcers) the vitamin B's and salt heals it up and helps with pain. I always put a big blob on ulcers, and when i got my wisdom teeth, i was so grateful for it when i had braces, worked beter and quicker than the otc stuff.


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## _betsy_ (Jun 29, 2004)

I guess I didn't realize that had a name. Roux. You learn something new everyday!


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## KaraBoo (Nov 22, 2001)

only read OP

I know what you mean! When I lived in Czech Republic (which I did until about 3 weeks ago!), it was tough finding American recipes that didn't call for ingredients I just could not find locally. Insane! I didn't want to pay 13 dollars for a little bag of chocolate chips!


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## icxcnika (Dec 4, 2002)

I am thoroughly enjoying this thread! I love how so many people were asking "What are newspaper chips?"









While I do use some convenience foods, I do love to cook (and especially to bake) from scratch. And yes, I have sugar and cocoa powder in my cupboards!









Quote:


Originally Posted by *Viola* 
I think I used it a year later, but I bought the case of pumpkin after that because I wanted it available for when I decided to whip up a pumpkin bread or some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies or something.

Ooh, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Do you have a recipe you could share??


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## 2 in August (Jan 6, 2006)

Dare I ask what chicken salt is?


----------



## mightymoo (Dec 6, 2003)

Geez, its not like we don't have fish and chips here, its just that they aren't their own little fish and chips shops - we don't eat enough of it to justify I guess. In my town, the pizza/sub places also do fish & chips and seafood and many of the general "american" restaurants offer it too.

In New England, Seafood is such a big thing and its so much more than fish & chips, a fish & chips shop wouldn't do very well if they didn't offer fried clams, scallops and lobster rolls and chowda, etc.


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

Mmm ... newspaper chip cookies...?









Aussies are weird







:

Seriously though ... I have cocoa and sugar and powdered milk and make my own hot cocoa mix (I'm American!) ... but I also sometimes buy it. There's something about store bought stuff, maybe powdered HFCS?? I have no idea, but there is just SOMETHING that you can't get by making it yourself. ~ Yes I grew up in a household where, when my dad worked (which was all the time) my mom "cooked" in this very Americanized way - LOTS of packaged stuff... lots of cream of mushroom soup







but when my dad was home we had all home-made, REAL home-made from-scratch all organic gourmet food, w/ veg + fruit from our home garden + fruit trees. So I guess I kind of see both sides. A lot of Americans are totally pressed for time - WAY more than other citizens of other countries - so I'm sure this contributes. And, as others have said, that culture that sprang from 1950's food technology.

Plus, I love Cool Whip.







:







:


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## weliveintheforest (Sep 3, 2005)

This is a pet peeve of mine too. I'm so sick of cake 'recipes' that call for a box of cake mix! If I had that (or wanted it) I wouldn't need a recipe.


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## battymama (Jan 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2 in August* 
Dare I ask what chicken salt is?

You don't have this either? oh my! It is salt that tastes like chicken, so good on chips.

I love the comments about newspaper chips too, i got it. She meant chips from the fish and chip shop, because they come wrapped in newspaper. i have an image in my head of cookies made from that cat litter which is recycled newspaper, mmm tasty







i think i would rather have a tim tam or iced vovo thanks.


----------



## famousmockngbrd (Feb 7, 2003)

This thread is awesome!









I am still trying to come to grips with the concept of store-bought roux - I have never seen such a thing.


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## boadhagh (Sep 19, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
You don't have this either? oh my! It is salt that tastes like chicken, so good on chips.

Ok. That's just fowl. I mean foul.


----------



## laoxinat (Sep 17, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
You don't have this either? oh my! It is salt that tastes like chicken, so good on chips.

I love the comments about newspaper chips too, i got it. She meant chips from the fish and chip shop, because they come wrapped in newspaper. i have an image in my head of cookies made from that cat litter which is recycled newspaper, mmm tasty







i think i would rather have a tim tam or iced vovo thanks.

