The International Pastry Thread

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This thread is for discussing pastries around the world. What's in a name? What, to you, is a "biscuit" or a "muffin"? A "cookie" or a "bun"? A "pudding" or a "teacake"? Does your country have some regional pastries that might be unknown elsewhere? Am I mistaken in thinking "pastry" is a universal term for this category of food? Discuss! Images and descriptions welcome!

We have cookies. Biscuits in the US tend to be "savory" and are excellent with butter.

We have crackers. I'm not sure what people from outside of the US would call them.

We have many different sorts of pastries which are called the same in any language. Linzer tarts comes to mind. Even something like "pop tarts."

We have "Danishes" in New York; I'm not sure what they would be called in other places.

Until the last couple of hours or so, I thought I had a reasonable grasp of these matters, but not so sure now. I've always thought that muffins and teacakes were virtually identical, for instance: a muffin, at least in my part of the world is a round, somewhat raised bread-like item, fairly plain, which generally forms the basis of a kind of sandwich.

A teacake though, according to stuff I've googled, is a more elaborate affair, usually containing fruits like currants or sultanas, and maybe spices. That sounds as if it has a fair bit in common with a scone, though those are smaller.

Then there are rolls, baps and barmcakes, which all have more in common with muffins.

UK here (though it varies depending on the part of the UK you're from, personally I'm from the North of England).

What we call a biscuit is typically sweet. Hard in texture.

For a muffin, that's a cake that's larger than a cupcake but not as big as a cake you'd divide and share with others. It can also be a form of bread, but I think that's more common in southern areas.

As for cookies, that's what I call large biscuits that are incredibly soft / gooey. If it goes hard when it goes off then it's a cookie to me, if it goes soft when it goes off then I consider it a biscuit.

Buns can be sweet or savoury depending on the context. Sometimes both if you're talking about iced buns.

I call anything that's a dessert a pudding. The main exception being a Yorkshire pudding, which isn't really a pudding at all.

When I think of teacakes, I either think of a chocolate covered marshmallow dome with a biscuit base, or bread with currents (sultanas, raisins) and sometimes spices (such as cinnamon) that you'd have with a cup of tea. I often ask people to clarify which kind they mean.

Last edited by Lost_dragon on 17 Sep 2020, 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Semla.

By "goes off" do you mean when it starts to go bad?

I think she means how it breaks when you bite it.

Yes.

That looks delicious. A for you for posting the thread's first pastry picture.

Peach cobbler


Blueberry pie

This is a biscuit in the USA, particularly a feature in Southern cuisine, but common in the Midwest as well. I'm not sure if it is well known on the coasts. Pictured is the classic rolled/layered biscuit:



It is savory, not sweet at all. There is a quick "dropped" version, which does not pull apart in layers, and a "rolled" version which does due to being repeatedly rolled out with a rolling pin and folded over to make the layers. It's made with a lot of butter and/or shortening. Some people add shredded cheese. Classic ways to eat them are:

-With sausage gravy; in the picture, gravy has been ladled over the halves of a layered biscuit, pulled apart. This is called "Biscuits 'n' gravy."



-With chicken pot pie; these look like drop biscuits with cheese in them. Chicken pot pie with biscuits is classic Southern fare and may be unfamiliar in other regions.



-They are sold at McDonald's both plain and as part of little breakfast sandwiches, like this one with sausage and egg



-I often eat them just with butter and jam on the halves.

The other American use of the word "biscuit" I'm aware of is for dog biscuits! They are very hard.

Sopaipillas - a Mexican dessert made of fried dough (hollow inside) and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Served with honey for drizzling.

Informational note: a plurality if not majority of American cookies follow the creaming method, which can be used to make soft, chewy, or hard/crispy cookies.

I disagree strongly with what most American coffee shops have for scones (hard, sugar-coated wedges), and prefer soft, enriched [American style] biscuits with fruit in them that I like to call scones. Is there a consensus around what a scone is? Is this an international word?

There are a lot of cheap, mass-produced American "cookies" that are strange, hard, dry versions of what ought to be soft chewy deliciousness, like the Chips Ahoy packs of hard little "chocolate chip cookies." Perhaps there's a parallel effect occurring where commercially produced scones are also too hard?

We get those kind of biscuits in places like Popeyes.

What about bagels? Are they familiar in the U.K.?

Eaten with cream cheese.