The Elsmar Cove Coffee Shop

[AndyN]

Jane - you've just described all my favourites - just had a really nice Shepherd's Pie this evening for dinner (made with real Shepherd, btw!!):mg:

Your comment about good food vs bad food is universal isn't it? Nothing really to do with just us Brits - I've tasted some pretty nasty food in many countries. We aren't known for a lot of herbs, perhaps (spices, yes!) or other 'culinary fandangos' - we do solid, flavorful, robust dinners, puddings, cakes etc.

Maybe we can 'share' Christmas cake and pud recipes sometime?

 

[JaneB]

Jane - you've just described all my favourites - just had a really nice Shepherd's Pie this evening for dinner (made with real Shepherd, btw!!)

Well of course, is there any other kind? Hope you remembered to take the hat & shoes out before mincing, though, as the bits do get stuck in the teeth if you don't.

Your comment about good food vs bad food is universal isn't it? Nothing really to do with just us Brits - I've tasted some pretty nasty food in many countries.

Yes, absolutely - I've had food in the USA which was wonderful... and some that was distinctly not. And ditto just about any other country you care to mention. Last year in Italy I had some meals I still turn misty around the edges remembering... one in a famed restaurant in Tuscany sitting on an open portico under grapevines, looking out over rolling olive groves to a house once owned by one of the Borgia family, and food that was quite simply, exquisite. I remember a pheasant primo, a baccala 'salad' with creamy soft polenta... words don't do justice. But then in Siena I had one of the worst tiramisu and toughest veal ever.

Maybe we can 'share' Christmas cake and pud recipes sometime?

Christmas cake I'm not your woman - not my taste. But Christmas pudding - sure. I made my first ever last Christmas - my mother used to make them before that or my sister in law - and it was wonderful. We have a tradition of serving ours with brandy butter AND almond sauce (a white bechamel flavoured with almonds) - quite decadent but divine, and only once a year. I gather the almond sauce is quite unusual, after some correspondence with a chappy here who runs a site dedicate to Christmas pud. I'll look it up & post it when I can. Lunch calls!

 

[tyker]

I may be about to upset a few Americans here.

I like breakfast and, over the years, I've had some good, and bad, breakfasts in various parts of the world.

The steak, apparently made from an old tyre, in Russia was disappointing.

Fish and salad came as a surprise in Israel but I enjoyed it.

The caviar I spread on my bread roll in Sweden thinking it to be blackcurrant jam was more of a shock but I recovered and later had a great lunch.

On my first trip to the USA, curiosity got the better of me and I ordered a "short stack" not knowing what was to come. I'd have preferred no maple syrup on the fried egg but I'm a better man for the experience.

I grew to enjoy the fresh fruit and huge, cheap, fixed price, all you can eat breakfasts in sundry American diners. I liked the loud, affable people and thought to myself what a wonderful country this is.

And then I was served a plate of road surfacing material cooked in used engine oil.

Just what is a "grit" and how on earth did it come to be considered edible?

 

[Stijloor]

I may be about to upset a few Americans here.

<snip>Just what is a "grit" and how on earth did it come to be considered edible?

Tyker, my friend...you do not upset a few Americans....you may upset a few SOUTHERNERS!
Grits are a Southern delicacy... You just have to learn to appreciate this very wholesome and healthy breakfast staple..

Here it is: Grits.

Some more intelligent information about grits.

Enjoy, and come back to see us....

Stijloor.

 

[smryan]

Here we are entering the world of truly great food.

I never really understood why my North American friends never fully embraced that other classic English pudding "Spotted Dick". It's truly delicious but they always seemed to have difficulty swallowing it.

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

The suet base would certainly gag me! My father-in-law made a habit of things like pickled pigs feet, souse, tripe and other visually unappealing items. On the other hand when in Thailand I had some foods that would certainly never make it here in Vermont. Its interesting how culture can so affect our tastebuds!

