Stickers on the shop windows for Marks and Spencers' Christmas putsch. Theme of single words nice and bold with small Christmassy icons alongside. One such sticker spelled:
irresistable
Aaaarrrgghhhh!
If Marks and Sparks has come to this, the UK is doomed. Might as well buy a ton of Heinz beanz and head for Montana.
Yuck. Were they going for something in particular? Eg. Was this a purposeful misspelling so that they could use the A to creat sAnta by aligning all the individual words?
Oh-- i would have thought, sight unseen, it was in the linen or tableware department -- with a christmas place settings, dishes, or table cloths.
but going totally of thread.....
I would never think of Heinz beans for Montana-- here about, Heinz doesn't mean beanz--and Montana seems more like a chili place to me.
but like BBQ- how you define chili in US is very subjective, and almost everyone is strongly opinionated about it. (I actually am pretty open about what passes for chili... but even i have some standards.)
For the first time in my life! i sent back food in a restaurant just this week. I ordered chili and got a bowl of mixed beans (okay) with some vegetables (okay)and chopped (ground) beef, (okay) in a molasses/tomato based sauce(Molases? in chili?Auugh!) that had some hot pepper sauce (not chili's!) added to it. --and it was served with out fresh chopped onion or saltines!
i am willing to take a fair amount of variety in chili-- it should be made with chunks of chuck, but ground chuck will pass, and i like a mix of beans (and personally prefer some of the smaller beans, pink beans, i.e.,) instead of just using kidney beans. tomatoes are okay, so long as they don't dominate, and chili should have chilies not just chili powder.. (but even that would be better than molasses).
Molasses in beans = New England style baked beans.. (heinz beans are pale imitation of the best baked beans, which are to be found, on sundays, at churches "old home days" through out New England--and WoW might be able to further refine where..) and as different from chili as, as, as....
as English in US is different from English in England!
Standards! crashing down everywhere!
Quote from of troy : Molasses in beans = New England style baked beans.. (heinz beans are pale imitation of the best baked beans, which are to be found, on sundays, at churches "old home days" through out New England--and WoW might be able to further refine where..) and as different from chili as, as, as....
as English in US is different from English in England!
I wince when I see New England stye.... as if it were the real thing rather than some commercial bastardization.
I won't burden you with a recipe but REAL New England Baked Beans are made with dark molasses and BAKED in ovens, preferable brick ovens such as bakers use, and preferably overnight. For our Yankee forebears from sunset Saturday to sunset Sunday was a time of rest and worship. Beans were put in heavy beanpots and cooked in a slow oven all day Saturday, taken out Sunday and put on the table for the main meal.
The commercial product closest to the Real Thing is B&M Baked Beans. B&M was started by George Burnham and Charles Morrill in 1867 and they packaged all types of fish and also corn. In 1901 George (Charles's son) becomes sole proprietor,. In 1927 after years of experiments, B&M began selling brick oven baked beans in cans.
Primary competition for B&M is Campbell Co. and Heinz which produce canned pork-and-beans. Quite different! In NE, Friend's Baked Beans offers B&M some competition.
B&M and Friend's are the only true NE baked beans. We Yankees mostly prefer B&M even though they are 50 % per pound more expensive....and we can tell the difference between Friend's and B&M, but it takes a refined Northern palate!
The popular Campbell, Heinz and VanCamp beans are steamed in cans with a tomato sauce mix. THEY ARE NOT NEW ENGLAND even in their "STYLE!"
New England Baked Beans may be made using either brown sugar or molasses.
According to my sources, B&M are available in all 50 states and have been seen in food stores in London --- my guess would be Fortnum's ??? --- There is a pretty-well-accepted story that when the British warships stopped in Florida on the way to the Falklands, they picked up B&M Baked Beans.
As an aside : When the "Minerva" visited Portsmouth NH in early 1970s they bought B&M ... after having a Yankee breakfast of eggs, ham or bacon and baked beans!
For The Real Thing, get invited to the home of someone who has the time to soak bean overnight and then afford to run thier oven for 12 to 18 hours OR go to local church suppers especially on a Saturday for Ham n'Bean Supper....yum!
Aloha to all
WOW.
Shanks ranted: If Marks and Sparks has come to this, the UK is doomed. Might as well buy a ton of Heinz beanz and head for Montana
Still beats the hey out of the Egyptian themes at Harrods, don' it? And Montana will be soooooooo cold at this time of year.
Poor baby, Try not to look. Here in States a spelling is sometimes perverted in order to copyright it. But I can't say that could have been the intent with comfortAble.
It's the thin edge of the wedge, my friend, the thin edge of the wedge. [sad]
If it's Marks Sppencer now.... can Harrods and Fortnum's be far behind?Sigh, wow
Molasses in beans = New England style baked beans
Dear of Troy, You are right molasses does equal New England baked beans.
When I wrote New England Style makes me wince, I meant I wince when I see it printed on food labels! Things are either prepared exactly as we do in New England or they're not!
If the product(s) is/are an adaption of a New England product, shouldn't it say : In the style of.... ???
wow
of troy said: but like BBQ- how you define chili in US is very subjective
My favorite chili was the chili at the Franciscan Cafe in Flagstaff, AZ. Primary ingredients were strips of jalapeņos and strips of pork with a goodly splash of garlic Nary a bean in sight. Bits of the recipe were distributed among the various principals of the Cafe, primarily the cook, the boss lady and the eldest son, with no one knowing the entire recipe. I (the dishwasher) was trying to be the only person who knew the whole recipe. I never made it.
I highly recommend the powerders available from the Chugwater Chili Corporation in Chugwater, Wyoming, the world headquarters of which I visited this summer.
http://www.chugwaterchili.com/
Cincinnati has a nice, distinctive chili. It's very thin and somewhat watery, but it has a nice mixture of spices in it, including cinnamon. This chili is served over noodles with lots of cheddar cheese on top.
http://www.skylinechili.com/main.html. It may sound strange, but this is great chili, especially with hot sauce on it.
The addition of cinammon to dishes containing beef, veal, and lamb is the contribution, I think, of Arabic cooking to the good food from around the Med. While the Greeks would likely deny it, the presence of cinnamon in Greek dishes is likely the contribution of Arabs to Greek culinary culture. One has to think only of the classic pastitsio, with its cinnamon-flavoured red lamb sauce to imagine the debt which we owe to Arabia for this contribution.
I suppose the fact that adding cinnamon to chili or other dishes sounds repulsive to me might be due to the fact that I'm mildly allergic to cinnamon, but I can't imagine wanting a main course dish to taste like cinnamon.
I'm not sure if all Cincinnati chili has cinnamon in it, but when it does, the cinnamon flavor is very subtle. And it's very popular, the main restaurant chain for it is expanding quite well.
You'd probably enjoy my posting on:
(non-commercial)
http://www.malross.co.uk/backlash/sites_high.html
M&S have a lot to answer for
---
Ashley Frieze
Obsessive, oblique and obnoxious (on a good day)