All, right, that's it, all that AND you have Erle Montaigue, too. I am freaking moving to Australia


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## laoxinat (Sep 17, 2007)

For the lowdown on Vovos and some hilarious biscuit reviews, check out this link. I must've been a Brit in a former lifetime


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 

One of the best deserts in the world is to take a mars or snickers bar into the fish and chip shop, and ask them to batter and fry it for you. OMG bliss! and so healthy too! And Americans thought they were the only ones who knew how to deep fry stuff.









Brace yourself.

They don't have Mars Bars in America.

Chicken salt, blah. Chips and gravy is where it's at.

ETA: all the people who are about to post and claim you do, stop. You don't have mars Bars. You have a confectionary item with "Mars Bar" written on the outside, but it has NUTS in it. The closest thing you have to a mars bar is a milky way, but a milky way isn't what you think, either, its more like a half size three musketeers with less malt flavour.


----------



## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mightymoo* 
a fish & chips shop wouldn't do very well if they didn't offer fried clams, scallops and lobster rolls and chowda, etc.

They do, they have Chiko rolls as well. Plus pineapple fritters and hamburgers with egg and beetroot.







:


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## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wannabe* 
They do, they have Chiko rolls as well. Plus pineapple fritters and hamburgers with egg and beetroot.







:

mmmmmmmmm now im craving a pinnapple fritter, and some good ole NZ fush and chips, in newspaper!


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Storm Bride* 
OT here, but...roasted? How exactly do you prepare it? I cut up all my Halloween pumpkins, cook them, mash them and freeze them for pies, cookies and muffins. I cook the pumpkin in a saucepan, with just a little bit of water, though - I've never heard of roasting it before.

You just... roast it. Cut it up like any other root vegetable and bung it in the oven. But don't use halloween pumpkins, use butternut pumpkins.

And did I see someone mention the pie floater?

Quote:

I think most of the time americans say they "cooked from scratch", what they really mean is they "assembled at home".
I thought "from scratch" meant real food and "home made" meant I opened the packet myself.


----------



## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

btw, if you have an edmonds cookbook, use the chocolate chip recipie and add peanut butter to it, we have done it before and it comes out great. I love my edmonds book.


----------



## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Ah, the edmonds cook book. I never cook from anything else, except this handy-dandy website

Although, wonderwahine, the edmonds book has a semi-homemade section too "cooking with edmonds"


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## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wannabe* 
Ah, the edmonds cook book. I never cook from anything else, except this handy-dandy website

Although, wonderwahine, the edmonds book has a semi-homemade section too "cooking with edmonds"

do you mean the new one or the old one? I only use my mums old one







:


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## shayinme (Jan 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mightymoo* 
Geez, its not like we don't have fish and chips here, its just that they aren't their own little fish and chips shops - we don't eat enough of it to justify I guess. In my town, the pizza/sub places also do fish & chips and seafood and many of the general "american" restaurants offer it too.

In New England, Seafood is such a big thing and its so much more than fish & chips, a fish & chips shop wouldn't do very well if they didn't offer fried clams, scallops and lobster rolls and chowda, etc.


I'm in Maine so it sounds very similiar to where you are, plenty of fish & chips, heck I just had some the other day (haddock)







:. That said, the places that sell fish & chips do sell other things, I suspect it would be hard to only sell fish & chips with nothing else.


----------



## shayinme (Jan 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wannabe* 

I thought "from scratch" meant real food and "home made" meant I opened the packet myself.


I like your definitions, in my house home-made means I made it, even if I used convenience items, scratch means no convenience. The reality is for most American households, most folks don't cook a great deal hence why you have things like those pre-made freezer crockpot meals where all you have to do is add water and throw in the crockpot.


----------



## BeckC (Nov 27, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mightymoo* 
Geez, its not like we don't have fish and chips here, its just that they aren't their own little fish and chips shops - we don't eat enough of it to justify I guess. In my town, the pizza/sub places also do fish & chips and seafood and many of the general "american" restaurants offer it too.

In New England, Seafood is such a big thing and its so much more than fish & chips, a fish & chips shop wouldn't do very well if they didn't offer fried clams, scallops and lobster rolls and chowda, etc.


I was just about to post this.

