Lasagna soup anyone? American recipes that just never sound quite right...

[MaryIsA]

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/lasagna-soup-2268968

Partly its all the low sodium chicken broth, half and half, sticks of butter - but very often its the actual recipes. Just a bit off?

In terms of baked goods...

I'm almost always disappointed by the scones you get in cafes in the UK - huge and floury. Here in the US they tend to be crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

But UK cakes are so much better. I miss coffee and walnut cake.

@MaryIsA

I think I may have only had bad biscuits - I really couldn't see the love. But they were from a buffet in Las Vegas I now recall, which we fell upon with a kind of madness from seeing all this food laid out.

We left the table about 30 minutes later feeling, sick, a bit sticky, and craving salad for the next few days. Had to skirt a couple of very drunk brides in the queue too - in full wedding dress.

You need to choose your Las Vegas buffet carefully. It's worth spending a bit more. For DD's 18th birthday we went to one we'd chosen really carefully - I think it was in the Cosmopolitan - and I could have just stayed there all day.

We had Korean BBQ that evening. Also spectacular.

My mother ordered Italian Chicken in a restaurant expecting it to be something like chicken in a tomato Herby sauce. When it arrived, it was half a chicken on top of a spaghetti Bolognese!

@Hadalifeonce

My mother ordered Italian Chicken in a restaurant expecting it to be something like chicken in a tomato Herby sauce. When it arrived, it was half a chicken on top of a spaghetti Bolognese!

If you ordered an Italian in my home state you'd get a sandwich that's heavy on the olives, pickles, garlic oil and salt and pepper.

@ZZTopGuitarSolo

Some foods done far better in the US than the UK IME...

Coleslaw
Scotch Eggs (I know... bizarre, but they're so good here)
Baked beans - I much prefer the US version especially the ones done fresh at bean bakes
Meatloaf with cheddar in the middle and bacon on the outside
Seafood - I've eaten so much amazing seafood in the US. Last night I had linguine with shrimp and lobster in a key lime sauce
Lobster - you can buy it freshly steamed at the supermarket really cheap
BBQ... oh my... DD and I got the 3-meat option the other night, with pulled pork, St Louis style ribs, and brisket. Also burnt ends.
Tacos especially fish tacos
Breakfast burritos
Cheesecake
Key Lime anything

Agree with almost all of that. Apart from Scotch eggs, had one once and never really felt I had to do that again.

Had spectacular seafood chowder in the States and amazing sourdough.

And BBQ - the States is the home of BBQ and pizza (sorry Italy, but when you want an Italian pizza that is lovely, but sometimes a good old American pizza is the biz).

ZZTopGuitarSolo
Would it also include the chicken?
My brother ordered a hot chicken sandwich, he wasn't impressed with the chicken sandwich covered in hot sauce which arrived.

Tesco sell corndogs

I had grits in Louisiana. In fact I had some of the best food of my life in roadside shacks throughout the deep South. I loved Grits with massive prawns and collard greens. Never tried boiled peanuts but they were popular!

I had amazing seafood and chowder in Maine and some fabulous salads/fruit and seafood in Florida.

I also had the worst donut ever from a gas station in New Hampshire, so bad I remember it 15 years on. I got sick of brioche bread being classed as normal bread, I hate cheese with everything and what the hell is that whipped butter spread thing they try to pass off as butter 🤢.

I love the pioneer woman because it's half disbelief and half yum. My DH cannot believe how American cooking shows literally shove everything in at one and most of it is pre packed shit.

I really miss traveling at the moment and can't wait to be back on a roadtrip in the US getting refills of hot coffee.

I cannot find a good ranch dressing in the UK.

@MaryIsA

I think I thought corndogs only existed in the Simpsons...not a real thing. But then I thought Turkish delight was a made up thing too.

@RubysArms yes, they are real. Just a hotdog on a stick, dipped in batter and fried. Really yummy.

I have found my people. I can't stand ingredient lists that require "brownie mix" and such like!

Mmmm but see also cheese dogs. Really sweet batter.

