The Vent and Rant Thread

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I now live in terror of asking questions here.

Hitch

Originally Posted by DNSB

Do you feel that asking questions here is a threat to your physical, emotional or psychological well-being?

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yes.

Hitch

Nonsense. It's the possible ANSWERS that are the threat, not the questions.

(Reminiscent of "It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end.")

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A jacket potato is just a potato. A crispy jacket potato is just a baked potato.

Sadly, as far as I know, in the UK, a jacket potato is a baked potato. They do do them rather differently from what I see around here. A longer cooking time with a high temperature start to crisp the skin and then a longer lower temperature to finish the cooking process.

See Classic jacket potatoes, Mary Berry’s Posh Jacket Potatoes or The Best Baked Potato? Try Our English Jacket Potatoes! for examples.

The last example takes about 2 hours 15 minutes in the oven but my kids loved it for the texture and very crispy skin.

[BelleZora]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Spud is also (IMHO) is a silly word for potato. We have it in the US, but it's not really used.

I lived in southern Idaho in potato growing country as a child. Potatoes were commonly called spuds.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

I lived in southern Idaho in potato growing country as a child. Potatoes were commonly called spuds.

Around here, spuds is almost as commonly used as potatoes. Perhaps an Irish influence?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

In the UK, for some unknown reason they call ground beef mince.

Maybe its because they use one of these rather than one of these

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I know I'll regret this. What I see of Aussie Floaters makes them look like US-based "pot pies," which are like thickened stews, effectively, inside savory pie crusts, right? But not really "solid," except when frozen.

They (US Pot pies) are not like the "hold in the hand and eat" meat pies, like Pasties, from the UK, at least, not in my admittedly limited experience.

So, do floaters go in the hand or on the plate with a fork and other utensils?

Hitch

The 'pie floater' is a South Australian dish. AFAIK its a minced beef pie floating in a dish of green pea soup… so I assume its served in a dish with a knife and/or a fork and/or a spoon.

In Sydney the peas are under the brown gravy and on top of the mashed potato, which is on top of the minced beef pie. Served on a plate with a fork. Mostly they're just called "pie and peas", except at the storied Harry's Cafe de Wheels where they're called Tiger pies.

Mostly they're all horrid, and if bought at a sporting event they cost an arm and leg.

BR

[badgoodDeb]

Central Pennsylvania recognizes the word spud for potato too. Perhaps the usage is declining, but it’s certainly here.

[Wetdogeared]

[ApK]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

The 'pie floater' is a South Australian dish. AFAIK its a minced beef pie floating in a dish of green pea soup… so I assume its served in a dish with a knife and/or a fork and/or a spoon.

In Sydney the peas are under the brown gravy and on top of the mashed potato, which is on top of the minced beef pie. Served on a plate with a fork. Mostly they're just called "pie and peas", except at the storied Harry's Cafe de Wheels where they're called Tiger pies.

Mostly they're all horrid, and if bought at a sporting event they cost an arm and leg.

BR

Trying to process the idea of buying a dish that involves soup, a knife, and fork, and a spoon at a sporting event. Do they also make cherries jubilee at bleacher-side?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

Let's call the whole thing off.

Nah! Let's just use English where it's a potato or a baked potato.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

Floaters don't sound very appetising to me! I'd need to see one.

I've seen some meals called "pies" that are essentially a stew with a pastry lid. I think that's cheating. A pie in my mind needs to be completely surrounded in pastry.

What you are describing is a steak pie. Basically beef stew (no veg) with a crust on the top. But you can get individual steak pies that are surrounded by pastry.

There are curry pies, mac & cheese pies, chicken pies, steak pies, mince pies, breakfast pies, and more.

In the US, the mot popular meal type pie is a chicken pot pie.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Those are from people that struggle making pie dough and crusts. They don't know how to do it very well, so they end up with pasty, undercooked, doughy bottoms and burnt lids, lol.

To me, a pot pie is only a pot pie when it's surrounding the goodies, the dough, that is. OTOH, put a half-baked (ha!) pot pie in front of me and see if I reject it. NOT BLOODY LIKELY.

Hitch

But you can buy ready made pie crust to make your pies. So there's not need to not make the crust properly,

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hardly an unknown reason. Looking up definitions for mince, you find: "cut up or grind (food, especially meat) into very small pieces, typically in a machine with revolving blades."

But it still sounds funny. Ground beef sounds a lot better.

I thought that was a Scottish thing. The singular is tatty, the plural is tatties. Probably from Scots Gaelic buntàta.

It might be a Scottish thing. I can ask if you want to know.

Do you mean ground sirloin, ground chuck, ground round, ground prime rib, etc.?

Yes. That's ground beef. Any kind of meat that's ground is called ground <add name of the meat>.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

A floater is served in a bowl which hold the pea soup in which it 'floats'. Preferably with a dollop of tomato sauce on the pie. Definitely not a hand food. The one example I had from a local restaurant run by a couple of Aussies used a very thick mushy pea soup and the tomato sauce was an option. I enjoyed it but it did not make my top ten I want to try them again foods.

On the other hand, their shepherd's pie made with lamb was one of the best meals I've had in the last 5 years. Yes, I know that shepherd's pie should be made with lamb, made with beef, it should be called cottage pie.

When you say tomato sauce, do you mean ketchup or tomato sauce (it's pasta sauce in the UK)?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ApK

Also sometimes labeled as "hamburger."

Nope. A hamburger is ground beef all mashed together in the shape of a hamburger. Ground beef is loose.