Which of these British foods should this American try first?

[BananaPudding]

My little Texan village grocery has expanded and is trying to be very posh all of a sudden (which is a change from the standard Velveeta and Hamburger Helper choices) and has put in a British section of food! Imagine my shock to find some of the things you talk about in my own store here. It's quite pricy as it's all imported, so I want to try just one or two things at a time. Here's what they have to offer:

HP Brown Sauce and Fruity Sauce
Branston Pickle
Marmite
Heinz Baked Beans (apparently different than ours?)
Blackcurrant jam
Galaxy bars
Bounty bars
Bird's Custard
Bisto granules
Robinsons barley water

Think there are more but can't remember. Of these, what should I try?

Oh, almost forgot the Heinz Spotted Dick. It's creating hilarity/shock throught the town

[mathanxiety]

Root beer reminds me of toothpaste.

[nappyaddict]

(I did find it in Sainsbury's in the bottle though)

[nappyaddict]

I couldn't find Marshmallow Fluff in Asda. Is it with the jams? I did find it in TK Maxx though instead.

Also I did find root beer but only cans (think the make was Carter's). Is that the one you lot get or do you get it in bottles?

[BornToFolk]

I want boiled bacon now! My Granny used to make it with boiled potatoes, cabbage and parsley sauce. Seriously good food. The only meat I've ever missed since becoming veggie.

[Horton]

This is the stuff I mean, and it is smoked. It is very very thinly sliced and gets beautifully crisp if you grill it.

[pooexplosions]

Irish bacon for boiling looks like this, its shoulder or collar of pork rather than leg which is traditionally the cut for gammon.
Nothing like frying bacon.

Proper corned beef, incidentally, is like this and is absolutely gorgeous. Its silverside of beef and is sooo tender you can slice it with a spoon!

[BananaPudding]

But pancetta isn't smoked, is it?

[Horton]

Pancetta is very like American bacon, I think, if thinly sliced in rashers. At least, it's like what I've had in breakfasts with pancakes etc in American hotels.

[LyraSilvertongue]

Talking about.
I don't want to sound like Arnold from Diff'rent Strokes

[LyraSilvertongue]

This is what we're talking bout BP. Looks like pork but has been cured with salt/smoke. Boil for an hour or so then slice and eat with freshly baked bread/mashed potatoes/whatever you want. Then keep the leftovers in the fridge for snacking on.

[BananaPudding]

See, I have not heard of a joint of bacon before! So what my brain painted a picture of was a mess of sliced streaky bacon which had been boiled.

Our bacon is always salty and usually smoky. I've had pancetta, and while it's delish, to my taste it is nothing like bacon. It may be pork but it's a completely different beast!

No, my dd wouldn't try the marmite because it looks very different from what shes used to. I think I may try to sneak it on her. I added a dollop to my stew over the weekend and although I couldn't taste it exactly, it was a bit different. Even dd ate it and she hates stew!

[Horton]

I must look out for some and investigate further. I'd like to try it. You can get quite unsalty gammon if it's unsmoked. Is that the kind of thing?

[pooexplosions]

its sort of like gammon, but sort of not. Thats not very helpful is it? Its a big joint but its not very salty, its a different type of curing I think, plus often a different cut.

[Horton]

Try getting very thinly sliced pancetta, rachelinscotland. It won't give you all that dripping but it will make fabulous crisp bacon.

Is boiling bacon like gammon?

[cheapskatemum]

Yes, was going to substitute McVities digestives for the key lime pie crust. Think they are too thick to make effective smores, though. Glad you liked the Branston Pickle. Sorry, called your DD a DS on earlier post - did she taste the Marmite?

[mathanxiety]

You can only get delicious Irish boiling bacon occasionally at Irish groceries. It sells out fast. Bacon in the US is streaky and usually fatty unless you want to spend twenty minutes examining every packet in the shop. Pooexplosions, I agree about the coddle. The corned beef is not the same at all in the US either.

[AvadaKedavra]

I make lovely hard, brown and crispy bacon, maybe it's your cooking style?

[HigherThanAWombat]

Almost as hard and crispy as your arteries.

[thebluefoxategreensocks]

Well, it's just that our bacon goes sooooo hard & crispy, so I always feel like British bacon is still raw! LOL Guess it's just what each of us is used to eating! ... but yeah, I'm sure that amount of fat isn't good for the heart or figure!

[HigherThanAWombat]

And I don't think I'd care to eat any bacon that leaves you with that much dripping.

[HigherThanAWombat]

Our bacon isn't disgusting.It's lovely.

[LyraSilvertongue]

I much prefer streaky to back. Back is much too lean.

[thebluefoxategreensocks]

LOL Lyra ! Well, NO bacon I've seen over here (and I have tried quite a few different kinds) will give you about 3-6 ounces of drippings like we'd get from a pack of bacon in America! I have to admit, that most of the bacon I've had has been back bacon (as it seems that is the most readily available), but even streaky bacon doesn't seem to have enough fat for my liking!

[LyraSilvertongue]

Thin cut, not think cut [grin

[LyraSilvertongue]

Rachel, I'm starting to suspect that you are living in a parallel universe. No crispy bacon? No dripping? What a load of nonsense. And you don't need oil to fry bacon as long as you have a decent non-stick pan.
There are many different types over here - the big joints which you boil and slice, back bacon which is mostly lean and very meaty and mostly does need oil to fry it, streaky bacon which is very fatty and doesn't need oil to fry it. You can get it think cut, thick cut, every which way you can imagine.