American food at my Tesco

I think they were concerned that we might be secret Asda agents or something!


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Does it not bother anyone that in comparison to the other ethnic sections at Tesco, ours is entirely junk food?! 

This! All the other ethnic sections have lots of useful food, such as stuff to cook with. The American sections are always pop tarts and cereal. I wish they would have more useful food or ingredients.


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lots of useful food, such as stuff to cook with.

Crisco d*mmit!

This! All the other ethnic sections have lots of useful food, such as stuff to cook with. The American sections are always pop tarts and cereal. I wish they would have more useful food or ingredients.
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I'm curious what ingredients you mean? Most things/substitutes are simply in other sections of the store but still available.

Crisco d*mmit!

Sonofasailor, have you guys tried Trex or White Flora?
Trex worked for my Boston Cream Cupcake recipe. I haven't tried baking any cookies with it yet though.

Or you could buy Crisco on Amazon?

Sonofasailor, have you guys tried Trex or White Flora?
Trex worked for my Boston Cream Cupcake recipe. I haven't tried baking any cookies with it yet though.

Or you could buy Crisco on Amazon?

Well I am a crappy baker. But I did, through years of stick-to-idness, manage back in the US to make a pretty mean southern buttermilk biscuit. My theory on good biscuits is that you need to make them often and you sort of get the feel for them.

I learned originally from an older lady who eschewed the classic "rub in cold butter to flour to form pebbles" method for the more white trash, "make a volcano out of flour and gradually add in buttermilk and Crisco" technique. You get a very light biscuit...if done right.

I have not come close to replicating here....they come out like pucks...

I did indeed get some Crisco here from an American food cart.....but they didn't come out right.

Thoughts:

 - Flour is different. I don't know the ins and outs...again not being an avid baker....but apparently it is different.

 - My oven is very uneven.

 - I have lost the touch....I am at a place in life where I don't need to be eating biscuits on a regular basis....so I don't get the practice in...



 

Well I am a crappy baker. But I did, through years of stick-to-idness, manage back in the US to make a pretty mean southern buttermilk biscuit. My theory on good biscuits is that you need to make them often and you sort of get the feel for them.

I learned originally from an older lady who eschewed the classic "rub in cold butter to flour to form pebbles" method for the more white trash, "make a volcano out of flour and gradually add in buttermilk and Crisco" technique. You get a very light biscuit...if done right.

I have not come close to replicating here....they come out like pucks...

I did indeed get some Crisco here from an American food cart.....but they didn't come out right.

Thoughts:

 - Flour is different. I don't know the ins and outs...again not being an avid baker....but apparently it is different.

 - My oven is very uneven.

 - I have lost the touch....I am at a place in life where I don't need to be eating biscuits on a regular basis....so I don't get the practice in...

It's probably the flour! And possibly your rising agent could be out of date? They do actually lose effectiveness when they get old.

"All-purpose flour is slightly higher in protein than British plain flour, but most of the time you can substitute without any problems. If the recipe is particularly delicate, you can reproduce a similar protein content by using half plain flour and half strong white flour. Cake flour in the US is very low in protein, and usually bleached, a process which is outlawed in Europe. This makes it very hard to reproduce the superfine sponge used for American layer cakes."

https://usingmainlyspoons.com/2011/11/17/10-tips-for-baking-from-american-blogs-in-the-uk/

I think they were concerned that we might be secret Asda agents or something!


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Haha. Yeah, some people are just weird/paranoid. I've gotten funny looks for taking pictures of food on shelves, but I don't care! Cockles are not something you see in the US seafood aisle very often!

It's probably the flour! And possibly your rising agent could be out of date? They do actually lose effectiveness when they get old.

To be honest, I have just lost all culinary inertia. I am thinking of getting those packets of goop they are making these days...everything you need in a pouch.

https://huel.com/

FYI, I made my own cake flour yesterday by removing two tablespoons from a cup of plain flour and adding in two tablespoons of corn flour.

I agree that Trex is a good, but not perfect, substitute for Crisco. I was known for my crunchy chocolate-chip cookies back in the States, and I've tried to make them here, but they're just not quite the right consistency. They're always too soft!

Has anyone found cornmeal over here?

FYI, I made my own cake flour yesterday by removing two tablespoons from a cup of plain flour and adding in two tablespoons of corn flour.

I agree that Trex is a good, but not perfect, substitute for Crisco. I was known for my crunchy chocolate-chip cookies back in the States, and I've tried to make them here, but they're just not quite the right consistency. They're always too soft!

Has anyone found cornmeal over here?

Do you use a part vegetable shortening/part butter mixture in your cookies?

If you use more or all butter they will spread out a bit more and be crunchy. The vegetable shortening helps them retain their shape and stay softer as it has a higher melting point than butter. I forgot to do do the half shortening/half butter rather than all butter once and my cookies were WAY crispier than I wanted them to be. And I hadn't cooked them any longer than usual! haha.

I've read that cornmeal can be found here. I think it was in caribbean sections of stores... And that polenta is a poor substitute as fine ground is too fine and coarse ground is too coarse.

Nope, it's all Trex. I didn't know the flour was different here though, so maybe that's it?

It's nearly that tie of year where I stock up on anything and everything I can find here that happens to have pumpkin in it. I usually go to Tesco to get cans of Libby's pumpkin puree, but now I am not seeing it on the Tesco website so I am getting a bit nervous! Has anyone seen any at their Tesco? It's not that local to us so we only go every once in a while otherwise I'd just pop down to have a look myself.

It's nearly that tie of year where I stock up on anything and everything I can find here that happens to have pumpkin in it. I usually go to Tesco to get cans of Libby's pumpkin puree, but now I am not seeing it on the Tesco website so I am getting a bit nervous! Has anyone seen any at their Tesco? It's not that local to us so we only go every once in a while otherwise I'd just pop down to have a look myself.

It seems to be out of stock everywhere, at least in the major supermarkets.

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/home_baking/libbys_100_pure_pumpkin_425g.html

Would this stuff do?     http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=292613099&gclid=CO-IgvCXvM4CFQoo0wodDvIMcw&gclsrc=aw.ds

Our stupid Tesco closed so I'm not often near one either.

It seems to be out of stock everywhere, at least in the major supermarkets.

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/home_baking/libbys_100_pure_pumpkin_425g.html

Would this stuff do?     http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=292613099&gclid=CO-IgvCXvM4CFQoo0wodDvIMcw&gclsrc=aw.ds

Our stupid Tesco closed so I'm not often near one either.

Yes! That will do. Doesnt have to be Libby's. As long as I can make pumpkin cake, pie and cheesecake out of it, I'm happy! Thanks for finding that!!

Yes! That will do. Doesnt have to be Libby's. As long as I can make pumpkin cake, pie and cheesecake out of it, I'm happy! Thanks for finding that!!

Yay!