What are biscuits?

thanks Jim.... the drift over there was piling higher than the door.

Initially posted in the other thread...but moved to this one:

thechattyhunter;676870 wrote:

haha! i read somewere that a jaffa cake is misleading. the difference between a cake and a biscuit is a biscuit should crumble, also you can dip it in tea. there was some reason that they benefitted in calling it a cake and got away with it but ive lost myself somehow...:eyebrow: ah yes thats it! biscuits uneaten go soft, cakes uneaten go hard, what happens to an old jaffa cake then, ive never left one long enough to see!

It was to do with VAT regulations. VAT is charged on chocolate covered biscuits but not on plain biscuits or cakes.

McVitie insisted that each Jaffa Cake was a small cake and therefore shouldn't carry VAT. They went to court over it and successfully proved their case by making a giant jaffa cake and showing that when you make it to a larger size it is the shape and texture of a cake.

Imagine that....a massive Jaffa Cake....mmmm...orangey bit...mmmm


Here's a news article from the Daily[Hate]Mail, on the state of the British Biscuit. Apparently British biscuit buying habits are changing and we are in danger of losing our biscuity identity. For shame! Shame!

Damn you Americans with your rich, crumbly cookies. And you Belgians with your gourmet biscuits. You're all corrupting us away from the good old British 'plain' biscuit.


Long live the Digestive, I say! All Hail the Rich Tea! And raise a pint one and all, to the Garibaldi.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1302746/The-Bourbon-100--British-biscuits-losing-American-style-cookies.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

That was it Danac! spot on i think i heard about this on QI but your answer was the best! il raise a pint (tea of course) to the near extinct humbling crumbling biccie. i think they slowly sneakily evolved from a biscuit of which you could eat many, to a biscuit bar, to a weird hybrid cakey thing. id have a go at a large jaffa though and do the full moon half moon eclipse trick:3eye:

*grins*

Full Moon...

*chomp*

Half Moon...

*chomp*

Total Eclipse!

ah fuck, garibaldis with butter on. So good and yet sooooo bad......

The kind of look like a homemade pop tart. I do not like pop tarts but I bet I'd like those.

Rhianne;676876 wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Cakes

those look like black and white cookies.

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/01/30/slashfood-bowl-new-yorks-black-and-white-cookie/

A biscuit in France is what english people call a "French Butter Cookie".



It is also the answer to the following question : "What's hard and dry when it gets in and soft and wet when it gets out ?"

In the contemporary jargon of Philosophy, a biscuit is to a person's soul what an Easter egg is to a software program. It's a hidden message that manifests itself as what most people refer to as "a calling." A calling to rebel against the status quo is referred to as a tea biscuit disposition, a calling to embrace all mankind is a French biscuit, and a calling to help other creatures is a dog biscuit ... etc.

Yes.

LJ, it has to be a neenish tart.

Something to carry the lovely fried chicken to your mouth for breakfast. Mmmmmm.

Squirrel - what IS that? Looks like a wafer.

Jim & Jinx are best placed to discuss all biscuit related questions, having had Tim Tams from Ducks (I got mine from Ali - nicer than Penguins), a couple of well known brands from me and of course the Merkin version from... well, themselves.

Clod also knows the British version, as she had a selection pack. Sent before I truly realised that so many ingredients were akin to poison in her house :(

As always, I'm willing to send a biscuit sample to any auld sod who asks.
If you can get hold of the A Nice Cup of Tea and A Sit Down book (Clod has a copy!) then you'll be asking with far greater understanding. But then their website stands on its own as an amusing read.

Just on the subject of international misunderstanding, I've been looking up slow-roasted pork recipes online for this Sunday, and I came across an American YouTube clip. I had my doubts about following his recipe anyway, simply because I'd have to translate measurements and temps, and then he introduced the Worcestershire Sauce. Worr-Sha-Sha. Haggis. To be fair, he did say, "I don't know if I'm saying that right" and after all I know plenty of people who get jalapeno and tortilla wrong. But Worr-Sha-Sha just sent me off into giggles.

