FOOD BY REGION_UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Lemon meringue pie

Lemon meringue pie is a type of baked pie, usually served for dessert, made with a crust usually made of shortcrust orshortbread pastry, lemon curd filling and a fluffy meringue topping. Lemon meringue pie is prepared with a bottom pie crust, with the meringue directly on top of the lemon filling. No upper crust is used, as in a cherry pie.

The lemon custard is usually prepared with egg yolks, lemon zest and juice, sugar, and starch. This gives it a texture similar to that of a sturdy pudding. The meringue, which includes well beaten egg whites and sugar, is cooked on top of the pie filling. 

As the meringue bakes, air bubbles trapped inside the protein of the egg whites will expand and swell. However, if the egg whites are beaten too much, or if a tiny amount of fat is allowed to contaminate the mixture, then the proteins will not be able to form the correct molecular structure when cooked, and the meringue may collapse when cooked. The meringue can be beaten into either soft or stiff peaks. The temperature the pie is baked at and the method by which sugar is added also determines the texture and durability of the meringue.

Lemon flavored custards, puddings and pies have been enjoyed since Medieval times, but meringue was perfected in the 17th century. Lemon meringue pie, as it is known today, is a 19th century product. The earliest recorded recipe was attributed to Alexander Frehse, a Swiss baker from the canton of Romandie.

Lemon meringue pie can be served on its own, with cream, or with ice-cream.

Cup cake

A cupcake (also British English: fairy cake; Australian English: patty cake or cup cake) is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations, such as sprinkles, are common on cupcakes.

History

The first mention of the cupcake can be traced as far back as 1796, when a recipe notation of "a cake to be baked in small cups" was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons.[1] The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie's Receipts cookbook.[2]

In the early 19th century, there were two different uses for the name cup cake orcupcake. In previous centuries, before muffin tins were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups, ramekins, or molds and took their name from the cups they were baked in. This is the use of the name that has remained, and the name of "cupcake" is now given to any small cake that is about the size of a teacup. The name "fairy cake" is a fanciful description of its size, which would be appropriate for a party of diminutive fairies to share. While Englishfairy cakes vary in size more than American cupcakes, they are traditionally smaller and are rarely topped with elaborate icing.

The other kind of "cup cake" referred to a cake whose ingredients were measured by volume, using a standard-sized cup, instead of being weighed. Recipes whose ingredients were measured using a standard-sized cup could also be baked in cups; however, they were more commonly baked in tins as layers or loaves. In later years, when the use of volume measurements was firmly established in home kitchens, these recipes became known as 1234 cakes or quarter cakes, so called because they are made up of four ingredients: one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, and four eggs.[3][4] 

They are plain yellow cakes, somewhat less rich and less expensive than pound cake, due to using about half as much butter and eggs compared to pound cake. The names of these two major classes of cakes were intended to signal the method to the baker; "cup cake" uses a volume measurement, and "pound cake" uses a weight measurement.[3]

Strawberries shortcake

Shortcake gets it's name from the adding of shortening or butter to a dough which makes it tender. Calling a baking lard or fat shortening comes from the term "to shorten" a 15th century term which meant, "easily crumbled". Probably because it's fibers were short unlike bread.

We don't know exactly when the first strawberry shortcake was made. We know it goes back as far as 1850.
Shortcake however is a European invention that goes back at least to the late 1500's.
Strawberries have been around more than 2000 years, we have records that show that ancient Rome, enjoyed them, but putting strawberries and shortcake together seems to be more of a United States tradition.
As with many classic dishes, when the timing is right, the dish becomes a national favorite.

We know that shortcake has been around at least since Shakespeare. It was mentioned in his play, The Merry Wives of Windsor.

A European recipe book in 1594had a recipe for Short Cakes. The crumbly shortcake which first resembled the texture and shape of a scone, became round when the typical triangular shaped pastries kept having the point break off. It was thought that the round shape became more practical.

Strawberry shortcake parties became popular in the United States around 1850, as a celebration of the coming of summer .Probably the most popular berry back then, people talked of strawberry fever. The railroads became transcontinental and strawberries could be shipped from coast to coast surrounded with ice to keep them fresh. Advertisements and articles about strawberry shortcake, caused more and more demand.
An often quoted line from Harpers Magazine in 1893 said, "They give you good eating, strawberries and short-cake- Ohh My!"

