For the first installment of FOOD FIND, I'll be introducing the crumpet to those of you who have never seen one or tasted one or ever even heard of one. The crumpet is, to most Americans, the epitome of England. When you ask them what they think of when they hear "tea & crumpets", they will most likely say things like: tea party, england, cute, sweet, and JOLLY GOOD! We don't really get it. We just know it's from England and it must be adorable and then we want to try one.
Most Americans have a fond adoration of anything that has anything to do with any part of the U.K. We love the accents..oh my word...the accents...it's like heaven to our ears. And the words that the English choose to shower us with are all so wonderful. Like lovely. And Love. They call me "Love" here which I think is just the sweetest thing in the world. It's like when you're in the southern states and you don't know a soul and have no clue what you're doing and then someone asks if they can help you Darlin'. It's that kind of feeling.
We just can't help ourselves. It's because you (and I'm talking to the Britons now) you say things like cods wallop. And scallywag. And you say "I've muddled it up again." I mean, we just can't help but buckle at the knees and wanna hug you.
Anyway. I'm gushing now. Where were we? Ah, yes. The crumpet. Here she is.
That's all there is to it. It's sort of like a thick pancake. Actually, it is very like a thick pancake. They use lots of baking soda to get those signature holes in the top. Then, when it's almost completely cooked, it is flipped and browned to finish it off. It does, to me however, taste like it's made with more of an egg batter, but there aren't any eggs in it.
At a tea room in Warwick, Kerri ordered tea & crumpets and the crumpet looked exactly like this. I bought 12 of these from the grocery store for about 1 pound. I think her tea & crumpets cost about 7 pounds. That's quite a killing they're making in tea rooms these days. In fact, I'm almost 100% sure that the crumpet in that tea room came from TESCO (sort of like a British Super Wal-Mart).
So that's it. Pretty simple, huh? I know this is probably sacreligious, but I put a bit of cinnamon & sugar on Noodle's and she loved it. It really is quite yummy, but it's not by any means my favorite food find in Britain. More of those to come. :)
