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20:26
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A: What would a British person call the biscuits that Americans put gravy on?

BoldBenI did wonder what Americans called a 'biscuit' and put gravy on because we don't really have an equivalent item. If they are like a sort of savoury scone then the nearest thing is cobbler which is essentially scones placed on top of a casserole or pie filling as an alternative to pastry (for a pi...

I've met a lot of RP speakers who criticise the long o pronunciation as common. I think part of the issue this answer faces is also that our gravy (essentially thickened stock and roasting juices) is different from US gravy (basically a white sauce made in the fat from cooking sausagemeat, with the sausagemeat left in), so cobbler isn't the same as biscuits and gravy
Dan
Dan
@BoldBen - yes to both long and short 'O's sounding 'posh' depending on what you're used to. And yes to both versions being widely distributed.
@Tristan Americans do use "gravy" to mean thickened stock, in addition to the term also being used for the white sauce type. It's just that only the white sauce type is used with biscuits.
@R.M. from what I've seen Americans tend to refer to that explicitly as "brown gravy", with "gravy" typically being understood as white gravy (or in certain contexts, e.g. Italian-American speech, sauce more generally). I may be mistaken though
The first sentence of this answer says it all. There is no equivalent, because they are largely unknown in the UK. American biscuits are not scones, as suggested in other answers and comments, and it would be misleading to call them that either in the UK or the US.
20:26
and USAmerican"cobbler" would often be sweet, again similar to scone 😂 I would expect, in the US , to have cobbler as a sweet fruit filing with just sweet bready stuff on top - basically a pie with no crust
Biscuits-and-gravy is understood to be a specific kind of sausage gravy, but that doesn't mean that the word "gravy" only ever means that specific kind of sausage gravy. You wouldn't serve biscuits with turkey gravy, for example.
@Tristan While we do often refer to "brown gravy", that is usually only to distinguish it from other gravies like "white gravy" which is what you are describing. Also, if it is a generic powder mix as opposed to actual thickened broth or stock, "brown gravy" is appropriate to distinguish it from actual roast beef gravy, or lamb gravy, etc
@Tristan from my experience just 'gravy' refers to any type of gravy depending on context. Sometimes 'brown gravy' vs 'country gravy'(the white sauce one) is used to distinguish in situations where either/both might be relevant like a when you eat a meal with country fried steak(typically topped with country gravy) and mashed potatoes. Its also quite common to just use <type of meat> gravy instead of 'brown gravy' so turkey gravy or chicken gravy for example. Adding to the confusion sauce style 'country gravy' is sometimes also brown instead of white.
@SomethingSImple I (in inland North America/Great Lakes) would call the white sauce served on biscuits "sawmill gravy" as the WP article does.
There's also an Italian-American use of the word "gravy" - it means the kinds of tomato sauces you'd commonly put on pasta. slate.com/human-interest/2015/11/…
20:26
Are there McDonald's in England? Do they have a Sausage and Egg BISCUIT? This is the same type of biscuit that we would put gravy on and serve with eggs for breakfast.
You should realize that this whole put gravy on your pop-and-serve biscuits thing is completely a regionalism. It's unknown in the other areas of the country, who treat these as items to be buttered, sometimes with jam. People who don't eat "southern food" don't do the gross gravy thing to the poor things. :)
Scones bear not the slightest semblance to sea biscuits or hardtacks. There is nothing doughy, bready or soft about them; soldiers used to soak hardtack in coffee before biting into them because they were so hard. These things would never mould or rot, they were like bullets. If your average British person knew what a hardtack was (or sea biscuit) , they would be utterly confused. Love this clip from Tasting History
@R.M. "It's just that only the white sauce type is used with biscuits." Not true
@HannoverFist McDonald's in other countries tends to serve items much more catered to the cuisine of the country in question and which often bear little resemblance to what a U.S. McDonald's would serve.
@HannoverFist - 'Are there McDonald's in England?' - Are there bears that crap in the woods in England, (and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)? We don't have sausage and egg (or bacon) in US style 'biscuits' but we have them in things called 'McMuffins'.
@MichaelHarvey at the risk of opening another can of worms, a "McMuffin" in the United States is a breakfast sandwich made with -- dare I say it -- an English muffin and some breakfasty filling. If the bread is a biscuit instead of an English muffin, then the sandwich is a "<describe filling here> biscuit."
@HannoverFist McDonald's UK breakfast menu is available at mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/menu/breakfast.html -- no biscuits are in evidence.
 
3 hours later…
23:45
@phoog Unlike here.

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