US translation needed...

[SoupDragon]

Can anyone tell me what "all purpose flour" and "shortening" are in English??

shortening is some kind of fat (like suet) - use butter/marge or lard instead. All purpose flour I guess would be plain flour. HTH

and is "baking soda" bicarbonate of soda?

I had a feeling shortening was maybe lard.

Thanks!

"All purpose flour" is regular, white flour, and can be bleached or unbleached. "Shortening" is a solid vegtable fat. Crisco is a name brand shortening in the US. Ooh, What are you making?

We've just been to Florida on holiday and brought back a box of "Rumbley Grahams" which were cinnamon graham crackers (in the shape of winnie the pooh as it happens).

Having just polished the box off, I've found a cinnamon graham cracker recipe on the internet.

Forgot to say thanks!

In that case, I'd recommend the margarine as a substitute. We have lard here too but it only seems to be used for deep frying and in some Mexican style pastries which have a very crumbly texture. I think you are right about the bicarbonate of soda/baking soda. (At least that's what I tell myself as I peer at my UK-published copy of How To Be A Domestic Goddess....)

It is Bicarbonate of Soda - I found a translation table on the internet (after much searching!) but it didn't have shortening on it - useless!

Shortening is the same as "cookeen" is in the chiller cabinet in sainsburys beside the stork and stuff. I use it for pastry

What are grahams and where did the name come from? Why not nigels or ians?

And why did they change the name from cinnamon toast crunch to cinnamon grahams?

Yes, all-purpose is just plain white flour.

Baking soda-bicarbonate of soda, at least that's what the box in my pantry says

Shortening is the solid vegetable oil. Has the same consistancy as lard but creates a firmer finished product that doesn't flake or fall apart. If you can't find something like it, margarine is the best substitute as margarine is simply solid vegetable oils that are flavored to taste butter-like. Butter can be used to but it tends to spread a whole lot in baking and makes a very crunchy texture.

At least in the US, cinnamon toast crunch is a very sugary breakfast cereal, and cinnamon grahams are crackers...I think our crackers are the same as your biscuits? Anyway, the crunch and grahams have never been the same thing as far as I know.

Grahams are called that because they are cracker/cookies/biscuits made with graham flour.

I realize most of those questions have already been answered, but I love everything related to cooking and kitchen so I just had to throw in my two cents! (pence? I'm so out of it, but I just love this board)

Corbin, we now get Golden Grahams and Cinnamon Grahams as breakfast cereal here; I seem to remember from living over there that Graham crackers are a bit like our digestive biscuits (wheatmeal cookies???) - have I got that right?

But what is graham flour, exactly, please?

(I can do some English/US translation too so between the lot of us we should be able to work it all out!)

Glee, I gather you are in the US too, which part are you in and are you American or British originally?

Digestive biscuits are the closest UK equivalent of graham crackers but they're not exactly the same. The cinnamon ones I've just had were a much firmer texture to a digestive (exhaustive research!)

I was wondering about the graham flour too - seems to be just "ground whole wheat" according to Google. (as opposed to Gram flour which is ground chick peas!)

Thanks for all the translations - how can the "same" language be so different?? I'll add Cookeen to my shopping list and get baking...

Message withdrawn

SueW, I actually have that book too, it does come from Lakeland.

bloss, when we were there there were 2 products for children that made me laugh - one was a walkie-talkie thing so you could keep track of where they were - that was called "Li'l Bugger". The other was a trailer for 2 kids that you could tow behind your bike - that was a "Little Bugger".

Don't know if either still exists - under those names anyway!

Not to mention the special knickers with lycra in if you have a flabby bum - those are fanny shapers!

How annoying this graham flour has been to me today! Of course, as soon as it was asked I realized I didn't really know exactly what graham flour was (just knew it was marketed separately from other flours). I cannot STAND a question without an answer, this would have kept me up at nights until I found out. I know-completely crazy.

After an exhaustive online search and many dead ends, I've discovered that graham flour IS whole wheat flour, but it's milled in a different way (please no one ask just how it's milled or I'll need to be locked in a rubber room). It's very very coarse, which seems to be the main difference. I still haven't figured out how the different milling process changes the flavor as much as it does. I'll probably have to find out sooner than later about this question-within-a-question as well though so you may have an answer on it.

While I was using search engine after search engine, my dh walked up behind me and and asked "What on earth are you doing? Why do you care what graham flour is?" My reply: "Because I don't know, and now I need to find out." DH: "But you never cook with graham flour" Me: "So? Someday I might have a reason for knowing the difference" DH: "You need to be locked up".

LOL Corbin - I can't bear not knowing things either.

I'll look for coarse wholewheat flour tomorrow as well as the other ingredients. Of course, we all know the biscuits aren't going to taste as good as the originals...

ROLF, corbin

Janh, I'm in California and I am American and have been a bit of an anglophile since I was a teenager. In addition to being addicted to Mumsnet, I am sadly also addicted to Amazon.co.uk. where I buy cookbooks, silly novels and the occasional childrearing book.

Speaking of which, has anyone bought Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer and what did you think of it? I already have Domestic Goddess, How to Eat, & Nigella Bites.

I thought of Soupdragon this weekend when I saw a toy advertised on TV that molded play-doh into teddy bear shaped "graham crackers"

regarding cup measurments - I've never been able to get my head round this when it comes to something solid, like butter. It just seems to be such a pain to cram it into a cup??

Also, I have a recipe for pumpkin cake, and I need x cups of pureed pumpkin. I mean pumpkin is sold in chunks, how on earth am I supposed to know how big a chunk to buy, let alone how much to puree??

One American cup is suppose to be equivalent to 5 ounces (weight) for flour. Butter is usually sold in sticks: one stick equals 4 ounces (weight) or 8 tablespoons or half of an American cup. I usually just measure the butter based on the calibrations printed on the wrapper. The weighing is a much more accurate way to measure. It's too bad we don't see more of it in American recipes.

One American cup is suppose to be equivalent to 5 ounces (weight) for flour. Butter is usually sold in sticks: one stick equals 4 ounces (weight) or 8 tablespoons or half of an American cup. I usually just measure the butter based on the calibrations printed on the wrapper. The weighing is a much more accurate way to measure. It's too bad we don't see more of it in American recipes.