From Mary: Cooking in our kitchen continues to be a learning process. First I had to adjust to cooking with gas on a stove top that is too hot and an oven that isn't hot enough. The oven temperatures on all British ovens are set by a numbered dial instead of by temperature degrees, so it is necessary to always consult a chart when using a U.S. recipe.
The ovens are also VERY small. I brought recipes for bars and brownies that use a cookie sheet since we will be cooking for 14 people when the students arrive. However, a 10x15 inch pan won't even fit in the ovens!
The recipes in Britain also are often by weight and in metric measurements. Again, consult the chart and sometimes just guess! In addition to those differences, some products we use in cooking aren't available, so you have to substitute or improvise.
For instance, they don't have corn syrup or pancake syrup in the stores. There is a "golden syrup" that isn't really like either one, but can be used as a substitute. Then there is always the question of what a product is called here.
I was looking for powdered sugar and found it is called icing sugar, but there were several other kinds of sugar to confuse the issue. There are many types of flour here and none of them are called by the names we are used to hearing. There are also many kinds of cream including single cream, double cream, extra-double cream and the delicious (despite the name) clotted cream.
Choosing a favorite yogurt has been positive because every flavor seems to be creamy and tasty, including gooseberry and rhubarb.
Mark adds: Mary has gotten very good at simply walking up to women in the grocery aisles to ask them questions about what is on the shelves. These perfect strangers are often startled at first, but once they hear her accent, are unfailingly delighted to help.
She also forgot to mention that our refrigerator fits under the counter top -- barely bigger than a dorm fridge!
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