this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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For example, Marmite Crumpets don't exist. You cannot buy them at the supermarket. To be clear: you can buy crumpets, you can buy marmite, you can buy butter; but you have to assemble them at home.

If you walk into a breakfast cafe, they will happily serve you sausage / egg / bacon / french toast / bubble / squeak (whatever that is). But no marmite crumpets. If you ask them to make it, they will give you a very strange look. It's not typically offered. It's something you just have to make at home.

It is unbuyable. Any tourist who comes to the UK to try a Marmite crumpet would need to bring a toaster or an oven with them, or quickly befriend a brit and hope that they have all the ingredients at home.

It's not a secret. You just can't have it.

*munches into crumpet thoughtfully, and salivates at the juicy savory delight, whilst staring at you pityingly and condescendingly*

Anyway, what's something that I could never experience unless I made it myself in your local?

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[–] a_baby_duck@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Are hotels in the UK not equipped with toasters?

[–] Lemming421@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago (2 children)
[–] phlegmy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

You’re supposed to wash it out after you shit in it

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago

you love the sweet plastic taste and you know it!

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 8 hours ago

Trypophobia, apparently

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 14 points 12 hours ago (6 children)

Ha! We can get marmite and vegemite here in the states. And they're both fucking delicious when used right.

But, you can't get applebutter anything in the wild around here. Might be possible elsewhere, but I haven't run across it.

Not sure what is and isn't a thing elsewhere, but applebutter isa strongly spiced apple product used as a spread. It's sweet rather than savory. It typically features cloves, cinnamon and allspice as the main spices, in varying proportions. It is also fucking amazing.

But you won't find it in restaurants at all.

There is a great southern tradition of applebutter biscuits. Biscuits here, again in case it isn't known, are a fluffy, light, scone-like quickbread. And it's similar to your scenario. Places could offer that as a menu option and bring it to you. They could possibly make a deal for individual packets of it like exist for jelly, and bring that with biscuits. But nobody does.

It's one of those things that if you came over here, you can't find it in restaurants. Even worse, while you can buy commercially made applebutter (there's a few brands out there) they are all inferior to even mid tier homemade applebutter. So you can't even buy the experience the way people can at home. You can't just go out and buy Whitehouse applebutter and get the right texture and taste on your biscuits (or toast, or crumpets).

The commercially made options are all too thin for one thing. They don't spread like applebutter is supposed to. It's supposed to have a thick consistency, closer to something like a jam or preserve. The commercial stuff is also over-homogeneous and too finely textured. Homemade is going to have small chunks of softened apple as opposed to a blended texture.

The spice mix in store bought also tends to be both blander and too , I dunno, even? Homemade, you get layers of the spices. Store bought, you get one layer, there's no depth to it. Part of that is it being made in huge batches, and part is the longer time from jar to your mouth; so I can't say it's anything the makers have cheaped out on or anything. But it is not as good as what you make yourself (or someone's grammy makes).

Also, marmite and applebutter on toast is absurd in how good it is. The savory and salty bang of marmite with a spoonful of sweet, spicy applebutter on top will make you want to slap yo mama. I find marmite and vegemite don't do well on biscuits compared to toast, english muffins, or the like. Too much bread for it to really pop unless you do an entire spoonful, at which point it's too much.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 16 minutes ago (1 children)

Have you tried Branston pickle in a cheese sandwich?

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 minutes ago* (last edited 11 minutes ago)

No, but I'll be looking to see if I can obtain those. I really do love trying stuff like that. It doesn't always turn out that I like it, but even a bad experience is a good experience, if you dig.

Awww yeah, the Publix two towns over has it. And I looked at the ingredients, I think I'm going to love it

[–] iheartneopets@lemm.ee 1 points 5 minutes ago

I can literally go to any diner around me and there will be individually packaged containers of apple butter, usually next to whatever little packages of jelly they have on offer. I'm sorry you've suffered without for so long not noticing them

[–] terminhell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 hours ago

Here in Louisiana it's pretty common

[–] EbenezerScrew@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Cracker Barrel gives you biscuits before they bring out your meal and you can request Apple Butter for them. I think usually they bring out sausage gravy.

I remember the apple butter being ok, but nothing like the homemade stuff cooked over a fire and stirred continously for 12 hours.

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

No joke? I haven't been to a cracker barrel in ages. I had no clue they offer it. Thanks :)

[–] EbenezerScrew@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

Yeah, it looks like they may charge for it now. It's $.50 on their online menu under extras.

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago

Eey, I make apple butter! It's great. I do know some places you can buy it though...roadside stands! Farmer stalls or markets. Though those may be more common here, being the garden state. Still better making it at home, get to pick the apples and how much you let it cook down!