I'm guessing it's because I grew up on the coast in New England, but we had a bunch of takeaway seafood restaurants. You drive (or walk) up to the counter. You can't go inside, but sometimes they have picnic tables outside. Sometimes you just eat in your car. You can get fish n chips, clam cakes, chowder, crab meat sandwiches, lobster rolls... Sometimes places branch out and serve hot dogs and ice cream too.


----------



## BetsyS (Nov 8, 2004)

I live in the southeast. THe closest we come to fish and chips is Captain D's.









We do have "fish camps". They are getting harder to find, but basically, a very basic restaurant out in the middle of nowhere (on a lake or river usually) that serves, well, fish. The menu is usually fried catfish, fried pickles, french fries, hushpuppies, and sometimes cheese grits. With lots of onion, pickles, and lemon on the side. Yum. I have fond memories of going to fish camp with my grandparents.


----------



## odenata (Feb 1, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BeckC* 
I was just about to post this.

I'm guessing it's because I grew up on the coast in New England, but we had a bunch of takeaway seafood restaurants. You drive (or walk) up to the counter. You can't go inside, but sometimes they have picnic tables outside. Sometimes you just eat in your car. You can get fish n chips, clam cakes, chowder, crab meat sandwiches, lobster rolls... Sometimes places branch out and serve hot dogs and ice cream too.

In Seattle, too, we have great little places like this. Fish and chips, or shrimp and chips, among other seafood things, right next to the harbor. Love going to them.

As far as the other thing goes, I make most of our food from scratch, but I don't shun convenience items, either. Some nights I want something easy and quick, and don't mind doing something "semi-homemade" (as the infamous Sandra Lee says








).

I had no idea you could buy roux, though. That's amazing. Makes me think of the time my dad went into a store and asked where they kept the meringue.


----------



## olehippy (Feb 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Canadianmommax3* 
yeah i tried to make hot chocolate like this for the kids once. Uh tasted kind of gross and the kids weren't impressed!

Here is how you make really good homemade hot chocolate. My kids are able to make this so I know any adult can.

Single serving (micro)

2 T sugar
2 -3 t cocoa powder
dash salt
1 c milk
1/4 t vanilla extract

Mix dry ingred in your mug. Heat milk in the micro until hot. Gradually add milk to cocoa mixture; stir well. Stir in vanilla.

Six servings

1/2 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
dash salt
1/3 c hot water
4 c milk
3/4 t vanilla

Mix dry ingred and stir in water. Cook until it boils and then cook 2 minutes. Stir in milk and heat. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

So so much better tasting than any packaged stuff. If you follow the simple directions you will not have the floatly gross messes you guys have described.


----------



## olehippy (Feb 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *BetsyS* 
I live in the southeast. THe closest we come to fish and chips is Captain D's.










We do have "fish camps". They are getting harder to find, but basically, a very basic restaurant out in the middle of nowhere (on a lake or river usually) that serves, well, fish. The menu is usually fried catfish, fried pickles, french fries, hushpuppies, and sometimes cheese grits. With lots of onion, pickles, and lemon on the side. Yum. I have fond memories of going to fish camp with my grandparents.

Sounds like the places we have here in central Florida where I grew up. Lots and lots of fish camps.


----------



## phatchristy (Jul 6, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 

Am I the only person with a whisk whose pantry contains normal ingredients? Flour, sugar, cocoa and the like? Am I the only person who considers it a tad _insane_ to mix canned pumpkin pie filling with premixed pumpkin pie spice, pour it into a bought pastry shell, serve it with more whipped topping and call it a homemade dessert? The only person who sees a recipe calling for 'one package cream cheese frosting' and wants to slap the writer of said recipe upside the head? Crescent roll dough, biscuits sold in rolls, almond bark, butter essence... my world doesn't _have_ those things. More to the point, my _supermarket_ doesn't.


I live in the US and make things from scratch







. There are other websites, like the foodtv.com or epicurious.com...maybe you'll have better luck there!


----------



## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wonderwahine* 
do you mean the new one or the old one? I only use my mums old one







:

the one with the advice to never use preserved eggs for a sponge!

Unfortunately my mum still has hers. Mine is from reprint #41. It has an "international dishes" section. Moussaka (Greece) and Tacos (Mexico), for example.


