Heinz salad creme

[walden]

British-born here too and I love salad cream and much prefer it to mayo. In consistency it is closer to a ranch dressing and tastes a bit more vinegary than mayo. Just try it! It won't hurt you and you may actually like it.

My local supermarket is now stocking salad cream, so I don't have to have ask British and Canadian friends and family members bring it over as a house gift when they visit.

Other British foods likely to gross out the average American that I can now buy here are: HP (brown) sauce, Ribena, Branston Pickle, Cross and Blackwell Mint Sauce, and McVities Chocolate Digestive Biscuits. I'm not such a fan of marmite, but I know other expats who craved it before stores began to stock it.

 

[NotUrsula]

Brown sauce is a savoury sauce that happens to be brown. It is normally malt-vinegar based and contains some fruit essence and spices; it is Anglo-Indian in origin. The best-known brand throughout the world is HP (Houses of Parliament), though there are a lot of folks who prefer Daddies or Branston brands. (Yes, there is a brand called Daddies Favourite; it doesn't have tamarind in it. I've never seen Daddies sold in the US.)

The closest thing to it that is American is A-1 Steak Sauce, but other than being vinegar-based and containing Tamarind it isn't nearly the same (I'll use it in a pinch at breakfast in a restaurant, however.)

The tricky thing is that there is a version of HP bottled in the US, and while it's OK, IMO it isn't a patch on the version bottled in Europe; it lacks the same bite. Here are the ingredient lists, you can see they are different:

HP Sauce Ingredients (European): Malt Vinegar (from barley), Tomatoes, Molasses, Spirit Vinegar, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Dates, Sugar, Salt, Modified Maize Starch, Rye Flour, Tamarind Extract, Spices, Onion Extract.

HP Sauce Ingredients (USA): Water, Vinegar, Dates, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Molasses, Tomato Paste, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Orange Juice Concentrate, Onions, Spices, Tamarind Concentrate, Apple Juice Concentrate, Garlic, Chili Peppers, Mustard Flour.

A1 sauce ingredients: tomato puree (water, tomato paste), distilled vinegar, corn syrup, salt, raisin paste, spices and herbs, crushed orange peel, dried garlic and onion, caramel color, potassium sorbate (to preserve freshness), xanthan gum.

I can find the European version of HP at one of the ethnic markets here in town that caters to East Asians, but it sells out fast, thus my tendency to stockpile.

PS: Most Americans have never experienced UK-style bacon sandwiches on a bun. The usual American bacon sandwich is the BLT: crispy-cooked streaky bacon, iceberg lettuce and sliced raw tomatoes with mayonnaise and perhaps a sprinkle of celery salt, served cold on white or wheat toast most of the time. There is usually not really a lot of bacon, and it is thought of as a "light" sandwich by most (not low-calorie, but not very filling). Your average BLT is not at all as hearty as the sort of Bacon butty you'll find in Leeds.

 

[ontariomonkey]

OT: Americans don't put butter on their sandwiches??? Does that include margarine? Wow, I will have to scrutinize my fellow Canadian's sandwiches. We always use margarine (only buy butter at chistmas lol) but we're a British family.

Come to think of it, DH dosn't put marge on his sarnies, only mayo or mustard, I just though he was wierd!

 

[irisheyes123]

I love salad cream but use the chef salad cream only use heinz if I can't get chef lol its got a vinegar taste too it great thing is its has a lot less calories than mayo

 

[Liberty Belle]

I wonder if I'd like HP sauce (is it normally called HP sauce or just HP?). I love, love A-1 sauce.

My mom (in her sixties) grew up in Michigan and puts butter on all her sandwiches. One of my favorite sandwiches when I was little was tomato on buttered bread. Yum! Now I just have a tomato sandwich without the butter, to cut down on calories.

My SIL brought Pickles back from England for me and I liked it.

 

[NotUrsula]

Yeah, if you really love A-1 you'll probably like HP -- it's spicier and has a thicker consistency than A-1; more intense but a wee bit sweeter.
(That's another reason that A-1 falls short for me; it's much more drippy for a sandwich. I actually prefer A-1 to HP if I'm eating breaded fried fish; it absorbs into the crust better.)

 

[sbell111]

OT: Americans don't put butter on their sandwiches??? Does that include margarine? Wow, I will have to scrutinize my fellow Canadian's sandwiches. We always use margarine (only buy butter at chistmas lol) but we're a British family.

It might just be certain posters who don't put butter on their sandwiches. I actually prefer them this way.

 

[minnie56]

I lightly butter most sandwiches...I like butter what can I tell ya?

 

[Debbie Jean]

It might just be certain posters who don't put butter on their sandwiches. I actually prefer them this way.

Mmmmm.... I don't think so... you may find a few who use butter or marg, but you would be hard pressed to buy a ready made sandwich that came with butter in the states.... and I dare say if you asked for it in most restaurants they would look at you funny...

Many years ago, I did my practice teaching in Bournemouth and discovered a whole new world of food and food habits... salad cream was only one... it was the marmite that I could never get my head around!

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

I must be British because I LOOOOOVE butter on a sandwich! Butter, leftover turkey from thanksgiving, and I am one happy girl!

My DD8 loves the same thing! Her sandwich HAS to have butter.

Oh, and we love Salad Cream. Just found it a few months ago and asked a British friend about it. It's great in egg salad or in place of mayo. Do not use it with tuna, though. Ick.

 

[acejka]

I have to find brown sauce now toO!

 

[sbell111]

Mmmmm.... I don't think so... you may find a few who use butter or marg, but you would be hard pressed to buy a ready made sandwich that came with butter in the states.... and I dare say if you asked for it in most restaurants they would look at you funny...

You realize that many people in this very thread are stating that they like their sammies that way, right?

 

[Debbie Jean]

You realize that many people in this very thread are stating that they like their sammies that way, right?

Yup, I definitely saw that, though I still think it represents only a small number of folks in the states... based on being older than dirt myself and living in a number of different areas of the country

Might make a good poll question

 

[NotUrsula]

You realize that many people in this very thread are stating that they like their sammies that way, right?

It's like complaints; most people don't comment when they agree, only when they don't.

Search any number of threads on the transportation board about how to keep sandwiches from getting soggy with the condiments pre-applied, and you'll note how many people are surprised at the solution of putting butter on them -- it's just not the norm here.

Most folks from the UK will tell you that Britons don't eat Peanut Butter sandwiches, or drink iced tea, but of course, there are some Britons who do. However, those folks are unusual, as are Americans who butter sandwiches for reasons other than moisture-proofing the bread.