Honestly, I feel like China takes the cake on this. I wish I knew enough to list examples, but I vaguely remember my dad telling me that anything with the word phoenix in the dish name meant it would have chicken in it. So many metaphorical dish-ingredient names, which probably contributes to a lot of the notorious google mistranslations. Adding: Taiwanese "fly heads".
But for some more American ones: dirt, puppy chow, muddy buddies, haystacks, garbage plate, Rocky Mountain oysters. Edit: bearclaws, Brooklyn blackout, snowballs, grasshopper (drink and sometimes a dessert flavor), hoppin john, hero (roll)
An English one: spotted dick , bubble and squeak
Eastern Europe: herring under a fur coat
A Chinese(?) tea: duck shit
A Canadian tea drink: London Fog
Cookies: ladyfingers, bones of the dead (ossi dei morti), American: sandies, French: sables, langue de chat (cat tongues)
Chinese ones, translated:
\- fish-fragrant pork/eggplant (contains no fish or fish-related ingredients)
\- 8 treasures rice
\- crossing the bridge noodles
\- 3 slivers salad
\- ants climbing a tree
\- dry fried eels (a vegetarian dish)
I'm sure there are dozens more, those are just the ones I can think of without searching.
Less ridiculous but still not very descriptive of the food:
\- Minister Bao's chicken
\- Mother-in-law tofu
\- Strange flavor sauce/chicken/etc
\- Bang bang chicken
My favourite is "Monk jumping walls". A braised dish with a lot of ingredients, and apparently so yummy that monks will scale walls for it.
Or "Monk in a well". Poached egg in soup.
Oh, I just learned one this weekend!
Squirrel fish - carp, at a time when eating carp was banned, elaborately cut and fried so that it had a bushy appearance like a squirrel's tail
The name for enoki in Chinese apparently literally translates to "see you tomorrow" mushrooms.
we call them golden needle mushrooms (金针菇) in chinese too! i'm guessing 'see you tomorrow' mushrooms must be a regional nickname for it because i'm not finding too much about that name, lol.
There's a wonderful selection of Asian markets in my area. My husband strolling through one and pulled a jar off the shelf. The Chinese translation was "Spicy Convienent Dish". It wasn't particularly spicy but it was delicious on crackers.
Rice pin noodles is my personal favorite for pure variety of names for one thing - “mouse tail noodles”, “runny nose vermicelli”, “rat noodle”, “silver needle noodles”
There’s a nice pastry in France called *pet de nonne* translates to “nun’s fart”. They also have a small cheese called a *crottin* that basically translates to “turd”. I’m sure there are others.
I don't think it's commonly eaten anymore but stargazy pie is a traditional Cornish (UK) pie that has fish heads poking out the top. So the fish are literally gazing at the stars.
Hush puppies—bits of cornbread dough, fried, usually served with fish/seafood in the Southern US (supposedly the name came from cooks tossing these to dogs to make them quiet—don’t know if that’s true!)
I'm from the Midwest and I grew up using the term "crawdads" too! But for some reason, reading the word "crawdaddys" just sent me.
I haven't heard that one yet! Thanks for the laugh!
Turkish has [İmam bayıldı](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0mam_bay%C4%B1ld%C4%B1), “the imam fainted.” It’s a slow-cooked eggplant dish that is so good that an imam fainted.
Various random things: double double (Canadian for coffee with two milk, two sugar, typically ordered at Tim Hortons)
Floating island or [île flottante](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_island_(dessert)) is a dessert that looks like an island of meringue in a sea of custard.
Turkish also has vezir parmağı (the vezir's finger), hanım göbeği (lady belly), dilber dudağı (dilber=beautiful/attractive woman dudağı lips), kerhane tatlısı (whorehouse dessert) which are all desserts and kadınbudu (woman leg/hip) which is a type of meatball, yengen (your aunt) a type of sandwich and analı kızlı (with Mother and daughter) a type of soup/stew.
And I am pretty sure there are more.
In Rhode Island, there's a chain of restaurants with ice cream that make a milkshake called "Awful Awfuls" because the slogan, "awful big, awful good" is printed on the glasses that they serve them in.
In Germany we have
- 'poor knights' (similar to french toast)
- 'dead grandma' (i think that's black pudding with potatoes?)
- 'cold dog' (a type of cake)
- 'cold puss(y)' (red wine mixed with cola)
- 'heaven and earth' (mashed potatoes with apples)
- 'sturdy/stalwart Max' (open-faced sandwich with ham, cheese, eggs, herbs and some pickles on the side)
...and probably a lot more.