----------



## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

that one would be one of the new versions. my mums one is from the 70s and has my grandmas recipies writen in spaces


----------



## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

what are you people talking about? We do have mars bars in America. And we do have fish and chips, we just don't have shops dedicated to that. I get mine at the Irish pub.


----------



## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

nevermind, I finally realized the purpose of the thread.

Go on without me.


----------



## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2 in August* 
Dare I ask what chicken salt is?

The best thing to put on french fries!

My dad is coming over from Australia this summer, and so far my "wish list" includes - A bottle of Bundy, Tim Tams, chicken salt, and Vegimite.


----------



## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Arduinna* 
what are you people talking about? We do have mars bars in America. And we do have fish and chips, we just don't have shops dedicated to that. I get mine at the Irish pub.

you may have "mars" bars but you dont have mars bars.


----------



## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *North_Of_60* 
The best thing to put on french fries!

My dad is coming over from Australia this summer, and so far my "wish list" includes - A bottle of Bundy, Tim Tams, chicken salt, and Vegimite.









bundy, you mean some bunderberg ginger beer?? you can pick up 6 packs at world market stores









I craved them something awful in my pregnancy and found them.


----------



## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wonderwahine* 
bundy, you mean some bunderberg ginger beer?? you can pick up 6 packs at world market stores









I craved them something awful in my pregnancy and found them.

No! A bottle of Bundaburg RUM. Bundy and coke. Yum.


----------



## Canadianmommax3 (Mar 6, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *olehippy* 
Here is how you make really good homemade hot chocolate. My kids are able to make this so I know any adult can.

Single serving (micro)

2 T sugar
2 -3 t cocoa powder
dash salt
1 c milk
1/4 t vanilla extract

Mix dry ingred in your mug. Heat milk in the micro until hot. Gradually add milk to cocoa mixture; stir well. Stir in vanilla.

Six servings

1/2 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
dash salt
1/3 c hot water
4 c milk
3/4 t vanilla

Mix dry ingred and stir in water. Cook until it boils and then cook 2 minutes. Stir in milk and heat. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

So so much better tasting than any packaged stuff. If you follow the simple directions you will not have the floatly gross messes you guys have described.

aww thanks i will give it a try!


----------



## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *North_Of_60* 
No! A bottle of Bundaburg RUM. Bundy and coke. Yum.

ah the hard stuff


----------



## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wonderwahine* 
ah the hard stuff


----------



## journeymom (Apr 2, 2002)

No fish and chips in the US??? Sorry, can't let that slide. And, yes, I skipped seven pages to post this.

http://vme.net/svm/tugboat/

We love this place. Maybe it's not some guy's little cart on the side walk, but it's still really tasty.


----------



## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

nah thats not real fish and chips, thats fried seafood, its americanised.

theres no hamburgers, no pinnapple fritters, no crab sticks, no spring rolls, no chicken nuggets, no kumara chips, no chinese resturaunt attached to it







:


----------



## ColoradoMama (Nov 22, 2001)

This thread is great!









I used to be a scratch cook and baker. Then we had to go gluten free! I'm still a scratch cook, but I'm having to completely relearn baking. I used to bake everything from scratch - pizza dough, cakes, cookies, bread... I'm slowly learning to bake again from scratch, but I still haven't found a bread or pizza dough mix I can do from scratch, so alas, it's pre-packaged for me.

Thank you DarkHorseMama for the chocolate cookies recipes that is also *gasp* gluten free! You rock!!!


----------



## MidnightCommando (May 31, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *North_Of_60* 
No! A bottle of Bundaburg RUM. Bundy and coke. Yum.

Good god - this brought me right back to my semester abroad in Oz. I'm feeling a bit queasy all of a sudden







Bundaberg is downright evil

I miss the chicken salt and Tooheys old. I'd kill for an Old right about now









Do you guys have Ranch dressing yet? I had my parents send it over when I was there (as did many of the American students) It was worth more than gold to us.


----------



## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

oh and how could I forget, theres no donuts!! (not american donuts, big oval yeast donut blobs with cinnamon sugar on them) and no milkshakes and thickshakes made with french vanilla ice cream and the fun syrup flavours...... yummmmmmmm a rum milkshake!!!

and wheres the dairy and candy store attached to it? I gotta buy my fish and chips and a $1 mix!