I'm sure Dwellars know it's Woosta-sha (or usually just Wooster, as in Jeeves and). But I thought I'd put it here so you can pretend, if you didn't.

A biscuit is an improperly cooked donut!

I say whuh-stah-sher. Not very often though because it's nasty shite.

jinx;676997 wrote:

I say whuh-stah-sher. Not very often though because it's nasty shite.

Same here....on both accounts

Giving leeway for accent whuh-stah-sher is totally acceptable.

So what kind of pork are you making SG? A 'pulled pork' shoulder/butt or a roast or..?

We'd call it slow roasted bone-in shoulder if we were being specific. Really, it just counts as roast pork.
I think you'd call it pulled pork because the idea is the slow roasting means it doesn't need to be carved (sliced) but literally falls apart under a fork.

I'm trying to do an English version of the Italian pork dish we had the other week (stinco arrosto) but that's shin-bone and more heavily salted - more research attests that it is technically a ham bone.

I've settled on a Jamie Oliver recipe because it includes crackling (hard skin) and Dad loves that. It's really simple too.
ETA - recipe

squirell nutkin;676981 wrote:

You Beech, you. :haha:

xoxoxoBruce;677050 wrote:

You Beech, you. :haha:

I usually end up making an ash of myself...

i think fox do the best biscuits! cant beat em! i wonder what the snob of the biscuit world is?

Had time to find a picture. Now I want one!

bbro;677061 wrote:

Had time to find a picture. Now I want one!

Looks tasty bbro. Where's it from?

Sundae Girl;676993 wrote:

Squirrel - what IS that? Looks like a wafer.

those are wood 'biscuits', Sundae. They're used for joining two pieces of wood edge on.

'memba that song with "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrubbah Biscuits!" in it?

'memba that?

thechattyhunter;677057 wrote:

i think fox do the best biscuits! cant beat em! i wonder what the snob of the biscuit world is?

nuh-huh! McVities all the way, baby.

GunMaster357;676953 wrote:

A biscuit in France is what english people call a "French Butter Cookie".



It is also the answer to the following question : "What's hard and dry when it gets in and soft and wet when it gets out ?"

English people? Not this one. I never called anything a cookie until i moved to this linguistically-confused land.

bbro;676970 wrote:

Something to carry the lovely fried chicken to your mouth for breakfast. Mmmmmm.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Biscuits must be sweet-with SAO biscuits being the only exception.....(hmmmm, just waiting for the exceptions to the rule to come in now).

Pete Zicato;677064 wrote:

Looks tasty bbro. Where's it from?

Bojangles! Locations in the south only I believe

casimendocina wrote:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Biscuits must be sweet-with SAO biscuits being the only exception.....(hmmmm, just waiting for the exceptions to the rule to come in now).

I have no idea what SAO biscuits are, but a quick google search indicates they re like cookies. I am talking about good old southern biscuits.

Sundae Girl wrote:

Clod also knows the British version, as she had a selection pack. Sent before I truly realised that so many ingredients were akin to poison in her house

No worries, I had no idea at the time either.

jinx wrote:

I say whuh-stah-sher. Not very often though because it's nasty shite.

No wai! I could drink Lea & Perrin's straight from the bottle.

bbro;677061 wrote:

Had time to find a picture. Now I want one!

This looks more like a scone (I think there's a discussion here about those, I'm sure Jim'll find it!).

Pursue "the gay Sally Lunn" -- baked by an all-lesbian bakery. Just the thing for high tea. Not at all a biscuit, but baked goods, so work with me here...

Is there a low tea? Do you have to go to the East End to find it, somewhere within the sound of Bow Bells?

Sally Lunn. Possibly. There is illuminating discussion sketching out the Sally Lunn Problem.

Another Sally Lunn

Somewhere (like the second recipe, sort of) one may find the serving suggestion of dishing it up with whipped cream, as in its cakey form it is somewhat dry, moderately sweet, and needs all the moistening the whipped cream on top could give it. They'd probably serve it with sliced strawberries and kiwis around here.