One of the early colonists remarked, "Doubtless the almighty COULD make a better berry, but doubtless he never did"

The earliest recipe that we have found for this dessert was in 1847.

It is called Strawberry Cake, but its very similar to what we call shortcake.

Strawberry Cake Recipe
from "The Lady's Receipt-Book"
by Miss Leslie,
published in 1847

Even during the Depression, the flour millers of Minneapolis still needed to sell their flour. The Betty Crocker cookbooks in the MHS collection show how General Mills encouraged women to use their products in baking and other cooking: the key words here are Bisquick and celebrities. Bisquick combined flour and fat to speed the baking and cooking process; movie stars helped struggling Americans to escape temporarily from their difficult lives. 

And movie stars using Bisquick - well, the combination must have seemed irresistible to the advertising folks at General Mills. The cookbooks emphasized the glamour of the stars, both men and women, with alluring portraits of the celebrities and their chosen dishes like Mary Pickford’s strawberry shortcake.

Short-bread is different than Shortcake and is a Scottish Specialty

Shortbread is more like the texture of a cookie. Shortcake is more like the texture of a scone.

Strawberries have been around since early Roman times in Italy in the 200's BC.

Wild strawberries were around in the United states when the first colonists arrived. The Native indians made a bread from strawberries mixed with corn meal. Strawberries were so abundant that one wrote " You can't put your foot down without stepping on one".

Strawberry plants were not always big berries. Certain strawberry plants have been cross bred to create the large berries that we see today.

The origin of the name strawberry is a bit uncertain. Here some of the popular beliefs

The name may have been derived from the Anglo-Saxon verb to strew (spread) because strawberries spread out when they grow, and the fruit came to be known first as streabergen.

Berries on a straw?

Children use to thread the strawberries as they gathered them on a dried straw of wheat. They would even sell these on the roadside. perhaps they got their name from this practice.

If you saw a farmer's strawberry patch you would likely see straw mulched around all the berry plants. This is another possible way strawberries could have got their name.

The Future of Strawberry Shortcake 
The traditional shortcake has really stood the test of time, and it is not overly calorie laden, and
so user friendly to most , I feel it will always be around.

Because many folks are looking to cut fat calories, lighter versions are sprouting up in healthy eating and weight
conscious recipe magazines. Angel food cake is a good substitute because there are no fat calories, and egg whites
are less calories than egg yolks. Strawberries are sweetened with a low calorie sweetener including Stevia.

Substituting white whole wheat pastry flour is a good option because the whole grain fiber, yet it is not
heavy like regular whole wheat flour, being pastry flour it is also gives a lighter texture dough and doesn't
have as much gluten.-kitchenproject.com

“1847 -- Strawberries were only briefly and seasonally abundant until the development of north-south railroads extended the season for urban cooks. This made for strawberry shortcake parties in the 1840s, but printed recipes did not reach cookbooks right away. Early recipes were often for multilayer cakes or heavy pastry. Only gradually did the name strawberry shortcake become standard, for a the simplified dessert we eat today: spongecake topped with sweetened strawberry sauce and whipped cream evolve.

Food historian Alice Ross has been working with a recipe for "Strawberry Cake" from Eliza Leslie's 1850 Ladies' New Receipt Book. What is interesting is that Miss Leslie did not include this recipe in some later editions of her books.However, now living history consultant Virginia Mescher has found the same recipe in Leslie's 1847 Lady's Receipt Book: A Useful Companion for Large or Small Families. Another recipe, listed as "Short Cake" is in the 1857 Practical Housekeeper, by Mrs. Elizabeth Ellet. The earliest printed reference, located by a reader of Food History News, is from the 1840s in Michigan”-historycook.com

Muffin

A muffin (American-style muffin in the UK) is a type of semi-sweet cake or quick bread that is baked in portions appropriate for one person. They are similar to cupcakes, although they are usually less sweet and lack icing. Savory varieties, such as cornbread muffins or cheese muffins also exist.

The term also refers to a disk-shaped muffin bread, called an English muffin outside the United Kingdom. As American-style muffins are also available in Commonwealth countries, the term muffin can refer to either product, with the context usually making clear which is meant.