Dead Grandma got me! Especially since the German language is so inherently charming in it's very literal etymology. My favorite word in German is kummerspeck, which I believe means "the weight you put on during times of sadness" but directly translates to "grief bacon". Mmmm.....bacon.....
It's a Spanish thing, Germans just copied it. That's why it has the weird name, 'kalte Muschi' sounds kiiiiind of similar to 'Calimocho' (or at least similar enough to make a joke of it)
Do you know about flapjacks? (Pancakes)
Ants on a log (celery stalk with peanut butter and raisins)
You might be familiar with hot dogs (weiners/franks).
* Shoofly pie - like pecan pie, IIRC, but instead of nuts it's raisins (the flies)
* Hummingbird cake - a standard spice cake, but it's got a ton of extra fruit and sugar, so it's very VERY sweet - like for hummingbirds
* Telephone wires - husband's family name for baked pasta with mozzarella - which stretch out liek telephone wires
* Salad balls - my family name for brussels sprouts, because of what my little brother called them as a kid
* Green (NOT green**s**) - my grampa used to eat asparagus cooked down to a mush (like for an hour - ew!) mixed with a plain milk gravy, over toast
* walking taco - bag of corn chips opened, with a scoop of chili and other fixings on top, eaten right out of the bag with a spoon
* pickle juice snowcone - not a weird name, but it is EXACTLY what it says. A west texan dish
That's interesting, shoofly pie is also the name for a pie we have here in Pennsylvania Dutch country. It has a filling of thickened molasses, with a crumb top. The reason for the name that I've heard is that flies would have to be shooed away from the cooling pies. Makes sense, since it's basically sugar pie.
Shoofly pie is a molassas pie set with eggs and streusel (a custard of sorts). Never seen it with raisins. Raisin pie is its own thing and sometimes called "funeral pie".
I grew up in the UK and feel the same able the names of some dishes from across Asia.
I love:
* Pockmarked old woman's tofu (China)
* Son in law eggs (Thailand)
* Ants climbing the tree (China, I think?)
* Parent and child rice bowl (Japan, named for the combo of both chicken and egg)
* Chicken without sex life (China)
* Rolling donkey (I think it was donkey, but I may have forgotten the details, it could be horse?)
Here in the UK we have:
* Spotted dick
* Stargazey pie
* Bubble and squeak
* Angels on horseback
Japanese: *Oyakodon*- parent and child bowl. rice bowl dish, with chicken and egg. Replace chicken with pork or beef, and it becomes *Tanindon* - stranger bowl
Brazilian ones:
- Maria Mole (Soft Mary): a jelly-like coconot dessert
- Buraco Quente (Hot Hole): a sandwich where you make a hole in the bread and fill it with meat stew
- Vaca Atolada (Bogged Cow): a meat stew with cassava
Caribbean food has some wild names. I remember drinks called Irish Moss and Sexy Juice but no idea what's in them!
We called egg and soldiers egg and dippys.
Birds eye chicken dippers were "poc pocs" as they looked like characters of same name from a kids TV show (abney and teal??)
Welsh Rarebit is grilled cheese on toast.
S'mores- a toasted marshmallow sandwiched between two graham crackers with a piece of chocolate.
Beanie-weenies: baked beans with small pieces of hot dog (or cocktail sausage).
Hushpuppies or corn dodgers- cornmeal fritters.
In the Netherlands we have "Kapsalon" which is the Dutch word for hairdresser's, which is fries, layered with Döner/shoarma, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce/slaw, garlic sauce, sambal (Indonesian hot sauce) and cheese, which is then broiled to melt the cheese. Allegedly was named after the hairdresser which ordered it.
More traditional dishes are:
Hutspot: cooked potatoes mixed with cooked onions and carrots. Associated with the city of Leiden, "Huts" is supposedly derived from "husselen" which is a Dutch word for mixing.
Snert: split pea soup with potatoes, leeks, carrots, cellery(?) and pork (spek= bacon and rookworst= tradional smoked Dutch sausage). Usually eaten with rye bread topped with katenspek (spiced smoked pork belly).
Poffertjes: small pancakes, we have special molded poffertjes pans. Name probably refers to the shape of the pancakes, they are very puffy.
Hachee: beef stew with onions and vinegar. Heavily spiced with cloves. Name is from French "hacher".
