"Question: what is a "digestive". Have read this in various English mysteries and apparently it's some sort of cookie - but what kind?"

nytraveler, a digestive is a cookie (or biscuit as it's known in the UK), but not as sweet as a regular cookie like say, Oreos.

I've seen the plain ones used as a substitute for graham crackers when making pie crusts and cheesecakes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestive_biscuit

My chapter is Turkish Delight. I actually found a recipe for it but it didn't taste the same as the bars we bring home from the UK. I just bought Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish Delight which is, as you might expect, heavier on the chocolate side than the rosewater gelatin side. But still de-ish-us!

My other chapter is Battenburg Cake. One of these days I swear to take an afternoon and make one of those adorable pink and yellow checkerboard cakes. That is if I don't eat all the marzipan first.

I love Turkish Delight, but not without going through years of hating it! I don't know how I came to like it, I just did.

Battenburg cake...yummy! :-)

I forgot to add mince pies in my original post. Christmas isn't complete without my Nan's mince pies.

I'm dying to know- what *is* the proper etiquette for disposing of After Eights' envelopes?

Cadbury chocolate in the UK tastes different than Cadbury chocolate in Canada. Much richer and creamier and absolutely delicious. Big wopping bars, too. Like steaks in Texas.

I hate splitting English muffins with a fork.

My chapter? Winegums and licorice allsorts. And turkish delight. The fushia coloured, chocolate-covered kind.

Why do the English insist on eating chips with flavours more appropriate for commercial dog foods? Lamb and Mint. For the love of pete.

For RM67 above: According to Wikipedia, flummery (from the Welsh llymru) is a sweet soft pudding made from stewed fruit and thickened with cornstarch.

I had raspberry flummery on Maryland's Eastern Shore a zillion years ago. It was a brilliant color and delicious.

My chapter:

Bread and Butter pudding

or

Christmas pudding

Plain, naked, digestives are - well, quite boring

But plain chocolate digestives on the other hand are super, super yummy. (plain chocloate is dark chocolate)

If plain chocolate digestives aren't available - then hob nobs are a semi- adequate substitute.

jody - I could send you some, our local irish bar here in MA has white and black pudding, Which would you like. :-)

jsmith - hartley pork pies shop are on my list of places to go, they're not far from us but - hmmm.... we could always do that next weekend :-(

Apres_Londee, quote
"I'm dying to know- what *is* the proper etiquette for disposing of After Eights' envelopes?"

Me too - my US friends love After Eights and also Cadbury's fingers.

Hersheys??? yuk, an after taste of vomit :-(

A penpal of mine from Leeds wrote a song about Hob Nobs back in the 80s, and I could never understand the fascination until I actually downed an entire packet in one sitting. I know others have mentioned digestive biscuits, but my chapter would definitely be focused around Hob Nobs. :)

I think my chapter would be on all sorts of pickles and chutneys. Pickled onions, gherkins, cabbage, walnuts, mustard pickle, piccalilli, apple chutney, tomato chutney, rhubarb chutney... and then there's all the Indian pickles....

Flummery: An ancient thickened pudding originally made from boiled oatmeal & tarted up w/the addition of cream & sugar as well as occasionally orange flower water. It became classier in the 17th century when it was often set in elaborate molds.
Oh, yum. /:)

Shepherd's Pie is popular in many places in the US, although there are several versions made with ground beef, rather than lamb, etc. However, a pretty standard English version isn't impossible to find.

"Shepherd's Pie" made with minced beef is not Shepherd's Pie, it is Cottage Pie.

Am I crazy, or is there a cake that is referred to as "Wedding Cake"? It is chock full of raisens and currents, etc.? Its heavy and dense, sort of like a fruit cake but better. (Please, we'll save the 1 fruitcake in the world passed around jokes for Christmas, OK?)

I swear I used to make this for an English gentleman I was fond of (alas...one that got away!).

If you have a recipe for that, I'd appreciate it.

Chris, you're correct but it's often <b>called</b> Shepherd's Pie in the US.

Suzie, is that cake really dark? In the Caribbean, wedding cakes are often made from &quot;Black Cake&quot; which is a really dense black cake &amp; I think it comes from the British influence down here. It IS much better than a fruit cake &amp; doesn't have all that nasty neon fruit in it.

My chapters....what about:

1. Best biscuits for dunking

( Has to be the humble Rich Tea )

2. What to put in a giant Yorkshire Pudding?

(Whatever you please, from plain old onion gravy to chilli con carne to golden syrup!! )

Thank you , Alya. But Pig's Bum is a sweet steamed pudding made with rhubarb&gt; I'll pass on black pudding, thank you!

We have meat pies in America - they are called empanadas, and they come to us from Mexico or Cuba :) They are quite tasty, if done right - savory seasoned ground beef inside a flaky crust with a sweet glaze.

It was dark, but not black, as I would associate &quot;black&quot; as having perhaps chocolate in it or black molasses.

Note to self, go find my English cookbook and make one for Christmas.
I seem to recall dousing it with liquor. (Brandy?)

But no, no neon fruit...what IS that stuff?

&quot;but we have a general shortage of interestingly named foods.&quot;

Bubble and squeak (beurk!)
Gooseberry fool (yum)

An empanada is what we would call a pasty, not a pie.