There are many varieties such as low-fat and flavors of muffins made with a specific ingredient such as blueberries, chocolate chips,poppy seeds, raspberry, cinnamon, pumpkin, date, nut, lemon, banana, orange, peach, strawberry, boysenberry, almond, andcarrot, baked into the muffin. Muffins are often eaten for breakfast; alternatively, they may be served for tea or at other meals.

History

Recipes for muffins, in their yeast-free "American" form, are common in 19th century American cookbooks.[1][2] Recipes for yeast-based muffins, which were sometimes called "common muffins" or "wheat muffins" in 19th century American cookbooks, can be found in much older cookbooks. In her Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Farmer gave recipes for both types of muffins, both those that used yeast to raise the dough and those that used a quick bread method, using muffin rings to shape the English muffins. Farmer indicated that stove top "baking", as is done with yeast dough, was a useful method when baking in an oven was not practical.

Types of Muffin

Poppyseed muffin

Poppyseed muffins are one of the most popular types of muffin, especially in the United States. It is known both for the unique flavor of the poppy seed and for the false drug test results it can bring about due to trace amounts of narcotics, such as morphine.

English muffin

The English muffin is a type of yeast-leavened bread; generally about 4 inches round and 1 1/2 inches tall. Rather than being oven-baked, they are cooked in a griddle on the stove top and flipped from side-to-side, which results in their typical flattened shape rather than the rounded top seen in baked rolls or cake-type muffins.[3] 

English muffins are usually split in two, toasted, traditionally in front of an open fire or stove using a toasting fork, and served hot with butter. Muffins are also served as a snack at cafes or split and filled like a sandwich.

Corn muffin

Muffins made from cornmeal are popular in the United States. Though corn muffins can simply be muffin shaped cornbread, corn muffins tend to be sweeter. Similar to the pan variety, corn muffins can be eaten with butter or as a side dish with stews or chili.

Key lime pie

Key lime pie is an American dessert made of key lime juice, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk in a pie crust.[1] The traditional Conch version uses the egg whites to make a meringue topping.[2] The dish is named after the small Key limes (Citrus aurantifolia 'Swingle') that are 

naturalized throughout the Florida Keys. While their thorns make them less tractable, and their thin, yellow rinds more perishable, key limes are more tart and aromatic than the common Persian limes seen year round in most U.S. grocery stores.

Key lime juice, unlike regular lime juice, is a pale yellow. The filling in key lime pie is also yellow, largely due to the egg yolks.[2]

During mixing, a reaction between the condensed milk and the acidic lime juice occurs which causes the filling to thicken on its own without requiring baking. Many early recipes for Key lime pie did not require the cook to bake the pie, relying on this chemical reaction (called souring) to produce the proper consistency of the filling. 

Today, in the interest of safety due to consumption of raw eggs, pies of this nature are usually baked for a short time. The baking also thickens the texture more than the reaction alone.

History

The origin of key lime pie has been traced back to the late 19th century in the Key West, Florida area. Its exact origins are unknown, but the first formal mention of Key lime pie as a recipe may have been made by William Curry, a ship salvager and Key West's first millionaire; his cook, "Aunt Sally", made the pie for him. If such is the case, however, it is also possible and maybe even probable that Sally adapted the recipe already created by local sponge fishermen. 

Sponge fishermen spent many contiguous days on their boats, and stored their food on board, including nutritional basics such as canned milk (which would not spoil without refrigeration), limes and eggs. Sponge fishermen at sea would presumably not have access to an oven, and, similarly, the original recipe for Key lime pie did not call for cooking the mixture of lime, milk, and eggs.[3]

Key lime pie is made with canned sweetened condensed milk, since fresh milk was not a common commodity in the Florida Keys before modern refrigerated distribution methods.[4] The creator of the "frozen" Key lime pie is Fern Butters (1892-1975).

Doughnut

A doughnut or donut (/ˈdoʊnət/ or /ˈdoʊnʌt/) (see spelling differences) is a type of fried dough confectionery or dessert food. Doughnuts are popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets. They are usually deep-fried from a flour dough, and shaped in rings or flattened spheres that sometimes contain fillings. Other types of batters can also be used, and various toppings and flavorings are used for different types, such as sugar glazing, chocolate glazing, or maple glazing.