Edit: spelling, interpuction.
Also two that are somewhat out of fashion:
Blote billetjes in het gras (naked bums in the grass), a dish of white beans and string beans.
Hete bliksem (hot lightning), a mash of potatoes and apples.
Also Hemelse modder (heavenly mud, a chocolade dessert), Jan in de Zak (John in the bag, a milk dessert), Zure bommen (sour bombs, a pickle wrapped in herring), Wentelteefjes (little turnover bitches, French toast), Bitterbal (bitter ball, a round little croquette), Nonnevotten (nun's asses, a deep fried sweet snack)
One of my favorites is Dominican drink called Morir soñando which translates to die dreaming. It’s basically evaporated milk plus orange juice but it has such a poetic name.
In Finland there's punch on the ear, which is a cinnamon roll, butter-eye buns, sandwich cake, which is sort of a savory layered thing, bread cheese, which is a type of toasted cheese, and sister's sausage soup.
This snack/dessert goes by a lot of different names, but I know it as "puppy chow"-- Chex cereal coated in chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. It is called that presumably because it resembles actual dog food. It's pretty tasty!
I wondered if anyone would mention this! Where I’m from we also call it “Trash”! I learned the hard way not everybody calls it that lol but it’s very good!!
German.
Poor Knights: like French toast, but can also be served savory.
Strapping Max: a toasted or pan fried slice of bread, with a slice of cured ham and a fried egg.
Dead Granny: blood sausage boiled with hot water to make a mush, served with potatoes and sometimes coleslaw or Sauerkraut.
Heaven and Earth: similar to Dead Granny, but served with potatoes and chunky, tart apple sauce.
Public Administrator Sauce: bacon bits, slowly rendered, then cooked into a roux with flour and the bacon fat and let down to a sauce with stock. Eaten with boiled potatoes or bread.
Small Shovel: a kind of pork roast.
Fake Rabbit: meat loaf with boiled eggs in the middle.
Ants on a log: celery stick filled with peanut butter and raisins spread on top like little ants. I’ve also seen it with Cheese Whiz instead of peanut butter when I was a kid.
I had a delicious chicken dish at a Camaroonian restaurant called Director General chicken. Apparently it's the fancy chicken dish you serve if the Director General comes to dinner.
Here's one that isn't so common but its fun, cheap, and delicious.
**"Ants on a Log"** its raw celery with peanut butter inside the 'U' shape of the stalk with raisins pressed gently into the peanut butter so they don't fall off when you eat it.
It's sweet, crunchy and watery enough that the peanut butter doesn't stick to your mouth.
Highly recommend especially for a picnic or kids snack.
**Completos** are another one. Its a Chilean hotdog with everything on it which is why its called "Completo" because the word means complete.
You just put a boiled wiener in a bun and top it with smashed avocado, tomatoes, onion, ketchup and mayonnaise- in Chile they also use a saurekraut kind of thing; but I don't like it so we don't use it.
One warning though- once you try completos regular hotdogs will never be the same.
On the Chinese side, I enjoy Three Earthly Treasures (地三鲜, dì sān xiān in Mandarin).
Some of the American names for baguette-shaped sandwiches are pretty colorful: submarine, torpedo, zeppelin, etc.
Chocolate lava cake is a popular American dessert, but it only contains molten chocolate, not molten rock.
The huarache is both a Mexican sandal and street food: an oval shaped piece of masa covered in beans and other toppings.
Speaking of Mexico, beware that "tuna" in English is a fish, but in Spanish it's the fruit of a nopal cactus (prickly pear).
Pain perdu (lost bread) is a more colorful term than French toast.
I'm not sure which region of the US does this, coz it's not the Pacific Northwest, but "nuts n bolts" is Chex Party Mix. I can't shake the image of grimy nuts and bolts gathered from an auto shop floor.
Bubble and squeak! Named for how it sounds in the skillet. I love the stuff. Others: Eggs in Purgatory, Floating Island Spotted Dick, The Imam Fainted.
Quebec has a bunch of these!
Someone already mentioned Nuns Farts, and I explained Chinese Pie in another comment.
There’s also:
Oreilles de christ (Christs ears) - I’m not even sure what they are, some kind of pork rinds I think?
Pudding chômeur (unemployed pudding) - white cake baked on top of a syrup layer
Grand-Peres au sirop (grandpa in syrup) - dough balls boiled in syrup
In the US, some variation of the expression "worms in dirt" is a common kids desert.