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

Apple butter is an underrated condiment. I used to eat it on pancakes instead of syrup as a kid, and I put it in oatmeal and such as an adult. I don't have it often nowadays, but there's a place that produces it and other fruit butters nearby, and there's occasionally some other brands in stores and roadside shops.

For those that haven't had it, I guess imagine baked apples or an apple dumpling but reduced down so it is super concentrated into something spreadable.

[–] digdilem@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 hours ago (2 children)
  1. Chip Butty
  2. Crisp Sandwich made with Sandwich Spread.
[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

I had a fish finger sandwich for lunch in a pub near Inverness last month, it was delicious.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago

horrific, you get a pass

[–] BmeBenji@lemm.ee 29 points 14 hours ago (4 children)

A Twinkie weiner sandwich.

  1. Cook a hot dog
  2. Slice a twinkie halfway through the bottom longwise to get something like a hotdog bun
  3. Insert the cooked hotdog into newly created bun
  4. Squirt easy cheese along the length of the hot dog
  5. Dip in milk
  6. Eat

Weird Al invented this in 1989 in his movie UHF and it’s still not available in stores for some reason

[–] SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 3 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Isn’t a Twinkie partly chocolate?

[–] The_Jewish_Cuban@hexbear.net 2 points 5 hours ago

Nah that's a chocodile which is a chocolate covered Twinkie

[–] EbenezerScrew@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago

You may be thinking of a ho-ho. Also made by Hostess.

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.ml 6 points 11 hours ago

Sounds like something you could get at a state fair

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 15 points 13 hours ago

For good reason. Wtf

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[–] DragonsInARoom@lemmy.world 3 points 9 hours ago

Food I want to eat

[–] Papanca@lemmy.world 28 points 15 hours ago (8 children)

Decent fitting clothes with deep pockets and quality fabrics with the colors i like

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

I've only ever found one zip-up hoodie with decent insulation and pockets deep enough that my phone won't fall out of them if I'm not careful, and you better believe I'm taking good care of it.

[–] Euler_eix@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

I had the same issue until I discovered MTailor. It's all I wear now. A bit more expensive but totally worth it.

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[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Brother, we have all of those ingredients everywhere. We have a little British store run by expats who could get whatever packaged crumpet you use. Shit, I can make a batch of crumpets in about 15 minutes.

It's not like a crazy recipe that needs balanced flavors to be done right. Like I've never had a good poutine outside of Quebec. It's always sad beige gravy with the wrong seasonings or mozzarella or frozen fries or all of the above. It is never right.

What we can also talk about is local places making local dishes but they do it wrong and cheap or "good enough" and people come from abroad and try the dishes and think they're mid because they went to the wrong place.

TL;DR: I love poutine.

/Rant

[–] Noedel@lemmy.world 5 points 9 hours ago

It's not like a crazy recipe that needs balanced flavors to be done right.

We're talking British cuisine here

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I had poutine at random place in Edinburgh which a Canadian friend said was the best poutine he'd had outside of Quebec. "Still shit though", in comparison to in Quebec

[–] MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago

Down the Hatch?

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 45 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (6 children)

Here's something that you can't buy outside of Italy: mozzarella. I tasted proper mozzarella in Tuscany and it's nothing like the shit labeled mozzarella sold in supermarkets around the world, and for a good reason: real mozzarella has a shelf life shorter than Trump's attention span.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 19 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

We have a deli here that makes fresh moz daily, you can find places that do it all over. Shelf-life really only keeps it out of supermarkets. The problem for many forms of cheese in many countries, and especially the US, is the requirements around pasturization. Completely changes the texture and taste. And for moz specifically, the lack of Buffalo.

[–] iheartneopets@lemm.ee 1 points 9 minutes ago

Buffalo...sauce? Buffalo, New York? Buffalo the ungulate? I am confused

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[–] Packet@hexbear.net 11 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Buckwheat kasha, you won't find it even in a Slavic restaurant. It is a simple dish of cooked buckwheat and milk, with sugar added if one desires. Such a simple breakfast dish is sold nowhere to my knowledge.

[–] kurcatovium@lemm.ee 2 points 9 hours ago

I've never had buckwheat that wouldn't have funky smell/aftertaste. It just weird all the time. Probably trying wrong brand or IDK. I'm slavic so my ancestors ate shitton of buckwheat, though it was almost non existent in my childhood. And now it's weird ingredient I'm scared of :-D

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[–] riskable@programming.dev 11 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

Marmite crumpets shouldn't exist!

What other cosmic horrors are you creating in your kitchenβ€½

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

Marmite crumpets shouldn’t exist!

You're right. Not without cheese.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 13 points 13 hours ago

we have a chicken stew that we make with barley and oats that sometimes has entire pieces of cartillage in it, if that helps

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