 

[AndyN]

Tyker, my friend...you do not upset a few Americans....you may upset a few SOUTHERNERS!
Grits are a Southern delicacy... You just have to learn to appreciate this very wholesome and healthy breakfast staple..

Here it is: Grits.

Some more intelligent information about grits.

Enjoy, and come back to see us....

Stijloor.

Jan:
Thanks for that interesting insight! After more than 16 years in the USA, I can say I still haven't tried grits - I'm an oatmeal kind of person! But your research has confirmed for me that I really haven't missed out on this 'delicacy' (?)!!!!

It seems from the disertation on the manufacturing process that grits is simply another form of wall paper paste and of very little nutritional value - and is served simpy to 'fill you up' until the next meal (hopefully not another bowl of the stuff!)

I, like Tyker, have enjoyed the delights of a 'short stack', eggs more ways than I'd previously heard of and bagels.........mmmmmm, bagels!

One question I do have for my 'true grit' American friends, tho;

Where's the real bacon? The stuff served in diners and available in the meat section of the grocery store has almost zero meat on it and all fat! Now, I know my bacon, so what's happening to all the cuts of the pig that does have meat (and very little fat)???? Oh, and I don't mean that stuff they call 'Canadian bacon'.....

 

[AndyN]

The suet base would certainly gag me!

If the pudding's made correctly, you'd never know there was any suet in it! And, after all, it's simply another form of animal fat, akin to cream (or cream products butter, cheese), bacon dripping etc. that many people relish in other cooking.....

 

[Craig H.]

Jan:
Thanks for that interesting insight! After more than 16 years in the USA, I can say I still haven't tried grits - I'm an oatmeal kind of person! But your research has confirmed for me that I really haven't missed out on this 'delicacy' (?)!!!!

It seems from the disertation on the manufacturing process that grits is simply another form of wall paper paste and of very little nutritional value - and is served simpy to 'fill you up' until the next meal (hopefully not another bowl of the stuff!)

I, like Tyker, have enjoyed the delights of a 'short stack', eggs more ways than I'd previously heard of and bagels.........mmmmmm, bagels!

One question I do have for my 'true grit' American friends, tho;

Where's the real bacon? The stuff served in diners and available in the meat section of the grocery store has almost zero meat on it and all fat! Now, I know my bacon, so what's happening to all the cuts of the pig that does have meat (and very little fat)???? Oh, and I don't mean that stuff they call 'Canadian bacon'.....

Well, if cooked properly the bacon will lose most of it's fat, and should be crispy.

Being born in the north (Chicago) I do not quite have grits in my blood, but a bowl of cheese grits now and them is a real treat. Stay away, stay far away, from instant grits. Only the real thing will do. There is something about a crock pot full of cheese grits, especially with something like fried crappie (fish) or quail. Mmmmmmm.

I do wonder about maple syrup on eggs. I think someone's aim was a little off...

Finally, biscuits. No, not the "cookies" that Brits call a biscuit, I'm talking about the mixture of wheat, lard, etc. with a big slab of butter. Not good for the body, but does wonders for the soul.

D#mn, I was running late this morning and missed breakfast.

Unfortunately, in Michigan, you will likely be better off sticking with oatmeal.

 

[GStough]

Finally, biscuits. No, not the "cookies" that Brits call a biscuit, I'm talking about the mixture of wheat, lard, etc. with a big slab of butter. Not good for the body, but does wonders for the soul.

We call those "cat head" biscuits, Craig, because a good, I mean really good, cat head biscuit is as big as a cat's head. My mother made the very best cat head biscuits I've ever eaten...

 

[Stijloor]

We call those "cat head" biscuits, Craig. My mother made the very best cat head biscuits I've ever eaten...

"Cat head" biscuits...wow! I heard one of my Southern buddies talking about his Grandma's biscuits...and tears were coming into his eyes... That's how emotional he got... Memories... Southern food is almost like religion..

Stijloor.