American pies vs British pies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m American and if I eat most American cakes, cookies, or pies, I feel like my teeth are going to rot out of my mouth. I can’t eat more than one or two bites.

I might have to try British sweets. They sound much better to me.

Try a Korean bakery, like Shilla. Much less sweet!

Np. I’ve been baking recipes from The New Sugar & Spice, a Sri Lankan-inspired cookbook. The desserts are naturally less sweet, and my family really enjoys them.

I see you’ve never been to Sri Lanka or India. They probably have the most sugary sweet desserts in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m American and if I eat most American cakes, cookies, or pies, I feel like my teeth are going to rot out of my mouth. I can’t eat more than one or two bites.

I might have to try British sweets. They sound much better to me.

Try a Korean bakery, like Shilla. Much less sweet!

Np. I’ve been baking recipes from The New Sugar & Spice, a Sri Lankan-inspired cookbook. The desserts are naturally less sweet, and my family really enjoys them.

I see you’ve never been to Sri Lanka or India. They probably have the most sugary sweet desserts in the world.

I was referring specifically to the recipes in this cookbook. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m American and if I eat most American cakes, cookies, or pies, I feel like my teeth are going to rot out of my mouth. I can’t eat more than one or two bites.

I might have to try British sweets. They sound much better to me.

Try a Korean bakery, like Shilla. Much less sweet!

Np. I’ve been baking recipes from The New Sugar & Spice, a Sri Lankan-inspired cookbook. The desserts are naturally less sweet, and my family really enjoys them.

I see you’ve never been to Sri Lanka or India. They probably have the most sugary sweet desserts in the world.

India has so much variety due to all the different regional state cuisines, the influence of China (on Northeastern desserts), British, French (on Pondicherry), Portuguese (on Goa), the various immigrant communities from Parsis to Burmese, Nepalese to Afghani, that I doubt many people even in India have any idea of what the different types of sweets are. Most people are only exposed to the same ol, same ol - rasgullas, rasmalai, halwa, kulfi, chum-chum etc.
However, being now exposed to the sweets in the US and the British desserts (custards, puddings, tarts, cakes and pasteries) in India and in England, I would say that the brit sweets win over the us sweets in flavor and complexity. As far as candy is concerned both US and UK, the candy is super sweet and plentiful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pies in UK generally refer to savory meat pies, as in "pot pie." Most fruit pies are called tarts and often do not have a top crust. The exception are mince pies.
Pies and tarts are often served with a hot sweet custard sauce poured over. Yum!

Jennifer Sterling
I’m correcting you. Our fruit pies in the UK are not tarts. We have fruit pies & we have fruit tarts. But they are not the same. They are 2 different separate desserts. The fruit pies with tops are never called tarts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if it's a sweet vs. non-sweet difference, but British desserts typically have more diverse flavor profiles. It's "sweet plus" -- citrus or spice or fruit or whatever.

Well, my pies would have "diverse" flavor profiles... tart Granny Smiths with a sweet streusel crust, tart Key Lime, etc.

I actually can't handle the sweetness of many of the European desserts (including puddings in the UK, cakes in Vienna, etc.) because I don't drink coffee or tea and there is nothing to offset the sweet.

I don't eat pecan pie or chocolate pie, so can't defend those either, they are too sweet for me.

[Anonymous]

I just came back from a trip to the Deep South and I feel my teeth need a break from sugar with gorging on pecan pie, sweet tea, pralines, lemon cake. Their desserts and beverages are so sickeningly sweet to me.

[Anonymous]

Americans on the whole consume FAR MORR sugar than our British counterparts. GBBO is not exactly showing how most Brits eat daily...it is reality TV.

For the record, I do not enjoy pies of any type. I prefere fresh fruit in season, without it being loaded down with sugar, flour and fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Americans on the whole consume FAR MORR sugar than our British counterparts. GBBO is not exactly showing how most Brits eat daily...it is reality TV.

For the record, I do not enjoy pies of any type. I prefere fresh fruit in season, without it being loaded down with sugar, flour and fat.

I hope your fruit is beautiful.

I am really looking forward to a day when people don't hold their tastebuds up as proof of their moral superiority.

I'd rather deal with someone with a sweet tooth than someone who's smug about not having one.

[Anonymous]

In America you can eat whatever kind of pie you want. That’s the whole point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The sweetness issue between the US and UK has always been a bit peculiar, even hypocritical to me.

The Brits do love their sweets. They eat an insane amount of candy. I see many more people eating candy in the UK than in the US. And they have treacle and golden syrup aplenty. And they put royal icing on a lot of their baked goods and royal icing is pretty damn sweet.

I think the difference boils down to that the British restrain their intense sweetness for specific things so they know what they're getting, while other baked goods and desserts are not going to be as sweet as the American counterparts. Pies is a perfect example. The British fruit pies will have less sugar and be more tart than the American equivalent. Their cakes are not as sweet (although the icings can still be pretty sweet, especially if they use a royal icing glaze). The British tend to have a lot more custardy desserts and when they talk about making pudding/dessert it almost always involves custard to some degree. They even serve custard alongside pies. So when they think of sweet flavors, the sweetness of custard is what they're expecting. But when they think of candy, trust me, they're eating something as sugary sweet as any American candy.

+1

I'm a Brit who lives in the U.S., and I think these are all good observations. I would say that, as a general proposition, American desserts tend to be a good bit sweeter than their British counterparts. For example, American cakes tend to be much sweeter than British cakes, and American fruit pies tend to be much sweeter than British fruit pies. British fruit pies (and yes, they do exist and are not all fruit tarts) tend to be tarter and have a less gloopy/syrupy filling. And it's not just the amount of sugar used, either. British fruit pies quite often use naturally tart fruits - such as redcurrants, blackcurrants, or gooseberries - that you rarely see in the U.S.

The PP is correct, though, that British people do tend to have a sweet tooth (as do Americans, generally). Chocolate bars, in particular, are extremely popular. And there are plenty of very sweet desserts. I do think that desserts in Britain have been trending in a more Americanized direction. When I visit the U.K. now, I see more U.S. style cakes and desserts than I ever did when I was growing up in the there. But the big difference, as I see it, is that the vast majority of U.S. desserts are extremely sweet. In the U.K., there is still a great variety of desserts that range from extremely sweet to not that sweet. It's easy to pick and choose between them depending on your preference.

Now, the thing that raises the eyebrows of most English people I know is not how sweet American desserts are, but how sweet American commercially produced bread is. And, compared to commercially produced bread in the U.K., it really is very noticeable. There also tend to be fewer preservatives, dyes, and artificial ingredients in British foods. This is true even in unhealthy things like soda and fast food. It's not healthy in either place, but the ingredient list is typically shorter in the U.K.