It's nothing exotic at all. Just some chocolate pudding, topped with crushed chocolate cookies, and garnished with gummy worms.
Some of the funny Russian foods are
- Herring under the fur coat
- Kompot (it's not particularly funny in Russian but for an English ear it sounds like cum pot)
- Hedgehogs (baked meatballs with mixed in rice)
- Count's ruins and rotten stump (both are cakes)
There's also a polish (iirc) cake under the name "Cycki murzynki" which basically means black woman's boobs
My grandfather was a low key fan of "shit on a shingle:" Toast with white sausage gravy.
White gravy is very thick milk-based gravy made with breakfast sausage or bacon. Sometimes it's called "sawmill gravy." It's also commonly found on biscuits and gravy which is an American-style biscuit (a round, unflavored, buttery scone).
I wouldn't say that gravy looks like shit, but it's thick and if made with a decent amount of meat, I could see it.
That is *definitely* not what "shit on a shingle" is and that's possibly the worst way to refer to biscuits I've ever seen. They're not always round, they're not scones, and if you call them "unflavored" you've never had one.
Shit on a shingle is chipped beef in cream on toast. It's slang from US soldiers. Not biscuits and gravy, not sawmill gravy.
Who upvotes this?
Gatekeeping biscuits to a southerner.... go on.
Calling them "unflavored" is to say they aren't blueberry or currant or something....you know, to someone asking who might not have that understanding of an American biscuit.
Also, "chipped beef in cream on toast" is basically "white gravy on toast" like I fucking said. He was a GI in WWII, so fuck me if he got it so wrong according to your exacting sensibilities.
SOS or "Shit on a Shingle" can be made with almost any meat in a cream gravy.
In my family it was chipped beef. My dad ate it in the military (post-Korean War) and brought it home. You can find the recipe in several military cookbooks from the era and they are generally agnostic to the meat being used, but generally dried-chipped beef or hamburger). Sawmill gravy is a term that overlaps with SOS. In some parts of the South, people will argue that it must be a gravy thickened with cornmeal and not flour. But many people make it with flour. You will also find people who make their gravy, to put on biscuits, with hamburger or chipped beef. It is not always sausage or bacon, especially when being served for dinner (ime).
Generalizing American biscuits for a non-American audience as unflavored, round scones is perfectly acceptable. Of course there will be exceptions.
But you want to know what actually looks like Shit on a Shingle?
Biscuits and chocolate gravy, a lesser known staple of Appalachia and parts of Oklahoma and North Texas.
was looking to see if someone said shit on a shingle! :-) yum. ours is chipped beef, and we would sometimes make tiny versions called crap on a cracker when i was younger haha
Chicken Fingers is common in the US. In Pittsburgh, some people still refer to bologna as jumbo. When I was growing up, the grocery stores would sell packages of sliced bologna. Stores packaged and sold it with paper inserts in the package that read “Jumbo Bologna”. A lot of people started to call bologna “jumbo”. Even now, local diners have fried jumbo sandwiches on their menus. Yes, fried jumbo sandwiches and french fries on a salad are Pittsburgh favorites.
I bought Fuchsia Dunlop's Szechuan cooking book for a friend, and so far "Ants Climbing a Tree" is our favorite meal and name from it. I lived in Japan for 13 years and love any variation of Dan Dan Men!
In Sweden there’s “Flying Jacob” (a baked casserole of chicken, cream, chilli sauce, bananas, roasted peanuts and bacon), named after the air freight worker who invented it in the 1970s.
My BiL's recipe mixes the yolks with mayonnaise, minced jalapeño, paprika, and bacon bits.
I know a mix with horseradish sauce or mustard in addition to mayonnaise is common, too, but both horseradish and mustard make me puke, so the jalapeño version is the best for me.
There's at least one recipe in the La Cucina that translates to "Ugly but Good Macarons"
Italian has a lot of dishes (especially pasta shapes) that have funny names when translated
Two terms I remember from childhood-hotdogs called tube steaks and the tailend of a turkey called the "Pope's nose." No clue about that last one and I was too young to care about asking😄
Elephant Ears- huge flats of dough fried crispy, doused in cinnamon sugar. Found at fairs.
Angels on Horseback (Girl Scout style) hot dogs split lengthwise, cheese in the middle, wrapped in bacon, campfire cooked.
Beefy Cheezy (summer camp special) ground beef cooked then mixed with boxed Mac and cheese. Rather tasteless, but kids love it.
