Culture Questions!

Swikan · Post by **Swikan** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:31 am

Me too! It's not just for breakfast anymore!

Pimpette! What kind of pie and what kind of cheese? I am interested to try it! When I think "pie" I think apple pie, chocolate pie, lemon merangue.... that kind of thing.

Garneta · Post by **Garneta** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:46 am

The only "pie and cheese" combination I've ever heard of is in fact apple pie. And I guess just whatever kind of cheese. Probably Cheddar or American, though. I've eaten cold cheese on the side of pie before, but never tried it melted onto the pie itself.

Never tried the "chicken and waffles" combination either (yes, that is a southern thing). I prefer biscuits with my chicken.

Cold pizza is okay...but old pizza is best if it's warmed up a little!

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 7:52 am

Kat North wrote: Cold pizza is okay...but old pizza is best if it's warmed up a little!

Microwaved with a glass of water, or oven'd with a pan of water. Makes it moist and not stale at all.

Noise Monkey · Post by **Noise Monkey** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:21 am

Robbie wrote:I never eat cranberry sauce.

Or cranberries at all for that matter.

How's that urinary tract infection?

Jackhass wrote:Chesse with cranberry sauce? Cranberry sauce goes on turkey. Cheese sometimes goes on pie though.

I love cheese. I love pie. I've never been able to bring those two together. The idea goes against something that is apparently very deep in my psyche. Cheese in liquified peanut butter is good, though.

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:21 am

Swikan wrote:I have a question that is sparked from a conversation I had recently... what do non-Americans call what WE call biscuits? My friend in the UK calls cookies "biscuits" ...when I asked her, she said "scones" were probably the closest thing. But scones are sweet, right?

Scones themselves aren't usually sweet, but they can be. They're close to but not quite the same as our biscuits. Some are made with fruit or jam inside, but others are made with cheese or plain to be eaten with butter. A biscuit-cookie is the hard kind of cookie, but I think you'll find people calling the soft kind a cookie as well.

Crumpets, if you were wondering, are like giant halves of English muffins. Thicker, a little spongier texture, but still good covered in butter.

Rkolter I'll have to remember that. I never heat up my pizza because I usually only have a microwave and the crust goes hard. Pizza should really only be heated up in a toaster oven.

As for cheese, I didn't try much of the "fancier" kind in France. They had a cheese that really did smell like body odor. I like cheese that's soft, like brie, so I can spread it on bread. Mmm. Cheese on apple pie makes sense, cheese and apples go great together. Cottage cheese and pineapples is tasty stuff. There's also ricotta cheese, which is pretty good with chocolate.

The best part about Thanksgiving is making a Minnesota sandwich: white turkey on white bread with mayo :b. I've heard of people adding mashed potatoes to it, too, but there's never any of that left over.

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:25 am

Mercury Hat wrote:The best part about Thanksgiving is making a Minnesota sandwich: white turkey on white bread with mayo :b. I've heard of people adding mashed potatoes to it, too, but there's never any of that left over.

Minnesota Sandwich.

You need to come to one of my family's thanksgivings. I make the Mashed potatos, and I usually make enough for 5x however many people show up, so there will be a giant serving bowl's worth left over. It's the only way to be sure that you have mashed potatoes throughout the entire "Thanksgiving season" (that being the period of time you continue to eat leftovers from Thanksgiving).

Swikan · Post by **Swikan** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:28 am

OT: Another glass-of-water thing in the microwave.. I heard that if you warm up a glass of water (not boil) in the m-wave before popping m-wave popcorn, more of the kernels would pop.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled thread, already in progress.

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:30 am

Speaking of Thanksgiving - deep fried turkey.

Yeah, I didn't like the thought either originally, but we used low-fat non-peanut oil and oooh wow. My father did a whole turkey in 30 mins. And all the juice was just sealed in this thing. It was the most awesome turkey I've ever had the privlege of eating. I'm sad because now my parents are in Florida and I won't get their delicious turkey this year.

The second best turkey was the one where my dad and I hooked a Black and Decker drill to a rotisserie, and spun the turkey at 100 cycles a minute for four hours. It was really delicious, but kind of pricy, what with having to buy a turkey AND a drill (which didn't survive long afterwards).

Swikan · Post by **Swikan** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:48 am

I have heard MARVELOUS things about deep fried turkey, rkolter! I have never had the nerve to try to make it myself. My father actually did a turkey in the microwave that came out GREAT! He cooked it in the m-wave and browned it in the oven. (This was with one of those HUGE microwaves that they don't make anymore.

)

Mr.Bob · Post by **Mr.Bob** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:49 am

The thing with the word 'cookie' outside North America is that it's a bit of a kiddie word. You'd be hard pressed to find a person of advanced age or a serious disposition calling a digestive or custard cream a 'cookie'. They'd say biscuit.

