please empty your brain below
Yes but without American muffins, how else would we refer to "the muffin look" where hipster trousers and tops do not join and a roll of flesh overflows from said trousers?

stroppycow | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 8:38 a.m. | #

Now, I've bought muffins (proper English ones) in your local Tesco. So, if they've discontinued them, just ask at the customer service desk, every time you go in, and they will eventually reappear. Easy. M&S do them too.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 10:32 a.m. | #

i love both types.
in america some bakeries do a huge bran muffin with sultanas in it. i like it warmed up in the microwave then cut in half then smeared with butter and taken with a cup of coffee.
didn't mcdonalds used to sell the english variety at breakfast time?

dave matthews | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 12:24 p.m. | #

I never realised the muffin-caffeine link was so strong. Perhaps it's because I don't really drink much of the stuff these days. When I did, when I were a lad, it was usually an espresso with a cigarette (and possibly a pain au chocolat). These days the only time I ever get any is in my diet coke. Perhaps that'd why I'm not too fussed about the whole issue.

btw: this whole not-drink-caffeine thing... I hope it doesn't mean I'm no longer allowed to read your blog?

Ant | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 1:55 p.m. | #

I love both, but then I was born here and grew up in Canada. We don't have to come down on one side or the other. In whatever supermarkets I shop at you can get both, though store-bought American muffins are a poor substitute for homemade ones. As someone noted, warm, with butter melting into them, they can be great. My personal favourite is outmeal and cranberry.

A bit over the top to call them toxic invaders DG... As a Canadian in part, I'm all for American-bashing now and again, but a good American-style muffin can be delicious too.

Gary Netherton | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 3:57 p.m. | #

I love proper muffins - a perfect prelude to Final Score, with the butter oozing and mixing with the jam. Yum, yum.

I also like some American muffins, but I rarely buy them except from somewhere I've tried and tested, because most of the ones available taste so strongly of lard, it's vile. And I can't understand why, because there is no sense or purpose to making a sponge cake with lard.

Actually, I'd have a sponge cake in preference to a muffin, but, in general, muffins tend to be sold fresher than sponge cakes. Which is why I makemy own sponge cakes.

Gert | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 4:10 p.m. | #

I equate American style muffins with airports, as the only time I have ever eaten one is when catching an early morning flight and it was the only thing vaguely edible at the coffee stand. As I recall it crumbled all over the place and I ended up with more of it spread down my shirt than in my mouth. Most airport coffee stands have a good flapjack or a caramel shortbread available, so them muffins ain't gonna get a look in.

Alan | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 4:16 p.m. | #

And cheese and black pepper (savoury) muffins (from Sainsbury's, not the ones from Tesco's, which are vile) are lovely. Toast, spread with marmite, and cover with sliced cheese. Then grill until the cheese melts. Gorgeous.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 6:15 p.m. | #

Next topic - when is a pancake not a dropped scone?? or is it vice versa?

(And is it only a Scottish thing??)

Gordon | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 6:51 p.m. | #

Ohh and yes McD's used to offer an "English Muffin" (note the qualifier!) in their breakfast menus. Lord knows what was in them but I do remember that they were reasonably tasty with strawberry jam.

Ach crumpets.

Gordon | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 6:54 p.m. | #

I think what I object to most is the multi-national urge to foist lowest common denominator muffins on the population at the expense of more traditional bread/cake-based delights. Sure muffins can sometimes be well made, usually when no catering company has been anywhere near them, but most of the modern muffins you can buy are nutritional no-go zones and spiritually vacant.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 14.04.05 - 7:48 p.m. | #

When my daughter made muffins at school in cookery (sorry food technology) they tasted incredibly awful, sort of a potato aftertaste.

Debster | 15.04.05 - 12:39 a.m. | #

I never saw the point of English muffins. Just white bread, really. Rather like bagels in their lack of purpose. Nice enough if they are fresh, but you wouldn't go out of your way to buy them would you?
There are some delicious home-baked Canadian muffins in a caff near me. All fresh ingredients. No lard or E numbers. One pays accordingly. You're right about the dimensions: too big to eat alone, too small to share.
Crumpets are basically a medium for melted butter. They should be toasted on paperclips fastened over a 2-bar electric fire.
As for what Americans call pancakes and we call Scotch pancakes or dropscones (ie, not crepes) - don't get me started. Except the only edible ones are those you make at home, and the point is making them rather than just eating them. Watching the bubbles burst. That smell of caramelising butter...

anne | 15.04.05 - 2:16 a.m. | #

the 'muffin man' reminds me of Frank Zappa, for some reason ....

zed | Homepage | 17.04.05 - 8:49 p.m. | #











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