h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Not putting st nd rd or th after dates. Not putting full stops after i.e. or eg. And some others that I can't currently recall.

I'd look in the Style Guide sometime to jog my memory - but as I'm sure you already suspect, I can't be bothered.

My Lonely Planet guidebook refers to potato bread, not cakes, but also says that the further north you go, the more likey you are to find it.

Not putting st etc after 1 is a European standard, not an American one. Leaving out the full stops in ie, eg etc. is a trend in modern English which is more strongly resisted in America than in the UK. So I don't agree with you on either of those.

Fairynuff. I was just being provocative about the superiority (in the instance of cookery measurements) of US practice.

I think they call it "fadge" in some parts of the Ireland, but I'm not sure where. Definitely not a common name for it in the north.

I'm just going to knock this up the conversations lists a bit...

For the record, Edward, I think an entry on standard measurement conversions would be a fabulous idea. Everyone is so used to cooking with their own brand of measurements that it makes it difficult to try new things when they're not laid out in accessible quantities. It would also prevent recipes that are submitted from being lost in the countless conversions everyone feels must be included in all recipes. Despite popular claim, a quick survey of 'recipes' from the search box will reveal that there is no Guide standard for including measurements.

King Bomba, I like it. Short, sweet and to the point, seems easy enough to follow.

Ref the discussion over measurements, I also was a bit peeved at having to put non metric measurements into the recipes I've published on h2g2. In Britain, everyone is taught metric measurements at school, and cooking equipment (scales, jugs etc are calibrated in both metric and imperial - so it should be to just quote metric and then those people who so insist can still convert to imperial directly on their measuring equipment.

As I keep reminding people, it was the American insistance on using imperial which caused rasdical surgery to be required on the mirror of the Hubble Space Telescope!

I'm going to ask the italics. Otherwise I'm going to write an entry on converting between them all.

I'm one of those who still use imperial measurements. You can't teach an old new tricks.

The only time I've ever used a cup for measuring, was in a 'chain cake'. Where you got a cup of cake mixture and a list of ingredients, and instuctions to just mix it all up, then take out a cup of the mixture, and pass this along with the ingredients and instructions, to a friend.

BTW Great Entry King Bomba

Emmily

Good entry KB! Is this the same as boxty?

I think pretty much - but boxty is a bit more "cakey" I think...maybe with eggs and milk in it or something. Although maybe not. I've heard the name boxty more than I've actually eaten it

Well apparently (after trying to find out more about boxty), the main difference is there is boxty pancakes - which use a runny batter - and boxty bread, which is nearly the same thing, but everyone seems to agree on using half pre-cooked potato, and half grated raw potato to make the dough. But I wouldn't say that's enough to make it a different type of bread - just a variation of the same type of thing.

Just a side note btw - the "Irish" in the title isn't a national pride thing - just that in the US there's a different puffier type of bread with potato flour. But this is stodgy north Antrim farmer stuff.

This is a complete but I just heard a report on the news yesterday about potato growing in Ireland - apparently it has nearly dissappeared with fewer than 800 growers left, and 100 growers leaving the business each year. So very soon there may not be any more Irish potatoes!

I can believe it! I was in the supermarket about a month ago. I noticed all these bags of potatoes with brand names like "Wilson's" and "Orr". Got to be local surely? Nah! All from Israel.

I wonder though - could it be more that small farmers are giving it up and the business is being consolidated into fewer hands, with still as many growing as ever?

Anything else?

Here in Dublin we call them potato cakes; they are presented as a Northern speciality, a staple of the Ulster Breakfast.

About the measures: there was a time when people put things like 454 grams into recipes, converting the pounds as closely as possible (though I never did see one asking you to measure out 453.6 grams)

You have sensibly rounded it to 450, but why not go the next step and just say 500 g? In measuring potatoes we do not need fine distinctions. Chuck in another spud.

I think you also need to put a space in "1lb".

If you are making a recipe for the ignorant (me) perhaps you might mention that the potatoes should be drained before mashing them. Or do you mash in the water? (Only asking, honest)

The EditedGuide-Style says no spaces between numbers and measurements, so 1lb is correct - so you'll need to change the '1 oz' to '1oz'

Ah! Yum yum!

Just like I make it, and I'm yer typical Irish ex-pat. I usually make enough mash to have some left over, rather than cook spuds just for tatie bread.

Norn Irn rhyming slang - "He's tatie!" - tatie bread - dead

I remember my first Saturday job, in a local home bakery, and one of the real treats was eating potato bread straight off the griddle, slathered in butter....