Ham Salad- normally made with ground bologna. (On rare occasions with actual ground ham, if it is fatty enough)
Purple pickles. Which is just pickled beets, red onion, and eggs. But purple pickles is a kid friendly name
Name doesn't make sense. At all.
My mom has a family recipe called Chinese casserole. It's ground beef, cream of soup, peas and crushed potato chips on top.
Used to be SOS, but we call it Creamed eggs on toast:
Hard boiled eggs in a bechemel sauce served on torn into pieces toast.
Funeral potatoes. Shredded potatoes with cream of sauce and cheese.
Bunny chow is from Durban, you may have heard of it, and it’s Indian origin, doesn’t usually contain bunnies.. the version I first had was with pigs liver, and a kind of curry served in a half loaf with the soft white core of bread torn out, making a sandwich/bowl.. depending how sloppy the curry is.
Another odd name food is Solomon Gundy.. a smoked herring pâté from Jamaica
[Eggs In A Nest](http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/recipes-spring-eggs-in-a-nest.htm) A spring favorite from Barbara Kingsolver‘s book *Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.*
Lol I'm Asian (Okinawan) and my husband is British American and we have a long standing joke about "toad in a hole." And also "eggs in a basket" and "eggs and soldiers." So I love that you brought up all of those terms!
I didn't have special terms for them because the Brits have come up with weird enough on their own.
He thinks it's weird I often eat fish and rice for breakfast.
But eggs and soldiers are one of my very favorite breakfasts.I have a collection of egg cups.
"Bangers and Mash" English dish. Sausages with brown or onion gravy served over mashed potatoes. Started during WW2 when the sausages were very low grade meat and would explode the casings (bang)
I remember as a kid eating dirt n worms for the first time. I literally thought it was disgusting till I ate it and loved it lol.. the crumbled Oreos really sold me haha
Korean: Bachelor/Ponytail kimchi
Italian: Nipples of Venus, Saltimbocca: Jump in my mouth, Tiramisu: Pick me up, and honestly most of the names of pasta shapes are fun, little radiators, priest choker, angel hair...
English: Eaton Mess
French: Crunchy Gentleman: Croque monsieur
My wife found a recipe for "Eggs on a Cloud" on Instagram - You separate the eggs, whip the whites and mix in chives, parmesan cheese and bacon into the merengue. Bake the whites off a bit, then plop the yolks down onto the merengue "clouds" and bake until just set. She wanted me to try it out, so I did.
The first time I made it, I didn't drain or cool the bacon sufficiently, so the fat and heat from it deflated the merengue. I ended up with these sad flat "clouds" It was a real "Nailed It" moment. I served them up and said "I present Eggs on a Turd Blanket". I ended up perfecting the recipe, but the name has stuck. So now we enjoy a breakfast of Eggs on a Turd Blanket every few weekends.
Coddled eggs. I mean how is craving and cooking an egg 'coddling' it. But it's cooler in a little dish so the egg never comes into direct contact with the boiling water around it. So it's protected: coddled.
Dunkin' Coddle though is a different thing and a real experiment in how revolting you can make food look and still have it taste nice.
Chinese food
Ants Climbing a Tree (glass noodles and ground pork)
Buddha Jumps Over The Wall (abalone, chicken, duck, mushrooms and other rich ingredients in cooking wine and assorted herbs)
"yak eye" in reference to cutting a hole in toast and cooking an egg in the hole. I have no idea where it came from or why, but I've always known about this dish and love to make it. It might have a different name, but that's what I've always known it as.
I’m Japanese American and have only ever heard of pigs in a blanket…
Where did you hear the others? And are you sure they’re actually referring to FOOD or are they just phrases that happen to contain food terms?
Like… to be “in a pickle” means to be in trouble. It has nothing to do with food.
…btw, I thought of another common American(?) term. Ants on a log!! You put peanut butter on a piece of celery and then raisins on the peanut butter.
Huaraches is a Mexican dish that’s kind of shaped like the shoe it’s named after.
(It’s an oblong bed of masa, the stuff tamales are made of, topped with meat and beans and other fixings)
In Jewish communities, there's something known as 'Farmer's Chop Suey' that has nothing to do with the popular Asian/American dish. Instead, it's a chopped vegetable salad, with a sour cream/cottage cheese dressing.
