CULTURAL DIFFERENCES #1

I've not even left the states and I'm already seeing some very interesting cultural differences. I have a lovely cookbook given to me by some family friends upon their return from the UK, and it is full of traditional teatime recipies. BUT. There are some oddstuffs happening in that cookbook.

1) The British are apparently extremely fond of baking their pastries etc. for a LOOOOONG TIME. I think at least five recipies have cook times from 1 to 2 hours, and one even has 2 1/2! Holy cow. I thought "perhaps they cook on very low heat?" NOPE. 350 or higher, excepting one recipe, which cooks at 325.
British people, apparently, have far more patience when it come to their biscuit recipies than I do.

2) Speaking of temperatures...after every degree given (in Farenheights...this is after all a book meant for tourists) they have written a "Mark". For example: "Bake at 350 degrees or Mark 6..." This is very interesting to me, especially as both 450 and 425 areMark 8. It sounds a bit impresise, but what do I know about British food? It will be interesting to see what the oven in our flat says.

3) British recipes often use the following : caster suger, self-rising flour, mixed/candied peel, and curd. Caster sugar, as explained by Mom, can be made by chuffing regular sugar into a small blender and giving it what-for. Self-rising flour apparently means the baking soda is mixed in, and curd means straight up cheese curd. This confuses me a bit, as I don't think any old cheese curd would do...can you imagine sharp chedder cheese curds as part of a sweet pastry recipie? Blech. Mom (who I swear know everything) suggests that it would be more like ricotta cheese. And apparently mixed and candied peel each can be bought at any time of the year, though I've only seen them around Christmas time here. They also seem to LOVE grated lemon rind, in everything. I mean, just love it. Fortunately I do too, so that works out nicely :)

4) There is also a plethora of odd devices in which to bake these recipies. They all have equivilants to commonly used tins etc here with the exception of a "sandwich tin", which I have never once heard of, and won't try to guess at.

5) One of the most intriguing types of recipes is Parkin, which comes in Leeds, Sticky and others. Parkin is put into a tin, like a Spam tin, apparently, and left to sit for awhile, which just sounds interesting and odd.

6) Words: golden syrup is corn syrup, treacle is molasses (which you should all know from Harry Potter), biscuit is cookie, and pudding means dessert (also seen in Harry Potter). 

7) and of course there's the bit where they weigh everything, as opposed to using measuring cups and spoons.

Cooking my office treats tonight (see previous post) will be an adventure, I'm sure. Pictures might follow, if I take any.

UPDATE: According to Google images, this is a sandwich tin. WHY it's called a sandwich tin, I have no clue. I'm not sure where the sandwich part comes from. I think I'll stick with "springform pan".