GeekyGal

I left England 10 years ago, when I was 16. Shortly after arriving here in the US, I began noticing "English Muffins", of which I was entirely unfamiliar, despite the name enigma.

I'm not sure if somehow I was actually raised under a rock and never saw an "English Muffin" during the 16 years I spent in England. I recall crumpets and pikelets quite well, but never "English Muffins". The last time I checked Wikipedia, it claimed that "English Muffins" are merely called "muffins" in the UK. I do remember muffins, and they were just the same as the muffins here in the U.S.

Am I missing something?

MattySD

I remember them as breakfast muffins - I can understand your confusion though as they are not so popular in England as to really warrant being called "English Muffins". I guess it varies depending on where you were raised in the UK (I was raised in London). I'm surprised Crumpets never caught on in the USA though - I love em to bits (thank you Trader Joes for stocking them!). I don't remember anyone talking about pikelets though - the small fluffy pancakes that Americans call just "Pancakes" I always knew as "Drop Scones" or "Scottish Pancakes".

BEVS

No idea what a US muffin is. Perhaps it is like an NZ muffin . Sorta cake like really.

Muffins in England are not like that. They are a type of flat bread. You'd have 'em with breakfast perhaps or with jam. We just call them 'muffins' .

Yes. They are still about. You can buy them in Sainsbury supermarkets and not just fresh from Drury Lane.

Wintersong

Indeed they do.

mikelincs

Pikelets and crumpets are often interchangable names, but incorrectly. Pilelets are just like crumpets, except the are much thinner, really made like a dropscone, but using the crumpet mixture, so you do get a very holey finished product.

lizzyq

But oven bottom muffins don't have the same texture as an American English muffin. A buttered oven bottom muffin is the perfect holder for a layer of UK chips, drizzled with malt vinegar, making the chip muffin or chip barm.

robin1234

English muffins are certainly ubiquitous in the U.S. I pay the extra for Thomas' Original Nooks & Crannies English Muffins. The supermarket brand ones are ok but are more like bread than the Thomas'.

(Not sure about the apostrophe usage, but that's what the package says...)

One question would be, when were US English muffins first introduced? And was there a familiar product in England at that time on which it was modelled? Because I think (I could be wrong) that the similar product they now sell in the UK is actually modelled on the American "English muffin." Kind of like bagels, sure, you could get bagels in a Jewish bakery in England in (say) 1950, but they are probably ubiquitous in UK supermarkets now because of the U.S. influence...

Dorothy

Actually, bagels have been baked/sold in London since the early 19th century but only came to the US in the latter half of the early to mid 20th. (little bit of food history from my daughter who's a pastry chef)

robin1234

Apparently, Samuel Bath Thomas was from England, and set up his bakery in NYC in 1880 and was selling "English muffins" by 1894. So it may be that this muffin was common in England at that time, but later faded away (as the crumpet became more popular etc.)

This is gleaned from the Wikipedia article...

robin1234

Yes, as I said, they were introduced by Jewish bakeries. Grodzinski's has been around since the 1880s, I believe.

robin1234

Another tidbit about beigels .... I remember being in Israel in the early 1970s, elderly East European beigel sellers would hawk the product in the streets, the bus station, etc. They carried the beigels on long wood sticks, which is probably why they were originally designed with the hole in the middle. You couldn't do that with a modern supermarket bagel, as they've got so fat the hole has almost disappeared..

Pulaski

FWIW I used to buy muffins from Sainsbury's long before I moved to the US. I still like US "English muffins", but they seem very pricy for what they are; Robin is correct, the Thomas' muffins are far superior to store-brand ones.

Dorothy

Um....yes you do. Bagels are first boiled (or steamed) then baked

Nutmegger

Those Thomas' English Muffins (ghastly punctuation and all) are pretty much the same as the items we called crumpets when I was a kid. Muffins were basically the same consistency and had the same use as crumpets (we would toast them around the fire on a fork and spread them with butter and Marmite for Sunday tea), but were much larger.

Jerseygirl

Pikelets and crumpets are the same thing. I don't know if pikelets are a Yorkshire name...when I met my Cheshire born husband he had no idea what I was talking about. I've never met anyone other than Yorkies mention pikelets.

Gosh now I am craving grilled cheese on pikelets.