----------



## sadean (Nov 20, 2001)

Y'all are really funny. I have enjoyed this immensely.

I was out driving around yesterday and I saw a eat-in/ take-out fish restarant and it reminded me of this thread. I think it was called The Fish Shack. I wanted to take a picture and post it (we really do have fish places!!!), but I was in the wrong lane. I doubt they serve the fish in newsprint paper and they probably sell other things like seafood, hush puppies and fries/chips, but it is safe to say that if anyone ventures to my neck of the woods in SW Michigan, you will find at least one fish store.

To bad it is on the other side of town from where I live...cannot walk there...

ETA: Oh, and I have seen something that I think is "chicken salt" (they don't call it that, but that is basically what it is), but I have never tasted it.

As for the "from scratch" vs. "homemade", I honestly do both. I have all the staples for scratch cooking (flour, sugar, cocoa, eggs, milk, butter, etc.), but I also buy store bread, jarred spagetti sauce and sometimes Indian curry sauces. I can make all from scratch, but they don't always taste better and they take a heck of a lot more time.

I have to say that scratch cake is way better than boxed cake though.

And The Joy of Cooking (2000ish ed.) is a great basic cookbook.


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## Benji'sMom (Sep 14, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wonderwahine* 
bundy, you mean some bunderberg ginger beer?? you can pick up 6 packs at world market stores









I craved them something awful in my pregnancy and found them.

Oh I love World Market! Last time I was in London I discovered the yummy-ness that is the Aero Bar and thank God I found it at World Market when I came back to the US! Oh, Aero Bar, I love you!!!!







: Hurray for imports!!!


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## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MidnightCommando* 
Good god - this brought me right back to my semester abroad in Oz. I'm feeling a bit queasy all of a sudden







Bundaberg is downright evil

I used to think it tasted like going to the dentist, but I love it now.


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## FancyD (Apr 22, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
i think i would rather have a tim tam or iced vovo thanks.

Oh, god, I love tim tams.







And mars bars







And Flakes







And penguins







And Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps


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## skybluepink02 (Nov 9, 2005)

There's a great english pub here in Atlanta that my English dad agrees is pretty passable. (Huge compliment from him). When we used to spend summers with my granny in England, we would eat fish and chips EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Oh I miss it. I've got to drag hubby back to visit this summer.


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## FancyD (Apr 22, 2005)

Oh my. And Pims. And Jam Jams. Y'all are evil.


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## talk de jour (Apr 21, 2005)

at "pet milk?!?!"


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## battymama (Jan 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *North_Of_60* 
The best thing to put on french fries!

My dad is coming over from Australia this summer, and so far my "wish list" includes - A bottle of Bundy, Tim Tams, chicken salt, and Vegimite.









Dont forget your iced vovos, mmm pink bliss. Do you have Milo in America? You have to have the tim tams with hot Milo, bite a corner off two corners across the diagonal and suck it through like a straw, yum!

Make sure your Dad gets the anchor brand "chippy" chicken salt. Its the best, there are too many imitations these days, they just aren't the same.

I sound like i am obsessed with chicken salt or something, it is just so damned good.







: i am craving fish and chips sooo bad right now, i think i know whats for tea tomorrow, we have some tasty organic barra growing in the back yard. mmm fish and chips







:


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## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
Dont forget your iced vovos, mmm pink bliss. Do you have Milo in America? You have to have the tim tams with hot Milo, bite a corner off two corners across the diagonal and suck it through like a straw, yum!

Make sure your Dad gets the anchor brand "chippy" chicken salt. Its the best, there are too many imitations these days, they just aren't the same.

I sound like i am obsessed with chicken salt or something, it is just so damned good.







: i am craving fish and chips sooo bad right now, i think i know whats for tea tomorrow, we have some tasty organic barra growing in the back yard. mmm fish and chips







:

they sell milo in the mexican area, and at world market







that way i dont have to get mum to send it to me. I love the straw trick.

now i miss hundreds and thousand cookies and iced animals!!


