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I actually love that we have different words for the same thing - how boring would it be if everywhere was the same!!  and how wonderful that we all keep these words despite tbe pressures of globilisation.  Viva la difference!

Originally Posted by: Cati

Chicken drumstick plus thigh sells in shops as Chicken Maryland, but now seems to be appearing in Australian published recipe books as chicken leg quarters.

I wonder if Australian books are trying to come into line with British ones? Or to make themselves more marketable overseas? When I moved to the UK I was a bit surprised to realise that no one knew what I meant by chicken Maryland as a cut and not a retro dish.

Here's one U.S. cook's list, put together to translate from U.K. cookbooks.

Originally Posted by: ellabee

Here's one U.S. cook's list, put together to translate from U.K. cookbooks.

Pretty good - they've been reading some seriously old cookbooks though! Patna and Carolina rice are outdated terms.

Originally Posted by: Foodycat

 

I wonder if Australian books are trying to come into line with British ones? Or to make themselves more marketable overseas? When I moved to the UK I was a bit surprised to realise that no one knew what I meant by chicken Maryland as a cut and not a retro dish.

I don't think Aus authors would concur with that view Foodycat! We've spent ages breaking that Anglo-bond!

Originally Posted by: debkellie

I don't think Aus authors would concur with that view Foodycat! We've spent ages breaking that Anglo-bond!

Come into line with UK cookbooks for the sake of marketability, I meant. In terms of food and culture, Australia has definitely broken away; there is an identifiably different style. But why settle for a market of 20 million people when you could sell your cookbooks to a market 3 times the size? The UK laps up the idyllic Australian lifestyle - using very Australian-specific terms in cookbooks is alienating a huge audience.

I worked on a cookbook shoot last year, and one of the things in the brief was making it internationally marketable - the author wasn't allowed to use very UK specific references, because they were planning to sell it in the US with the fewest possible changes to the text.

Originally Posted by: Barb_N

Another ingredient I have never heard of (in an Annabell Langbein recipe) 'land cress'. I assume this is to contrast it to watercress but what I turned up on google did not enlighten me.

I've never heard of it either! Is this more helpful https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/land-cress ?

Might "land cress" be what country people in Appalachia (here) call "creasy greens" -- referred to also as "early winter cress".

The botanical name is Barbarea verna.  There are other edible Barbarea species, but they're not as mild as creasy greens.

But I'm probably off-base, since Annabel Langbein is Australian, and I have no idea if the plant is that widespread.

I grow land cress in my vegetable plot as  winter salad leaves, it is the Latin named Barbarea verna. I used some today and once you have it, it grows like a weed! This is in the temperate, wet West of England so similar climate to New Zealand where Annabel Langbein is based. It's not a succulent or tasty as watercress but is a good substitute. The seeds are readily available in the UK.

What always trips me up is beef cuts and sometimes pork cuts.  And this is for regional words in the US.  For example, in California it's always NY steak.  I think it's called strip steak in the East.  And in Japan, it's called sirloin (not the same sirloin as in Ca).  Also, hard to find the exact cuts sometimes too. 

Originally Posted by: hillsboroks

As I was reading Darcie's post for this week's featured cookbooks and recipes I once again found myself puzzling over the UK Australian use of the term "slice". After perusing the recipes I finally decided that what we call "bar"cookies in the US are called "slices" elsewhere. Is this correct? I used to assume that when I saw a recipe for some sort of slice that it was a type of cake, maybe like banana bread, but now I think I was wrong. Has this confused anyone besides me?

Slices are bar cookies, or what in the UK are sometimes called traybakes.

Cati I've found that the terms used for indexing sway towards American terminology too - there is NO WAY a slice is a dessert, but Americans seem to think cookies are desserts too. It makes it harder for non-Americans to use this site I think, but I guess they make most of their money out of the US so they go with their terms too.

I'm just curious; what are cookies if not a dessert? 

ETA:  Light just dawned.  They're an afternoon tea item to you all, eh?  Can't they be both, especially if an Australian cookbook specifies them as for tea?

The debate about "slices/bars/cookies" just goes to demonstrate how much of a global village we now are... "dessert" is just a course served after the main event .. excepting of course, the plethora of "dessert specialist" cafes & restaurants that have popped up over the last 15 years...

As that marvellous research tool (google) demonstrates the word "dessert" originated from the French word desservir "to clean the table" and the negative of the Latin word servire; "Cookie" originally derived from the Dutch word koekje meaning little cake...

Afternoon tea/dessert seem appropriate for cookies, bars, and slices..

And of course, some dessert items can also be breakfast items!

The "rules" of EYBs indexing allow for some consistency when "coding" is being done internationally, usually based on training whilst a member indexer.. and yes Sydney does a marvellous job of making sure we get it as right as possible as we learn the coding manual!! And Deborah keeps us on track/target in pro-indexing.

True it is that consistency amongst coders isn't always demonstrated -  it might depend on the rules that applied at the time the item was originally coded,  how much attention is paid to reading the blurb around recipes/chapters in the  book/magazine/blog, & how much attention is paid to proof-reading.

But it's a fun way to reconnect with books and magazines that may have lain dormant for a while!!