The two most common types are the toroidal ring doughnut and the filled doughnut, a flattened sphere injected with fruit preserves,cream, custard, or other sweet fillings. A small spherical piece of dough may be cooked as a doughnut hole. Other shapes include rings, balls, and flattened spheres, as well as ear shapes, twists and other forms. Doughnut varieties are also divided into cake and risen type doughnuts.

Shapes

Rings

Ring doughnuts are formed by joining the ends of a long, skinny piece of dough into a ring or by using a doughnut cutter, which simultaneously cuts the outside and inside shape, leaving a doughnut-shaped piece of dough and a doughnut hole from dough removed from the center. This smaller piece of dough can be cooked or added back to the batch to make more doughnuts. A disk-shaped doughnut can also be stretched and pinched into a torus until the center breaks to form a hole. 

Alternatively, a doughnut depositor can be used to place a circle of liquid dough (batter) directly into the fryer.

Doughnuts can be made from a yeast-based dough for raised doughnuts or a special type of cake batter. Yeast-raised doughnuts contain about 25% oil by weight, whereas cake doughnuts' oil content is around 20%, but they have extra fat included in the batter before frying. 

Cake doughnuts are fried for about 90 seconds at approximately 190 °C to 198 °C, turning once. Yeast-raised doughnuts absorb more oil because they take longer to fry, about 150 seconds, at 182 °C to 190 °C. Cake doughnuts typically weigh between 24 g and 28 g, whereas yeast-raised doughnuts average 38 g and are generally larger when finished.

After frying, ring doughnuts are often topped with a glaze (icing) or a powder such as cinnamon or sugar.

Holes

"Doughnut hole" redirects here. For coverage gap in Medicare, see Donut hole (Medicare).

Doughnut holes are small spheres that are made from the dough taken from the center of ring doughnuts or made to look as if they are. Doughnut sellers saw the opportunity to market "holes" as a novelty, as if they were the portions cut out to make the ring. Similar to standard doughnuts, doughnut holes may be topped with confections, such as glaze or powdered sugar.

Traditionally, doughnut holes are made by frying the dough removed from the center portion of the doughnut. Consequently, they are considerably smaller than a standard doughnut and tend to be spherical. Originally, most varieties of doughnut holes were derivatives of their ring doughnut (yeast-based dough or cake batter) counterparts.

Commercially made doughnut holes are not made by cutting out the central portion of a ring doughnut, but instead by dropping a small ball of dough into hot oil from a specially shaped nozzle. This production method has allowed doughnut sellers to produce bite-sized versions of non-ring doughnuts, such as filled doughnuts, fritters and Dutchies, making the term "doughnut hole" somewhat of a misnomer for these varieties.

Both doughnut holes and bit-sized doughnuts are well known by brand names, such as Dunkin' Donuts' "Munchkins" in the United States and Tim Hortons' "Timbits" in Canada.

Filled

The filled doughnut is a flattened sphere injected with fruit preserves, cream, custard, or other sweet fillings, and often dipped into powdered sugar or topped off with frosting.

Common varieties include the Boston cream, coconut, and jelly.

Other shapes

Square-shaped doughnuts such as fritters and Dutchies are usually glazed. The Dutchie and apple fritter have been available on Tim Hortons' doughnut menu since the chain's inception in 1964,[1] and a 1991 Toronto Star report found out that these two were the chain's most popular type of fried dough in Canada.[2]

There are many other specialized doughnut shapes such as old-fashioneds, bars or Long Johns (a rectangular shape), or with the dough twisted around itself before cooking. In the northeast US, bars and twists are usually referred to as crullers. are also beignets, which are square doughnuts topped with powdered sugar.