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## battymama (Jan 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wonderwahine* 
now i miss hundreds and thousand cookies and iced animals!!

I used to steal these and hide them in my drawer for later, i could never work out why they went soggy and gross, then my mum found my stash, and that ended pretty quickly, i actually did have ants in my pants. But even better are tick tocks, seriously addictive, clock shaped bickies covered in hard icing that tastes like pink.


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## mouso (Feb 8, 2007)

All you posters with fish and chips in America:

Are they real chips? Are they what we Americans call "fresh cut" fries made out of potatoes that were just cut and fried up? You know, that are soft and chewy and crispy all at the same time?
Or are they what passes for fries here (frozen)?
There's a HUGE difference. And if it's the former you are way lucky...drooooolllll....


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## superstella (Aug 25, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
I used to steal these and hide them in my drawer for later, i could never work out why they went soggy and gross, then my mum found my stash, and that ended pretty quickly, i actually did have ants in my pants. But even better are tick tocks, seriously addictive, clock shaped bickies covered in hard icing that tastes like pink.

What exactly does pink taste like? Similar at all to blue, or more like yellow?


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## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mouso* 
All you posters with fish and chips in America:

Are they real chips? Are they what we Americans call "fresh cut" fries made out of potatoes that were just cut and fried up? You know, that are soft and chewy and crispy all at the same time?
Or are they what passes for fries here (frozen)?
There's a HUGE difference. And if it's the former you are way lucky...drooooolllll....

depends on the shop, some make their own and some use frozen


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## stormborn (Dec 8, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
Dont forget your iced vovos, mmm pink bliss. :

Am I the only one who keeps reading this as iced vulvas?









Another weird one about packaged food...dh got these packets of "instant alfredo sauce" so I decided to use them up...the directions call for adding milk, butter, and cheese.







so what exactly did he pay for? A packet of flour?


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## ColoradoMama (Nov 22, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *stormborn* 
Am I the only one who keeps reading this as iced vulvas?









Another weird one about packaged food...dh got these packets of "instant alfredo sauce" so I decided to use them up...the directions call for adding milk, butter, and cheese.







so what exactly did he pay for? A packet of flour?









: Oh man that was funny. The whole thing.


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## mclisa (Jul 26, 2004)

I like collecting old church recipe books. When Dh's grandma died I asked for her old cookbooks. Those ladies back then could cook. some odd ball recipies, but for the most part quite tasty.


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## battymama (Jan 15, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *superstella* 
What exactly does pink taste like? Similar at all to blue, or more like yellow?

like a blend of white and red of course







I mean that flavor that pink puddings and sweets are, unlike anything else ever to of existed previously. its indescribable. Kind of disgusting and artificial, and yet you just cant stop eating it.


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## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
like a blend of white and red of course







I mean that flavor that pink puddings and sweets are, unlike anything else ever to of existed previously. its indescribable. Kind of disgusting and artificial, and yet you just cant stop eating it.

yeah, it tastes artifical, and like bubblegum almost........ have you ever had a pink jellybean? thats what pink tastes like


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## spughy (Jun 28, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blizzard_babe* 

But alas... Anchorage, for all its wonderful seafood, isn't as into fish fry as I'd like.









Ok, I know it's not exactly *close* but if you have to head out of Alaska by road, you do go through Whitehorse, and they have the best fish-and-chip wagon in the world there in the summers. It's usually parked by the old railway station, I think. And yes, he does REAL chips. Yummy ones.

And I am totally with y'all on the "stick with real ingredients" thing. You know any "chip" that isn't just a plain old chocolate chip is probably loaded with hydrogenated oil. Bleh. I got some TJ's trail mix that had peanut butter chips in it once and I was suspicious so I did some pretty intense detective work and found that yes, indeed, it was a peanut-flavoured trans-fat chip.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *olehippy* 
Here is how you make really good homemade hot chocolate. My kids are able to make this so I know any adult can.

Right... off I go. Wish me luck!

Is Sapphire_chan capable of cooking as well as olehippy mom's kids? Maybe!

Oh wait, I don't have anything but brownsugar in the house right now. Hmm... I bet that'd change things.

