Separated by a Common Language?
 

Sometimes, when I'm pootling about, I play with numbers in my head. Other times, language. And one of those language things is the UK/USA differences. We all know about the word differences and the strange pronunciations, and even the occasional grammar quirk, but it's so much more than that. I marvel at (and enjoy) how few things I would say the same way when talking to Brits or Americans. More often than not, there are several words that mean the same thing, and we all know all the meanings, but each country has a different word of preference. Rarely a sentence goes by that doesn't have something in it -and, I think, that's what marks us expats out as Brits (and Aussies) -as much as if not more than the accent- and is maybe why some Americans get confused between the two, when to us our accents couldn't be much more different. Maybe.

Anyway, I keep thinking I should share this with those of you who are interested in this sort of thing using real life examples (those who aren't please move on now, I'll take the "boring!" comments as read...)

(I'm betting the Americans will still be able to spot many Anglicisms in my writing -I haven't gotten ( ;) )to the native level of expertise yet! And I'm sure there will be regional differences in both countries, please don't take offence if I neglected yours, although I'd be very interested to hear about it)

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I just baked a birthday cake. My oven is electric, so I went over to the range (cooker) to turn it on to preheat. After checking there was nothing on the cooktop (hob/stove), I set it to 350F (Gas mark 5, something in centigrade). Then I went to wash my hands under the faucet (tap).

I may have been here 10 years and generally think in American, but I cook in British. So I got out my kitchen scales rather than my set of measuring cups to make sure I got the right amount of each ingredient.

I was making a sponge cake (like a heavier yellow cake), so I weighed the eggs first, then set them on one side. I weighed out the same amount of butter and of sugar (it would have been caster as opposed to granulated sugar if i was in the UK). Then I beat them together. No need to warm the butter because -being European- we keep the butter in use out of the fridge) Next, I added the eggs. I did take the eggs from the fridge, I would have done in the UK too, but interesting to note that in the UK, eggs are generally not refridgerated in the store (shop) -or weren't when I left on 2001, I don't know if other Brits refridgerate them at home or not. The eggs were actually brown, which is the norm to a Brit, but American eggs are more likely to be white. But we're not doing too badly here on the language differences.

I whisked in the eggs, being careful not to let the batter (mixture) curdle. Then I weighed out the same amount of self-rising flour (self-raising), it should be noted here that it is more the norm in the US to use general purpose (plain) flour and add baking powder. I added some cocoa powder to the flour, then sifted those onto the batter. I folded them in to prevent the air being beaten out again, added some semi-sweet chocolate chips (just chocolate chips to Brits) and then transferred the mixture to the cake pan (tin). The pan is a solid circle, not the bundt style that would be used for coffee cakes. (To Americans, a coffee cake is a cake designed to be eaten with coffee -more than likely cinammon or lemon flavo(u)red and drizzled with icing (which is the Brit term -would you merkins call that white drizzle icing, frosting, drizzle or something entirely different?)- to Brits, a coffee cake would generally be a cake flavored with coffee).

Well, the cake is now in the oven. When the pots are washed, it will be American-style, rinsed in hot water after the soap, and left to air dry. We used to do that in the UK too, but Brit visitors still don't rinse the soap off and want to dry them with a tea-towel (kitchen towel).

Newsflash! the cake is ready! When pressed lightly, It rebounds, it is no longer making a "clicking" noise, and when stuck with a toothpick (pricked with a cocktail stick) the stick comes away clean.

When the cake is cooled, I will fill it with chocolate buttercream -same weight of butter to powdered/confectioner's sugar (icing sugar), flavo(u)red with melted baker's unsweetened chocolate (cooking chocolate), and then it will be frosted (iced) it to look like a target with nerf darts in it. I will make the frosting with powdered sugar, food color (colour) and water.

The cake will be eaten with forks (only posh Brits use forks -and then they have special cake forks for the job) ....yup, for once the Brits are the ones who use their fingers and the Americans silverware/flatware (cutlery). :lol:

very interesting. Some comments:

--I would call the drizzle on coffee cake icing
--Brits. . . don't rinse the soap off pans?
--frosted layer cakes are too messy to eat with your fingers!

Yeah, I wanted to call it icing, but just wondered if that was the Brit in me fighting for recognition?

No, not in the main. The dishes really don't taste soapy -maybe the soap is different, but as someone who is allergic to soap, I've always rinsed, so i'm all American on that one. but go visit an American Expats in the UK board, and that's one of their major grumbles :lol:

British frosting is thinner on top, so less messy, and cakes are genrally a little more solid. But my family fancied themselves as posh, so I'm 50:50 on the fork thing. My MIL used to take the piss out of me back in the UK-for being posh and asking for a fork- but when she came over here and was the only one eating with fingers, we were all amused

Why are eggs measured instead of just counted and why is the cake making a "clicking" noise in the first place?

Eggs are all different sizes and hence volumes. It is actually more accurate to weigh all your ingredients. a packed cup of flour is significantly heavier than a loose cup.

A large egg is about 2 oz. volume, but ex large or Jumbo or medium throw your recipe off.

3 eggs is sort of meaningless when you compare 3 medium eggs to 3 jumbo eggs.

That is why sometimes in recipes, they call for small, medium, or large eggs.

The crazy thing is, so much of this stuff is regional even within the US. Just for example:

I would never say range or cooker, the thing as a whole and the inside part are both the oven, and the top burners are the stove. Also, I would wash my hands "in the sink," I wouldn't refer to the faucet at all.

To me, icing is the kind that is 1.) always white, and 2.) made with pure sugar and little else, so when it dries it is somewhat hard and can flake off. Frosting is the fluffy stuff that goes on cupcakes and can't be drizzled. But I would definitely never call any of it "drizzle," as that borders on obscene. :) And while I wouldn't be taken aback at a cinnamon-flavored coffee cake that didn't actually contain any coffee, I would scoff at a lemon cake being called coffee cake. That's always lemon cake. Also, we call it "food coloring," never just "food color."

But again, this is all just how it is down in Texas. It's totally different up north, as I'm sure you know.

My mother was European, but learned her English (and cooking) in the UK. Your recipe brought back a smile and fond childhod memories. She did use measuring cups as scales were not that easy to get here at the time. ;)

Forks for cake = posh :P

Or ... means you're eating out. Only times I eat cake with a fork (including gataeux) is at a party or in a cafe. Dad used to always eat cake with a fork, even at home. But it just wouldn't occur to me to use a fork at home.

I understand that when a chicken lays an egg, it has an unsightly coating on it that prevents bacteria from entering the semi-porous shell. So the egg will stay fresh without refrigeration. The egg producers have found that consumers like to buy clean looking eggs, so this coating is washed off. The egg can now spoil faster, and should be refrigerated.

Do American eggs look cleaner than you remember Brit eggs looking?

Ours sometimes have bit of gunk and feathers.

I think the clicking is bubbling -a sign that it's still slightly liquid and not done yet... I dunno, it was just a thing I was taught and I've found that it works. If you take it out before then, even if the stick is coming out clean, it might well be soggy in the middle

not really, once they'd started putting the "egg mark" on them. But they had much shorter sell by/use by dates

Most Brits, however, would use cooker, I think, and most Americans would not. I do find Americans have a greater range of terms for this appliance.

Yes, I would also say "in the sink" but if asked to specify which bit of the sink, to a Brit I'd say tap, to an American faucet.

I wonder if the coffee cake think is due to the Germanic influence up here?

Are they refrigerated at the supermarket, now?