Oh and "Italian" food that no Italian would be able to identify, with ingredients no-one uses in Italy

@Hadalifeonce

ZZTopGuitarSolo Would it also include the chicken? My brother ordered a hot chicken sandwich, he wasn't impressed with the chicken sandwich covered in hot sauce which arrived.

It would depend where you ordered it, but if I ordered a hot chicken sandwich I'd expect fried chicken with some kind of sauce on it.

An Italian in Maine would typically have ham, cheese and veggies on it - if you asked for a Chicken Italian there's a good chance they'd sub out the ham for sliced chicken.

It really depends on where you are...

I'd read about peach cobbler in novels, but had never tasted it. Then the summer before last there must have been a peach glut in Spain because the supermarkets here had punnets of peaches for €1, which I don't remember happening before. So I used this recipe and it was honestly the most delicious thing ever. The peaches I was using were perfectly ripe and very sweet so I reduced the amount of sugar added to the peaches quite a bit. I made it several times that summer.

The hot chicken sandwich originated in Nashville Tennessee but it has spread over the US. And yes the hot means hot sauce.

@ZZTopGuitarSolo

In terms of baked goods...

I'm almost always disappointed by the scones you get in cafes in the UK - huge and floury. Here in the US they tend to be crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

But UK cakes are so much better. I miss coffee and walnut cake.

You’ve had bad scones. Come to my house 😊

Thank you - I do love a good scone. Cream then jam though

Which reminds me of something the UK does supremely well, anything tea related. Scones with jam and clotted cream. Afternoon tea. Ahhhh.

Can I chime in now with some British food oddities that boggled my brain when I first moved here?
beans with breakfast
beans on toast
coleslaw on a baked potato (I was wrong. It's perfection)
chip butties
meat pies
"paste" for sandwiches (this I still haven't tried)
suet puddings
mushy peas
jam sandwiches as an acceptable lunch
black pudding
pre-packed sandwiches in plastic triangle boxes
all the meaty and fishy flavoured crisps.

It's been a learning curve!! Enjoy quite a bit of the food on that list now though

That peach cobbler looks divine, @BlackAmericanoNoSugar. Will definitely try it.

This plum torte recipe from the NY Times is also a very good way to use summer fruits. And apparently it's one of their most searched for recipes on the site.

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/3783-original-plum-torte

I also read a tip that you should make four (or ten!) times the amount of batter, store it in the freezer in portions, and whack it out every time you have a fruit glut. Near instant cake.

@GalesThisMorning

Can I chime in now with some British food oddities that boggled my brain when I first moved here? beans with breakfast beans on toast coleslaw on a baked potato (I was wrong. It's perfection) chip butties meat pies "paste" for sandwiches (this I still haven't tried) suet puddings mushy peas jam sandwiches as an acceptable lunch black pudding pre-packed sandwiches in plastic triangle boxes all the meaty and fishy flavoured crisps.

It's been a learning curve!! Enjoy quite a bit of the food on that list now though

I’d advise against trying the sandwich paste (not envy)

I've never had sandwich paste. Why would you in the year 2021? Although I'm sure it was a delightful post-ration era treat in the 1950s

Black pudding is God tier food though. Irish is better than British though.

[quote sleepyhead]@terrywynne American pancakes are basically Scotch pancakes/drop scones, the difference being there's a raising agent as well as the flour/egg/milk.

Nigella has a good recipe: www.nigella.com/recipes/american-breakfast-pancakes

And I quite fancy making buttermilk pancakes - presumably like soda bread, the raising agent is the acid from the buttermilk + the bicarb: www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/buttermilk_pancakes_10390[/quote]
Thanks! I'll give that a go. Sadly no buttermilk so will have to stick to Nigella to start with

@SenecaFallsRedux, I can very occasionally get back cut bacon from my fancy local butchers (all organic, high welfare, extortionately expensive) but it's rare. I am curious what that cut of meat is used for instead in the US. Is it pork chops maybe?

@ZZTopGuitarSolo the buffet at the Cosmopolitan is fantastic. In fact all their restaurants are amazing. Now I'm missing Vegas!