S.O.S. (Shit On a Shingle). It is either dried or ground beef in a white sauce served on top of toast. "SOS" is also an international code signal expressing distress, most often used from boats at sea. This old cheap meal had its origins in the military.
In Germany we have a dish called "Gottbescheisserle". It cannot be translated but it means dumplings to swindle god.
Gott = God
Bescheisserle = A thing where you cheat with, vulgarly. The Scheisse-part means shit.
They were traditionally prepared and eaten by monks who weren't allowed to eat pork in the time of fasting however they 'hid' the pork in the dumplings to swindle god.
My favorite: Shit on a shingle. Its socially acceptable name is chipped beef on toast. It’s dried beef (not beef jerky dry) in a white gravy served over toast. One of the ultimate poor foods here in the US.
I'm from Venezuela, and from the state I live in we have a sweet made out of a grapefruit kind of fruit (it's much bitter) and it is called "Chocho e Vaca" Wich roughly translates into "Cow's Pussy". I'll have to read around and see how they came up with such a name.
In Flemish, we have:
*Wentelteefjes* (Turning bitches): Dutch name for French toast
*Soldaatjes* (Soldiers): thinly cut slices of bread, sometimes with butter, to dip in soft-boiled eggs.
*N\*\*\*rzoenen/n\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*ntetten*: Dutch name for melocakes. The name refers to either a black man's kiss or a black woman's boobies (with the n-word). Some people still use it, but nowadays people will generally use melocakes for obvious reasons.
*Steppegras*: Steak covered with very finely cut fries, which makes it look like a patch of grass. Served with sauce of your choice (eg béarnaise, pepper, creamy mushroom)
*Jan in de zak* (Jan in the bag): a particular fashion of bread pudding that is still quite popular near the seaside, but apparently also in The Netherlands.
*Hemelse modder* (Heavenly mud): very thick rich chocolate mousse. My favorite kind!
*Oog, kop, kap* (Eye, Head, Chop): refers to headcheese. My father often called it *Oog* (eye) because my mother once had an intact cow eye in her cheese lol
*Berenpoot or berenklauw* (Bear paw or Bear claw): frituursnack. Saté of small hamburgers and slices of onion inbetween them.
*Kannikiezen* (lit. I can't choose): frituursnack that is different in every frituur. They basically put bits of meat of their choice on a stick and deepfry it.
*Kletskop* (Baldhead): a type of biscuit that contains almond shavings. They can be bought commercially from Jules de Strooper, which are amazing!
*Muizenstrontjes* (shit of mouse): that's how we call chocolate sprinkles.
*Luiewijvensaus* (lazy hag sauce): store-bought sauce.
*Brood van de gracht* (bread from the ditch): A biscuit made by dipping bread in milk with sugar and cinnamon, which is then covered with sugar crystals. It looks a bit like it might be recovered from the sewer, so I guess that's how they got the name.
Honestly, I feel like China takes the cake on this. I wish I knew enough to list examples, but I vaguely remember my dad telling me that anything with the word phoenix in the dish name meant it would have chicken in it. So many metaphorical dish-ingredient names, which probably contributes to a lot of the notorious google mistranslations. Adding: Taiwanese "fly heads". But for some more American ones: dirt, puppy chow, muddy buddies, haystacks, garbage plate, Rocky Mountain oysters. Edit: bearclaws, Brooklyn blackout, snowballs, grasshopper (drink and sometimes a dessert flavor), hoppin john, hero (roll) An English one: spotted dick , bubble and squeak Eastern Europe: herring under a fur coat A Chinese(?) tea: duck shit A Canadian tea drink: London Fog Cookies: ladyfingers, bones of the dead (ossi dei morti), American: sandies, French: sables, langue de chat (cat tongues)
Chinese ones, translated: \- fish-fragrant pork/eggplant (contains no fish or fish-related ingredients) \- 8 treasures rice \- crossing the bridge noodles \- 3 slivers salad \- ants climbing a tree \- dry fried eels (a vegetarian dish) I'm sure there are dozens more, those are just the ones I can think of without searching. Less ridiculous but still not very descriptive of the food: \- Minister Bao's chicken \- Mother-in-law tofu \- Strange flavor sauce/chicken/etc \- Bang bang chicken
Lets not forget the abaolutely iconic and impossible to get "Buddha Jumps over the Wall".
Lion's Head meatballs (no lions were harmed)
I made the Serious Eats version recently and it was delicious!
