English Is Served!

Preface
English Is Served! 45 authentic recipes from World and Press
3
5 If they do, you’ll find plenty of
recipes and photos in this book
to help you get it back. We’ve included
something for every meal
and even for snacks in between.
The recipes are supplemented
with interesting and informative
stories by our authors about the
historical, cultural and sometimes
personal significance of
each dish.
6 Food is an important way of
getting to know another culture.
Through the recipes in this book,
you’ll learn something about British
miners (Cornish pasties, page
35), American Indians (Irish-
American soda bread, page 12 and
blueberry muffins, page 51) and
the contributions of immigrants
to their adopted countries (chicken
tikka masala, page 34 and
matzo ball soup, page 20). The
personal stories of our authors
also provide cultural insight, for
example through descriptions of
church potlucks (layered salad,
page 22) and cross-country skiing
in Canadian winters (Grandma’s
potato soup, page 18).
Language learning
7 The different native countries
of our authors are reflected
in the varieties of English used in
this book. Each recipe is labeled
as British, American or Canadian
English (which combines
elements of British and American
English). These differences are
seen in both the words used and
the spelling. This preface and the
reference section are written in
American English.
German brown sugar
(top), GEPA’s mascobado sugar
(middle) and Tate + Lyle’s dark
soft brown sugar (bottom).
American brown sugar is softer
and moister than that sold in
Germany. | Photos: Rebecca
Kaplan
8 This cookbook is structured
like Schünemann Verlag’s language
newspapers: difficult
vocabulary from each recipe is
translated below the text, eliminating
the need for a dictionary.
The German market is full of
cookbooks with American and
British recipes, but while they
may help you produce a mean
chili, they won’t increase your vocabulary.
English Is Served! will
let you add to your store of cooking
terms and names of ingredients
… which will help you to use
authentic English-language cookbooks
in the future.
English Is Served! author Laura Ohm in her kitchen in Oregon.
| Photo: Frederick Lifton
The search for the perfect
brown sugar
9 People like to observe that
globalization is shrinking and homogenizing
the world or to complain
about the Americanization
of Europe. But one of the biggest
challenges we faced while putting
together this cookbook was
sourcing ingredients commonly
found in American supermarkets,
many of which are not widely
available in Europe.
10 For example, one staple of
American recipes is brown sugar.
Yes, brown sugar is available in
every German supermarket. But
the brown sugar most commonly
sold in American grocery stores is
much different from that which is
available in German shops. Americans
consume pure cane brown
sugar, while German supermarkets
usually sell crystallized sugar
coated with molasses; this sugar
has a coarse, dry texture, while
American brown sugar is moist
and soft. We tried out many different
kinds of sugar before settling
on a good substitute. But
finding the right sugar to use was
a worthwhile investment: it’s featured
in five different recipes in
this book! See more information
about this and other hard-to-find
ingredients on page 59.
try skiing Skilanglauf
7 – 8 to reflect widerspiegeln — variety “v´"raI´ti‘
Variante — to label kennzeichnen — to eliminate
“I"lImIneIt‘ — mean (coll.) h.: super — store Bestand;
h.: Wortschatz — term Ausdruck — authentic
“O…"TentIk‘
9 to observe “´b"z‰…v‘ feststellen — to shrink
“SrINk‘ schrumpfen (lassen) — to homogenize
“h´"mÅdZ´naIz‘ gleichmachen — challenge
“"tSœlIndZ‘ Herausforderung — to source “sO…s‘ beschaffen
— commonly üblicherweise — available
“´"veIl´bl‘ erhältlich
10 staple Grundzutat — to consume “k´n"sju…m‘
konsumieren — cane brown sugar brauner Rohrzucker
— crystallized sugar “"krIst´laIzd‘ Kristallzucker
— to coat beschichten — molasses
“m´"lœsIz‘ Melasse — coarse “kO…s‘ grob — texture
“"tekstS´‘ Beschaffenheit — moist “mOIst‘ feucht —
to settle on s.th. s. für etw. entscheiden — substitute
“"søbstItju…t‘ Ersatz; s.w.u. to substitute — to
be worthwhile “Æw‰…T"waIl‘ s. lohnen