Thank you for your support, you can all go about your business now, nothing to see here.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lmonter* 
Although I do use bricks of cream cheese...

There's another way to get cream cheese? Are we supposed to be curdling our own cheeses for recipes now too?


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Oh god. Ticktocks. I want one NOOOOOOOOWWW

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mouso* 
All you posters with fish and chips in America:

Are they real chips? Are they what we Americans call "fresh cut" fries made out of potatoes that were just cut and fried up? You know, that are soft and chewy and crispy all at the same time?
Or are they what passes for fries here (frozen)?
There's a HUGE difference. And if it's the former you are way lucky...drooooolllll....

And without skanky bits of nasty potato peel on the end, either.


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## Ziggysmama (Dec 26, 2007)

When I was little, I used to think that "scratch" was an ingrediant. And when you made things from "scratch" if was making things from said ingrediant.
I used to look for it on the shelves of the supermarket








And I thought my mum and dad must be bad cooks because we never had any "scratch" in our pantry







lol

...off to the shop to get some tim-tams to go with my Milo now...Might grab some Jaffas while I'm out too...YUM!


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## cristeen (Jan 20, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
Oh wait, I don't have anything but brownsugar in the house right now. Hmm... I bet that'd change things.

That makes molasses milk... yum. That's a fave around here.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan* 
There's another way to get cream cheese? Are we supposed to be curdling our own cheeses for recipes now too?

I was wondering that too.

I did finally find someplace that makes their chips from scratch... well, there's a few places, but only one of which I would go out of my way for their chips, crispy/crunchy on the outside, smooth and fluffy on the inside.







Of course, it's an Irish pub. None of the American restaurants can seem to make chips worth a <expletive>.


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## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
Do you have Milo in America? You have to have the tim tams with hot Milo, bite a corner off two corners across the diagonal and suck it through like a straw, yum!

Oh milo! I forgot about that stuff. I haven't seen it here, so I'll add that my list.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *superstella* 
What exactly does pink taste like? Similar at all to blue, or more like yellow?









:


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## fhqwhgads (Oct 30, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *superstella* 
What exactly does pink taste like? Similar at all to blue, or more like yellow?

Pink tastes mostly sweet, a bit pleasantly tart, and a tad creamy. Well, baby pink, that is. Other shades have different tastes/smells. Hot violent pink smells sorta like when you open a new car air freshener all the way and it's so sweet and strong it makes your eyes sting.

I enjoy mild synesthesia


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## cee3 (Oct 24, 2005)

I haven't read all of this thread, so excuse me if this has already been posted....

For all of you people who are in the U.S. and craving Australian products, go here or here. You're welcome







.


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## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

also here


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## aussiemum (Dec 20, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ziggysmama* 
But I have yet to meet an American who like Marmite/Vegemite. I used to get all my friends when they came to my house to try it and watch their reaction. My partner can tolerate it now, but just barely

















Nice to 'meet' you.









I'm American born & I've loved both Marmite & Vegemite, although now I am a straight vegemite-on-toast eater.


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## DarkHorseMama (Mar 8, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *North_Of_60* 
Oh milo! I forgot about that stuff. I haven't seen it here, so I'll add that my list.

You can often find Milo in the Hispanic section of grocery stores...at least in my area you can.


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## North_Of_60 (May 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DarkHorseMama* 
You can often find Milo in the Hispanic section of grocery stores...at least in my area you can.









I probably would have seen it if it were in that section (a section I am always browsing!), but I'll look again. Worth a shot! Although, without the tim tams it might not be worth it.


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## DarkHorseMama (Mar 8, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *zipworth* 
WHAT is 'pet milk' ?????

It's explained (with a link) below the recipe on my original post.

_Although, I have to laugh that the recipe actually calls for "Pet" milk.







My grandmother still uses that term. http://petmilk.com/ You can use the "Pet" evaporated milk in a can or







just plain ol' milk like I do._


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## lisac77 (May 27, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *battymama* 
Dont forget your iced vovos, mmm pink bliss. Do you have Milo in America? You have to have the tim tams with hot Milo, bite a corner off two corners across the diagonal and suck it through like a straw, yum!