History in the US

Possible origins

 Doughnuts have a disputed history. One theory suggests they were invented in North America by Dutch settlers,[3] who were responsible for popularizing other American desserts, including cookies, apple and cream pie, and cobbler.[citation needed] Indeed, in the 19th century, doughnuts were sometimes referred to as one kind of oliekoek (a Dutch word literally meaning "oil cake"), a "sweetened cake fried in fat."[4]

Hanson Gregory, an American, claimed to have invented the ring-shaped doughnut in 1847 aboard a lime-trading ship when he was only 16 years old. Gregory was dissatisfied with the greasiness of doughnuts twisted into various shapes and with the raw center of regular doughnuts. He claimed to have punched a hole in the center of dough with the ship's tin pepper box, and later taught the technique to his mother.[5]

According to anthropologist Paul R. Mullins, the first cookbook mentioning doughnuts was an 1803 English volume which included doughnuts in an appendix of American recipes. By the mid-19th century, the doughnut looked and tasted like today’s doughnut, and was viewed as a thoroughly American food.[6]

Etymology

"Dough nut"

The earliest known recorded usage of the term dates to an 1808 short story[7] describing a spread of "fire-cakes and dough-nuts." Washington Irving's reference to "doughnuts" in 1809 in his History of New York is more commonly cited as the first written recording of the term. 

Irving described "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks."[8] These "nuts" of fried dough might now be called doughnut holes. 

Doughnut is the more traditional spelling, and still dominates outside the US.[9][10] At present, doughnut and the shortened form donut are both pervasive in American English.[11]

"Donut"

The first known printed use of donut was in Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa by George W. Peck, published in 1900, in which a character is quoted as saying, "Pa said he guessed he hadn't got much appetite, and he would just drink a cup of coffee and eat a donut."[12] 

According to John T. Edge (Donuts, an American passion 2006) the alternative spelling “donut” was invented when the New York–based Display Doughnut Machine Corporation abbreviated the word to make it more pronounceable by the foreigners they hoped would buy their automated doughnut making equipment.[13][14] 

The donut spelling also showed up in a Los Angeles Times article dated August 10, 1929 in which Bailey Millard jokingly complains about the decline of spelling, and that he "can't swallow the 'wel-dun donut' nor the ever so 'gud bred'. 

The interchange ability of the two spellings can be found in a series of "National Donut Week" articles in The New York Times that covered the 1939 World's Fair. In four articles beginning October 9, two mention the donut spelling. Dunkin' Donuts, which was founded in 1948 under the name Open Kettle (Quincy, Massachusetts), is the oldest surviving company to use the donut variation; other chains, such as the defunct Mayflower Doughnut Corporation (1931), did not use that spelling.[15] According to the Oxford Dictionary while "doughnut" is used internationally, the spelling "donut" is American.[16]

Monkey bread

Monkey bread, also called monkey puzzle bread, sticky bread, African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake, pluck-it cake, bubble loaf and monkey brains is a sweet, sticky, gooey pastry served in the United States for breakfast. It consists of pieces of soft bread with cinnamon sprinkled on it. It is served at fairs and other parks as a treat.

Name

The origin of the term "monkey bread" is uncertain. Possible etymologies include that the bread resembles the monkey puzzle tree.[2]

Origins

Recipes for the bread first appeared in American women's magazines and community cookbooks in the 1950s, and the dish is still virtually unknown outside the United States. The bread is made with pieces of sweet yeast dough (often frozen) which are baked in a cake pan at high heat after first being individually covered in melted butter, cinnamon, sugar and chopped pecans.[3] 

It is traditionally served hot so that the baked segments can be easily torn away with the fingers and eaten by hand.

There is also a reference to monkey bread (pain de singe in French) in De Wildeman 1903. This is the fruit pulp obtained from the Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata).

Boston brown bread

Classic New England bread, made since Colonial times. It contains equal quantities of rye, corn, and whole wheat flour, plus molasses and yeast, and it is steamed rather than baked. The result is a moist loaf, with a complex flavor and a mild sweetness. Great for dinner on a cool autumn evening—along with a steaming bowl of baked beans or soup.

New England or Boston brown bread is a type of dark, slightly sweet steamed bread (usually a quick bread) popular in New England. It is cooked by steam in a can, or cylindrical pan.

Brown bread's colour comes from a mixture of flours, usually a mix of several of the following: cornmeal, wheat, whole wheat, graham flour, or rye, and from the addition of sweeteners like molasses and maple syrup. Leavening most often comes from baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) though a few recipes use yeast. Raisins are often added. The batter is poured into a can, and steamed in a kettle. While most variations are quick breads, and can be made in less than an hour, several commercial brands are available. Brown bread is somewhat seasonal, being served mostly in fall and winter, and is frequently served with baked beans.