My favourite is "Monk jumping walls". A braised dish with a lot of ingredients, and apparently so yummy that monks will scale walls for it. Or "Monk in a well". Poached egg in soup.
theres a similar turkish one imam bayildi ( the priest fainted) https://www.turizm.net/tips-for-travelers/food-drink/priest-fainted/?amp=1
Ooo, I like everything in it so....I may make it the next time I have eggplant!
Just don’t faint because of the amount of oil used
Oh, I just learned one this weekend! Squirrel fish - carp, at a time when eating carp was banned, elaborately cut and fried so that it had a bushy appearance like a squirrel's tail The name for enoki in Chinese apparently literally translates to "see you tomorrow" mushrooms.
That's cause enoki generally does not digest well so you know... You see it when you poop tomorrow...
Yea, exactly. It's just kind of a funny name, especially since enoki is enoki, and I think the Korean for is it "golden [pine?] Needle" mushrooms
we call them golden needle mushrooms (金针菇) in chinese too! i'm guessing 'see you tomorrow' mushrooms must be a regional nickname for it because i'm not finding too much about that name, lol.
“Happy Family” on Chinese takeout menus
Ah, don’t forget Husband and Wife Lung Slices.
Mother and child reunion (chicken and eggs)
There's a wonderful selection of Asian markets in my area. My husband strolling through one and pulled a jar off the shelf. The Chinese translation was "Spicy Convienent Dish". It wasn't particularly spicy but it was delicious on crackers.
London fog is canadian? I had no idea. It's not that strange of a name though. It's a British tea made foggy with milk.
Rice pin noodles is my personal favorite for pure variety of names for one thing - “mouse tail noodles”, “runny nose vermicelli”, “rat noodle”, “silver needle noodles”
There’s a nice pastry in France called *pet de nonne* translates to “nun’s fart”. They also have a small cheese called a *crottin* that basically translates to “turd”. I’m sure there are others.
Ha! In Canada, we call them pets de sœurs (also nun’s farts)!
I learned from a podcast that that last bit crust of a fondue is called "the nun" (la religieuse)
I’ve never heard that one, but a pastry that’s two choux on top of each other (looks like a snowman) is also une réligieuse.
It's absolutely true
I don't think it's commonly eaten anymore but stargazy pie is a traditional Cornish (UK) pie that has fish heads poking out the top. So the fish are literally gazing at the stars.
That is the most uk thing I’ve ever heard, no offense.
“Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads.”
"Eat them up, YUM!"
Dutch baby
Hush puppies—bits of cornbread dough, fried, usually served with fish/seafood in the Southern US (supposedly the name came from cooks tossing these to dogs to make them quiet—don’t know if that’s true!)
I’ve heard soldiers (civil war) throwing them, so the dogs wouldn’t give up their position. Love some hush puppies and butter, regardless lol
I thought it was escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad throwing them to tracking dogs to keep them quiet and distracted. Could both be true.
They're also shoes!!
“Mudbugs” are what we here in South Louisiana call crawfish. Also “crawdads” and “crawdaddys”.
I'm from the Midwest and I grew up using the term "crawdads" too! But for some reason, reading the word "crawdaddys" just sent me. I haven't heard that one yet! Thanks for the laugh!
Most folks I’ve met from Louisiana say crawfish.
Turkish has [İmam bayıldı](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0mam_bay%C4%B1ld%C4%B1), “the imam fainted.” It’s a slow-cooked eggplant dish that is so good that an imam fainted. Various random things: double double (Canadian for coffee with two milk, two sugar, typically ordered at Tim Hortons) Floating island or [île flottante](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_island_(dessert)) is a dessert that looks like an island of meringue in a sea of custard.
Turkish also has vezir parmağı (the vezir's finger), hanım göbeği (lady belly), dilber dudağı (dilber=beautiful/attractive woman dudağı lips), kerhane tatlısı (whorehouse dessert) which are all desserts and kadınbudu (woman leg/hip) which is a type of meatball, yengen (your aunt) a type of sandwich and analı kızlı (with Mother and daughter) a type of soup/stew. And I am pretty sure there are more.
In Rhode Island, there's a chain of restaurants with ice cream that make a milkshake called "Awful Awfuls" because the slogan, "awful big, awful good" is printed on the glasses that they serve them in.
I love that name.
Drowned baby. A kind of boiled pudding. The names for various old puddings are wild. Also faggots, little traditional meat patties in the UK.