Swikan · Post by **Swikan** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 8:53 am

I didn't think about it until after reading Mr. Bob's post about "cookie" being a kiddie word, but the only time "biscuit" is used as a word for a treat is in reference to dog "biscuits".

Paul Escobar · Post by **Paul Escobar** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:06 am

As for the sweet sauce on meat thing, I'd wager the guess that it's a variety of how you serve venison. Since venison often has a very strong taste, you serve a sweet berry sauce to balance it. Goes really well with deer, pheasant, etc.

rkolter wrote:Now, how do the French make an art out of eating rotten stuff? Cheese that has turned into juice? Bread with maggots? Ew.

Say what? AFAIK there's no cheese-making method that incudes rot - it's a matter of how acidified it gets, and whether a type of mold is added. Mold =/= rot. Fun thing about cheese: the same cheese can smell bad and taste good... and I've tasted cheese so acidified that it literally hurt in my mouth... and still, it tasted good. Bread with maggots? I'm honesty confused, here. I've visited France plenty of times and I love French food, but I've never heard about such a thing before.

Speaking of food, here's a question for the Americans: How come the servings are so freaking big when you eat out? I've not been able to finish any of those table-sized steaks I got served in the US... Do you have surplus cattle you're trying to get rid of?

Linkara · Post by **Linkara** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:13 am

We just realize that if we don't eat them quickly, they're going to catch Mad Cow and then they'll be wasted.

Seriously? Dunno. ^_~ People in America love to eat, so it's probably restaurants combining that mindset with trying to maximize profit by having huge steaks.

Mr.Bob · Post by **Mr.Bob** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:15 am

Surely, if you want to maximise profits shouldn't you be serving smaller helpings of steak??

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:20 am

Mr.Bob wrote:Surely, if you want to maximise profits shouldn't you be serving smaller helpings of steak??

Except then we'd eat somewhere else.

I think it's part of the 'we love to get a deal' and 'get what you pay for' type mentality.

Swikan · Post by **Swikan** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:22 am

HAHAH! I think I have the answer to that. It is the capitalist nature to get the most quantity of the best quality for the least amount of money. If you pay money and only get a small portion, you would wonder if your money could have been better spent elsewhere. So merchants strive for "Look at how much you get for the money you pay!"

*I am rkolter's echo!*

Czar · Post by **Czar** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:23 am

Breakfast: Fil.
Specifically: Kefir.
Basically, fermented milk.
Added is sugar and cereal for sweetening and a bit of crunch.

Post by **Kisai** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:24 am

Ick, cream cheese.

American stuff that's wierd: Everything is processed to the point of blandness, then they sell processed flavorings that are loaded with calories.

American serving sizes are huge too, when I was in alaska, I couldn't like ever finish anything in a restaurant. I had to keep reminding myself that I was only capable of eating half of whatever I order, so to order the smallest version of whatever.

Given, I have to do that in canada too. If something is drink+food+fries+salad, I'd have to omit the fries and salad to finish it.

The biscuits/cookie thing, here, or at least in my family, biscuit and cookie are interchangable. Cookie usually means a sweet thing, where as Biscuit means a unsweet thing. So like, an OREO is a cookie, but a Digestive is a Biscuit (we call the Digestive's "baby cookies".) Also dog biscuits also get called dog cookies.

People I know eat apple pie with vanilla ice cream, not cheese. I've never seen anyone eat it with cheese.

Given, I didn't know what Poutine was untill 2001, so yeah, lived outta touch with all the foods people eat. I didn't get to eat sushi till 2002 as well.

My fathers side of the family makes vegetarian borcht. It's basically beet and cabbage soup with cream in it. It's very fattening and my sister hates it, but I love it. Haven't had it in a while though. That is something I usually add cheddar cheese to. I've known people to make cheater borcht with vegetable/vegetable-noodle soup as a base too.

I hate cheesecake X_X, I don't like cream cheese at all. Cottage cheese is fine though and I I like those russian tarts with it, I know the name of it, but don't know how it's spelled.

Swikan · Post by **Swikan** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:26 am

OMG, Czar.. that seems so strange to me. So is it creamy or fluffy or liquid?

Czar · Post by **Czar** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:33 am

Liquid, but it's... Yoghurt's about the right viscosity.
It doesn't quite flow like water or like milk is supposed to flow, if it flows to easily, it is to watery, if it is lumpy, it's likely turned, alternatively, it's simply set, shaking the pack before opening is recomended.
You eat it cold, from a bowl with a spoon (though, I know some drink theirs from glasses, I've done this myself, but it's kind of hard to mix in whatever you want to use as sweetener that way).