Brown bread is closely related to an earlier bread known as "Rye and Indian" (from "Indian" cornmeal) or "thirded" bread from its use of rye, cornmeal and wheat flours. Unlike modern brown bread, thirded bread is generally yeast-raised and baked rather than steamed-wikipedia

FOOD BY REGION_UNITED KINGDOM

Saffron Bun

A saffron bun, in Swedish lussebulle or lussekatt, Norwegian "lussekatt" is a rich yeast-leavened sweet bun that is flavoured withsaffron and cinnamon or nutmeg and contains currants. In Sweden and Norway no cinnamon or nutmeg is used in the bun, andraisins are used instead of currants. The buns are baked into many traditional shapes, of which the simplest is a reversed S-shape.

They are traditionally eaten during Advent, and especially on Saint Lucy's Day, December 13. In addition to Sweden, they are also prepared and eaten in much the same way in Finland, above all in Swedish-speaking areas and by Swedish-speaking Finns, as well as in Norway[1] and Denmark.[2]

In England, the buns were traditionally baked on sycamore leaves and dusted with powdered sugar. This "revel bun" from Cornwall is baked for special occasions, such as anniversary feasts (revels), or the dedication of a church. In the West of Cornwall large saffron buns are also known as "tea treat buns" and are associated with Methodist Sunday School outings or activities.

Most commercially available saffron buns and cakes available in Cornwall today contain food dyes that enhance the natural yellow provided by saffron. The very high cost (it is the world's most expensive spice by weight[3]) makes the inclusion of sufficient saffron to produce a rich colour an uneconomical option. 

The addition of food colouring in Cornish saffron buns was already common by the end of the First World War when the scarcity of saffron forced bakers to find other ways to colour their products. Larger versions of the saffron bun baked in a loaf tin are known as saffron cake. The main ingredients are plain flour, butter, yeast, caster sugar, currants and sultanas.

Aberdeen Rowies

A buttery, also known as a roll, rowie, rollie, Aberdeen roll or Cookie is a savoury Scottish bread roll (though cookie is also a name for a cream bun).

They are noted for flaky texture and buttery taste, similar to a flattened, round croissant, with a very salty taste. They are often toasted with jam or butter, or just with tea, although the high fat content (partly lard) makes them extremely hot when toasted. Commercial producers use vegetable oils instead of butter.[1][2]

As the alternate name of Aberdeen roll suggests, butteries are a speciality of Aberdeen but they are common throughout the Northeast of Scotland.

Articles in the Aberdeen Journal from early in the 19th century bemoan the increased use of lard in place of butter in traditional "butter rolls"

White Soda Bread

Soda bread (Serbian: česnica/чесница, Irish: arán sóide, Scots: fardel) is a variety of quick bread traditionally made in a variety of cuisines in which sodium bicarbonate (otherwise known as baking soda) is used as a leavening agent instead of the more commonyeast. The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, bread soda, salt, and buttermilk. 

The buttermilk in the dough containslactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. Other ingredients can be added such as butter, egg, raisins or nuts.

In Ireland, the flour is typically made from soft wheat; so soda bread is best made with a cake or pastry flour (made from soft wheat), which has lower levels of gluten than a bread flour. In some recipes, the buttermilk is replaced by live yoghurt or even stout. Bakers recommend the minimum amount of mixing of the ingredients before baking; the dough should not be kneaded.

Various forms of soda bread are popular throughout Ireland. Soda breads are made using wholemeal, white flour, or both. In Ulster, the wholemeal variety is usually known as wheaten bread and normally sweetened, while the term "soda bread" is restricted to the white savoury form. In the southern provinces of Ireland, the wholemeal variety is usually known as brown bread and is almost identical to the Ulster wheaten.

The Soda farl or "Griddle cakes", "Griddle bread" (or "Soda farls" in Ulster) take a more rounded shape and have a cross cut in the top to allow the bread to expand. The griddle cake or farl is a more flattened type of bread. It is cooked on a griddle allowing it to take a more flat shape and split into four sections. The Soda Farl is one of the distinguishing elements of the Ulster Fry, where it is served alongsidepotato bread, also in farl form.