My sister introduced us to the so-called "Tim Tam Slam" when she got back from Australia after her first year of college.

I do cook a lot of stuff from scratch, BUT I also use the recipes that have prepackaged food in them. I find I like them both, but usually my "from scratch" roots come back and I start substituting fresh ingredients for prepackaged! For example, any time a recipe calls for "italian dressing" you do one of two things: use garlic fried in oil (so much tastier!!), or make your own vinaigrette dressing at home. Super easy and tasty!!


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## CallMeMommy (Jun 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ziggysmama* 
When I was little, I used to think that "scratch" was an ingrediant. And when you made things from "scratch" if was making things from said ingrediant.
I used to look for it on the shelves of the supermarket








And I thought my mum and dad must be bad cooks because we never had any "scratch" in our pantry







lol









: That's a running joke where I work - "Hey, I found Scratch at the grocery store this weekend and I made a cake with it!"


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## Laggie (Nov 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wonderwahine* 
nah thats not real fish and chips, thats fried seafood, its americanised.

theres no hamburgers, no pinnapple fritters, no crab sticks, no spring rolls, no chicken nuggets, no kumara chips, no chinese resturaunt attached to it








:

Well, I went by my local chinese food/Fish N Chips place on my way home yesterday after reading this thread. I couldn't help myself. The fish and chips was awesome and yes, it was wrapped in newspaper (the fries were even fresh cut with some skin). The Chinese newspaper! And I could have gotten spring rolls, chow mein, or thai curry to go with it. Plus, they deliver! The sign out front says "Fish N Chips" but the menu has a little bit of everything. Even sushi.


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## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

Laggie this is TOTALLY OT but re: your sig... humans have been around for about 4 million years







:

ok, I'm done being a geek now...









I'm really sorry I can't help myself







:


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## mntnmom (Sep 21, 2006)

: Sorry, that made me laugh SOOO hard. I'm a little more careful about where I get my recipes!! My grandmother would spin in her grave if I used some of those things!!!







:
They don't really make "fish and chips" per se in the States. We fry fish and potatoes, but usually you have to go to a restaurant to get them, so they're either on a plate or in one of those dreadful styrofoam "to go" boxes. I never saw anyone serve something in newspaper until I bought pommes frites in Germany.


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## Laggie (Nov 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Periwinkle* 
Laggie this is TOTALLY OT but re: your sig... humans have been around for about 4 million years







:

ok, I'm done being a geek now...









I'm really sorry I can't help myself







:

Um... it's a quote from an author. If I edited it, it would be incorrect. I guess it's a quandary. Maybe for the first 3 million years everyone had the same personality!

sorry, waaay OT. I'm always outta left field.


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## weliveintheforest (Sep 3, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wannabe* 
They don't have Mars Bars in America.

We have Mars Bars in Canada, and they don't have nuts, but they still aren't as good as the imported ones.
I haven't had fish and chips in newspaper since I was a little kid. White Spot serves it on fake newspaper


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ziggysmama* 

...off to the shop to get some tim-tams to go with my Milo now...Might grab some Jaffas while I'm out too...YUM!

evil evil evil woman.

You can get tim tams at world market, but no jaffas. Or jaffa cakes.







:


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## Storm Bride (Mar 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *weliveintheforest* 
We have Mars Bars in Canada, and they don't have nuts, but they still aren't as good as the imported ones.

The British Butcher in North Van used to sell a lot of imported chocolates. I found most of them to be better than the ones in Canada...although I still tend to like most Canadian versions better than their US counterparts. I only found out a few years ago that there was a difference.


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## *MamaJen* (Apr 24, 2007)

When I lived in NZ, my kiwi boyfriend was obsessed with cheese whiz -- you know, aerosol cheese in a can. I went home to the states for christmas and he begged and begged me to bring him a can.
I'd do all sorts of wicked things for a tim tam.


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## Ziggysmama (Dec 26, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wannabe* 
evil evil evil woman.

You can get tim tams at world market, but no jaffas. Or jaffa cakes.







:

What about GIANT Jaffas? My favourite! I used to get my Grandma to post them to me when I lived in America!!


----------

