Your ViewsKeep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions. To help you work out what is what, are now little icons to help you see biscuit related themes. And now you can see at a glance which are the most contested subjects via this graph (requires Flash 6.0 plugin). Please keep your mails coming in to nicey@nicecupofteaandasitdown.com | If you like, you can use this search thingy to find stuff that matches with any of the icons you pick, or use the fantastic free text search, Yay! | Your e-Mails |
Richard Sefton |
A friend I was working with had his honeymoon in Jamacia. Up on his return he brought with him several large bags, nearly doubling the weight of his luggage, of a wounderus biscuit called Ruff Tops. They are small, round with a slight dome. Crumbley, yet they hold together well under dunking. What really livens this little smasher up is that they are made with saffron and, I belive and little cumin. This gives them a yellow tint, quite unuseual in the tin, but also adds a slight edge to them, taking off some of the sweetness.
I have yet to find them anywere over on Blighty, but my search continues. If, however, you know of anyone heading out that way, I suggest they pick some up for you to try. |
Nicey replies: They sound exotic. We had a Caribbean banana cake yesterday, and it was a bit of a disappointment as it didn't taste of bananas. |
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Ian Ashcroft
Garibaldi Review |
Dear Nicey,
After unanimously voting the Garibaldi the title of 'Most Underated Biscuit', my colleagues and I inevitably moved on to the link between the biscuit and the Italian hero of 19th century liberal nationalism. Here things became more fractious as two rival theories emerged. The first that
Guiseppe Garibaldi instructed his cook to create a robust, lightweight, durable and high energy foodstuff for an army on the march and the second that an english biscuit manufacturer created the biscuit to celebate Garibaldi's visit to London. My questions to you are therefore:
1. What is the true link between liberator and biscuit ?
2. Are you sure you have spelled Garibaldi correctly in your review ?
3. Is it true that the Garibaldi is the only biscuit certified for space
travel by NASA ?
4. As the Garibaldi is dead fly biscuit and the eccles cake is dead fly pie,
are they somehow related and why are we calling a cake a pie (or vice versa)
?
Must rush as my tea seems to have cooled.
Ian
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Nicey replies: 1) Don't know the interweb didn't help me much either
2) I'm sure I spelt it incorrectly as most people tell me that
3) No I think the fig roll is cleared for use in zero G
4) Yes they are related, and you called it a pie not me |
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Toby Clark
Abbey Crunch Review |
Dear nicecupofteaandasitdown.com,
I can only endorse your approving comments on the Abbey Crunch - the finest of biscuits. Instantly comforting, a great dunk and undeniably nutritious. The only real problem is that once you've eaten a whole packet (and it's difficult not to, after the first few) the massive sugar content hits your gums, puckering, shrinking and retracting them to the point at which premolars drop out.
Still, it's worth it.
My other point is another definition of the difference between biscuits and cakes. Put technically: biscuits are hygroscopic - cakes are hydrophilic. Put simply: biscuits need to stay dry, while cakes need to remain moist. Store a biscuit incorrectly, and it will go soggy (bad!); store a cake incorrectly, and it will dry out and become stale - also bad, but with the potential to be at least partially rectified by dunking.
Anyway, thanks very much for the site - Sports Biscuits, eh?
Best regards,
Toby Clark. |
Nicey replies: Yep, your biscuit/cake observation is of course one the tenants of the McVities Jaffa Cake defense in the famous case against the Inland Revenue. |
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Greg Orwin |
Hi
I feel I need to express an opinion here. Alfahores in Uruguay may be one thing, but I can assure you that beingbrought up in Chile that Alfajores (note spelling difference) are a completely different beast. Imagine if you will two crumbly, crunchy, hob nob type biscuits. These are lovingly sandwiched together with dulce de leche (which by the way is the caramel you get from boiling a can of condensed milk in a pan of water for a couple of hours), then half dipped in plain chocolate. The problem with these unfortunately is that it is completely impossible to have just one. Inceidentally they dunk fabulously with one caveat, make sure you put no sugar in your tea as the chocolate and caramel will add the right amount of sweetness if you are a one teaspoonfful of sugar person when you have two dunked alfajores.
I will get off my soap box now.
Greg |
Nicey replies: Those Alfajores sound the business. |
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Biscuit Man |
Ahhh! McVities Royal Scots! These used to be my favourite biscuits! Very rich buttery taste, with a distinctive flavour that was similar to, but different from shortbread. This is a classic example of a product that was 'engineered' out of the market. The original recipe, from the 1960's or earlier, included small quantities of some very expensive ingredients. At various times in the 1970's the recipe went through lots of small changes, and over time most of the expensive ingredients were removed to make it cheaper to produce. Unfortunately the cumulative effect over the years was that the product evolved into something that tasted nothing like the original, and its popularity slumped. Eventually sales dropped to a level where it was discontinued. You can't even blame Marketing for this! the recipe changes came from the Production side of the company. Maybe its time for a comeback in its original format!!
Biscuit Man! |
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