Scotland

In Scotland, varieties of soda breads and griddle sodas include bannocks and farls (from fardel: Scots for a fourth), soda scones or soda farls using baking powder or baking soda as a leavening agent giving them a light and airy texture.[7][8][9]

Bannocks are flat cakes of barley or oatmeal dough formed into a round or oval shape, then cooked on a griddle (or girdle, in the Scots). The most authentic versions are unleavened, but from the early 19th century bannocks have been made using baking powder, or a combination of baking soda and buttermilk or clabbered milk.[7] 

Before the 19th century, bannocks were cooked on a bannock stane (Scots for stone), a large, flat, rounded piece of sandstone, placed directly onto a fire, then used as a cooking surface.[10] Several varieties of bannock include Selkirk bannocks, beremeal bannocks, Michaelmas bannock, Yetholm bannock, and Yule bannock.[7]

The traditional soda farl is used in the Full Scottish breakfast along with the potato scone (Scots: tattie scone).

Yorkshine Pudding

Yorkshire Pudding, also known as batter pudding, is an English dish made from batter and usually served with roast meat and gravy.

History

When wheat flour began to come into common use for making cakes and puddings, cooks in the north of England devised a means of making use of the fat that dropped into the dripping pan to cook a batter pudding while the meat roasted in the oven. In 1737 a recipe for 'a dripping pudding' was published in The Whole Duty of a Woman:[1]

Make a good batter as for pancakes; put in a hot toss-pan over the fire with a bit of butter to fry the bottom a little then put the pan and butter under a shoulder of mutton, instead of a dripping pan, keeping frequently shaking it by the handle and it will be light and savoury, and fit to take up when your mutton is enough; then turn it in a dish and serve it hot.

Similar instructions were published in 1747 in The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse under the title of 'Yorkshire pudding'. It was she who re-invented and renamed the original version, called Dripping Pudding, which had been cooked in England for centuries, although these puddings were much flatter than the puffy versions known today.[2]

A 2008 ruling by the Royal Society of Chemistry has it that "A Yorkshire pudding isn't a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches tall".[3]

The Yorkshire pudding is a staple of the British Sunday lunch and in some cases is eaten as a separate course prior to the main meat dish. This was the traditional method of eating the pudding and is still common in parts of Yorkshire today. Because the rich gravy from the roast meat drippings was used up with the first course, the main meat and vegetable course was often served with a parsley or white sauce.

Traditionally, though less so now, the Yorkshire Pudding could be served as a sweet, with sugar or even with orange juice as a sauce.

It is often claimed that the purpose of the dish was to provide a cheap way to fill the diners, thus stretching a lesser amount of the more expensive ingredients as the Yorkshire pudding was traditionally served first.[4]

Cooking Method

Yorkshire pudding is cooked by pouring a batter made from milk (or water), flour and eggs into oiled then preheated baking pans, ramekins or muffin tins (in the case of Mini puddings). A basic formula uses 1/3 cup flour and 1/3 cup liquid per egg.

Jam Roly-Poly

Jam Roly-Poly, Dead Man's Arm or Dead Man's Leg is a traditional British pudding probably invented in the early 19th century.[1] It is a flat-rolled suet pudding, which is then spread with jam and rolled up, similar to a Swiss roll, then steamed or baked. In days past, Jam Roly-Poly was also known as shirt-sleeve pudding, because it was often steamed and served in an old shirt-sleeve. Because of this, another nickname for the pudding was dead-man's arm, or dead man's leg.

Jam Roly-Poly features in Mrs Beeton's cookery book, as Roly-Poly Jam Pudding. This pudding is one of a range of puddings that are now considered part of the classic desserts of the mid 20th century British school dinners. Much loved, as part of the nostalgia of growing up for some older British adults, Jam Roly-Poly is considered alongside sticky toffee pudding and spotted dick pudding as an essential part of their childhood diet

Treacle Sponge Pudding

A treacle sponge pudding is a traditional British dessert dish consisting of a steamed sponge cake with golden syrup cooked on top of it, sometimes also poured over it and often served with hot custard -wikipedia