Inspired by “Sherlock Holmes,” which we saw last night and enjoyed, I decided to make a British tea staple today — the scone. I used a recipe from People Magazine, which was excerpted from “Dining with Sherlock Holmes,” a book I really should buy.
The baking was a fun rainy day activity for me and my daughter (seriously, when will this rain in Atlanta stop?). But unfortunately, because I forgot to add sugar, the end result tasted less like scones, and more like cardboard.
The lack of sugar was not the only obstacle facing our scones. I question the Britishness of the recipe, since it calls for shortening. During my time living in the UK, I never came across shortening. In fact, my British mother in law, an ardent baker, had never heard of it. It was one of those products, like peanut butter and fat free salad dressing, that ex-pats had to bring over from the US.
I suppose the author of the scone recipe wanted a low-fat alternative to butter, but maybe they would taste a bit more authentic, if fattening, with the butter.
Or maybe the fact that I forgot the sugar — and, I should admit, the salt — accounted for the inauthentic taste.
Still, they looked scone-like. And the act of eating scones as rain seeped down outside felt very British indeed.
Reverse Culture Shock 