Kitchen notes, ingredients, substitutions

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http://gggiraffe.blogspot.com/p/kitchen-notes.html

As an Australian on the big world wide web, I sometimes feel that the terms I use are difficult to understand for those outside our country. We use a strange hybrid of English and American terms and ingredients. So I have cobbled together a list of terms and translations for both Aussies venturing abroad and for those trying to understand Australian cooking and my cooking.

This information is intended to be useful rather than definitive. It is a work in progress so I will continue to tidy it and add links where helpful. (Apologies for the dogdy spacing right now - I am trying to fix it but my html skills are limited so this table is a challenge.) Any corrections, questions or comments can be sent to me at gggiraffe07[AT]yahoo[DOT]com[DOT]au.

KITCHEN NOTES:

My methods: I am a slapdash cook. My blog has shown me how much I tweak recipes as I go and I try to reflect that in the recipe I write out on this blog. I believe that in baking once you know the rules you can break them. I have been baking long enough to have a feel for how things work - though I still occasionally have a cake which comes out of the oven uncooked on the inside. But I just put it back in the oven. My mum tells me I must not change anything in a sponge cake recipe. I often adjust ingredients depending on what I have in the house. I share what I do rather than what I should do, but with some reflections.

My oven - My oven is an old gas oven (and not fan-forced). I don't always preheat but try to when I am organised. I notice I often need more time in the oven than recipes specify. Having used new electric and gas ovens, I am aware that others may need to take this into account when reading my recipes.

My oven cooks unevenly. I used to use a large baking tray but have recently bought two smaller trays which I find much easier for rotating cookies/biscuits or mini muffin trays for more even baking.

Lining cake tins - In my recipes I often say grease and line the tin. This is what I usually do - I spray the sides of a cake tin with oil (light olive oil) and use baking paper to line the bottom. If it is a square or oblong cake tin, I just let it go up two opposite sides. If it is a round cake tin, I cut out a circle of paper for the bottom. If I am using silicone cake tins I don't grease, oil or line the tin.

Measurements. The measurements I use are Australian cup (1 cup = 250ml) and spoon measurements (my tablespoon is 15ml which may not be an Australian measure), and/or metric. For conversions, go to Real Food for Real People or Gourmet Sleuth.Sometimes I say a handful or a sprinkle of an ingredient because it is not important to have an exact amount and you can adjust it according to whim and desire.

INGREDIENTS TRANSLATIONS:
(asterisk [*] indicates that it is not an exact translation)

Australian (what I say)	British	American
buttercake	sponge cake	pound cake
sponge cake		angel food cake*
sponge pudding	pudding	cobbler
icy pole	iced lolly	popsicle
sweets	pudding	dessert
lolly pop	lolly
lolly	sweeties	candy
muesli		granola
mixed spice		pumpkin spice
icing		frosting
wholemeal flour		whole wheat flour
scone		biscuit
biscuit		cookie
dry biscuit	cream cracker	water cracker
bicarbonate soda		baking soda
sultanas	raisins	raisins
raisins		muscat raisins
zucchini	courgette
eggplant	aubergine
capsicum	(sweet) pepper	bell pepper
icing sugar		confectioners sugar, powdered sugar
raw sugar	demerara sugar*	turbinado sugar*
brown sugar	muscovado sugar*
linseeds		flaxseeds
fresh coriander		cilantro
silverbeet		chard
chilli non carne		chilli
chilli		chile pepper
beetroot		beets
grill		broil
butternut pumpkin	butternut squash	butternut squash
jam		jelly
jelly		jello
swiss roll		jelly roll
lamington tin		jelly roll tin
rolled oats	porridge oats	large oat flakes
oatmeal		instant (quick cooking) oats
chickpeas		garbanzos
corn flour		corn starch
Marie biscuits	rich tea biscuits*	plain butter cookies*
jubes	wine gums*	jujubes
boiled lollies		gobstoppers*
plain flour		cake flour, pastry flour, all purpose flour
spring onions		green onions, scallions
gladwrap, clingfilm		saran wrap
bok choy		napa cabbage, Chinese cabbage
rocket		arugula
broad bean		fava bean
Jap pumpkin		Kabocha squash
crumble		crisp
tasty cheese	cheddar cheese	cheddar cheese
dessicated coconut		shredded coconut

WHEN I SAY:

• Dried apricots - I mean Australian dried apricots (like Californian dried apricots) not the sweeter Turkish apricots
• Dutch cocoa - this is a dark better quality cocoa - I am a little confused about how it compares to the American dutch processed cocoa which seems a lower quality cocoa.
• Milk - I use low fat milk. I don't really like the taste of milk so I let E choose the milk we have. In an ideal world I would have vegan milk occasionally but we don't use it enough to justify buying two milks.
• Onions - I always use brown onions, unless otherwise specified. I don't usually say peeled but I always peel them.
• Pumpkin - we have pumpkin all year round and in all shapes and sizes - but I have learnt that in America/Briatin some of what we call pumpkins are winter squash - for example our butternut pumpkin is American and Brits Butternut Squash. We use Queensland Blue, Jap and Kent pumpkin a lot - they are large pumpkins with blue or dark green skin - they seem quite like kabocha squash - see my pumpkin post for more info.
• Mixed herbs - I buy a commercially dried mixture of Thyme, Rosemary, Marjoram, Basil, Oregano, Sage.

SUBSTITUTIONS:

Substitutions for Americans - these are ingredients easy to find in Australia but not so easy in America

• Self Raising Flour (sometimes SR flour) - equals 1 cup plain flour with 2 tsp baking powder
  
• Golden Syrup - dark corn syrup (I think this is the best substitution but let me know if others are better)
• Marie Biscuits - use rich tea biscuits in the UK and a plain crisp butter cookie in America (any ideas welcome)
  
• Promite (or vegemite) - there is no substitution that tastes exactly the same but you could try marmite in the UK or a yeast extract or (if in cooking) soy sauce
  
• Wattleseed - I tend to use this instead of coffee so you can usually use coffee where I use dried wattleseed

Substitutions for Australians - these are ingredients that seem common in America or Britain but are hard to find here and what I usually substitute when I come across them in recipes:

• Apple sauce - I usually just stew some peeled and cored (granny smith) apples and mash them with a fork
  
• Black beans - kidney beans
• Butterscotch chips - chopped jersey caramels
  
• Clotted cream - I just use a thick cream with about 45% fat - King Island cream is the gold standard here
  
• Corn syrup - golden syrup
• Creme Fraiche - sour cream or yoghurt
  
• Dried cherries - dried cranberries
• Fresh cranberries - other berries
• Graham crackers - marie biscuits or wheatmeal biscuits or digestives (not sure there is any exact substitution but these can work - any suggestions welcome)
• Half and half - I think I would use what we call thickened cream (but is actually pouring cream which the Brits call single cream)
  
• Kale - cabbage or silverbeet
• Kosher salt - sea salt
• Liquid Smoke - smoked paprika
  
• Tinned pumpkin puree - I usually microwave some peeled, cored and chopped pumpkin in a plastic tub and mash it with a fork (300-350g unpeeled makes about a cup of mashed pumpkin)
  

USEFUL WEBSITES ON INGREDIENTS:

• Chef in You - Substitutes in Baking
  
• Cooking Light - Flavour Profiles - more information on less ingredients
• Dessert Diet and Dogs - Ingredients and substitutions
• Gourmet Sleuth - a little information on a lot of ingredients
• Joy of Baking - Ingredients and substitutions
  
• Market Fresh - photos of vegetables and when they are in season in Australia.