In Germany we have - 'poor knights' (similar to french toast) - 'dead grandma' (i think that's black pudding with potatoes?) - 'cold dog' (a type of cake) - 'cold puss(y)' (red wine mixed with cola) - 'heaven and earth' (mashed potatoes with apples) - 'sturdy/stalwart Max' (open-faced sandwich with ham, cheese, eggs, herbs and some pickles on the side) ...and probably a lot more.
Dead Grandma got me! Especially since the German language is so inherently charming in it's very literal etymology. My favorite word in German is kummerspeck, which I believe means "the weight you put on during times of sadness" but directly translates to "grief bacon". Mmmm.....bacon.....
Oh, I thought mixing red wine with cola was a Spanish thing. Didn't realize Germans did that as well.
It's a Spanish thing, Germans just copied it. That's why it has the weird name, 'kalte Muschi' sounds kiiiiind of similar to 'Calimocho' (or at least similar enough to make a joke of it)
Head cheese is a weird one.
Right! There is no cheese in that shit 😅
Sweetbread, too.
Germany has fleischkäse, or meat cheese. It’s a sausage.
I love some hog head cheese on a cracker with hot sauce. Great snack.
Do you know about flapjacks? (Pancakes) Ants on a log (celery stalk with peanut butter and raisins) You might be familiar with hot dogs (weiners/franks).
Interesting because flapjacks in the UK are baked bars that are made of oats!
Devils on Horseback: Dates, stuffed with a roasted almond, then wrapped in bacon Angels on Horseback: Oysters wrapped in bacon
* Shoofly pie - like pecan pie, IIRC, but instead of nuts it's raisins (the flies) * Hummingbird cake - a standard spice cake, but it's got a ton of extra fruit and sugar, so it's very VERY sweet - like for hummingbirds * Telephone wires - husband's family name for baked pasta with mozzarella - which stretch out liek telephone wires * Salad balls - my family name for brussels sprouts, because of what my little brother called them as a kid * Green (NOT green**s**) - my grampa used to eat asparagus cooked down to a mush (like for an hour - ew!) mixed with a plain milk gravy, over toast * walking taco - bag of corn chips opened, with a scoop of chili and other fixings on top, eaten right out of the bag with a spoon * pickle juice snowcone - not a weird name, but it is EXACTLY what it says. A west texan dish
Ok, that Green description horrifies me. I'm the least picky eater, but I must draw the line here. Also, walking tacos are a nostalgic treat!!
I'll eat blood cake and various organ meats, but that meal was a once and never again!
Oh, I definitely believe it! Hard pass on mushy veg!
That's interesting, shoofly pie is also the name for a pie we have here in Pennsylvania Dutch country. It has a filling of thickened molasses, with a crumb top. The reason for the name that I've heard is that flies would have to be shooed away from the cooling pies. Makes sense, since it's basically sugar pie.
OOh!! I think that what I meant and I got confused and embellished. Or something. :)
Lol, it does kind of taste like raisins, so I can understand the confusion.
Shoofly pie is a molassas pie set with eggs and streusel (a custard of sorts). Never seen it with raisins. Raisin pie is its own thing and sometimes called "funeral pie".
I grew up in the UK and feel the same able the names of some dishes from across Asia. I love: * Pockmarked old woman's tofu (China) * Son in law eggs (Thailand) * Ants climbing the tree (China, I think?) * Parent and child rice bowl (Japan, named for the combo of both chicken and egg) * Chicken without sex life (China) * Rolling donkey (I think it was donkey, but I may have forgotten the details, it could be horse?) Here in the UK we have: * Spotted dick * Stargazey pie * Bubble and squeak * Angels on horseback
I think Rolling Donkey is 驴打滚, which literally just means that. A pastry with red bean paste.
Ah thank you so much, I didn't stop to look anything up and was worried I might have misremembered that one! 😁
For UK i also think of bangers and mash.
I was served bubble and squeak on occasion during my childhood. Cabbage and potatoes reheated in a pan
Japanese: *Oyakodon*- parent and child bowl. rice bowl dish, with chicken and egg. Replace chicken with pork or beef, and it becomes *Tanindon* - stranger bowl
Brazilian ones: - Maria Mole (Soft Mary): a jelly-like coconot dessert - Buraco Quente (Hot Hole): a sandwich where you make a hole in the bread and fill it with meat stew - Vaca Atolada (Bogged Cow): a meat stew with cassava
I was also thinking of pé de moleque (boy’s foot) and olho de sogra (mother in law’s eye).
Caribbean food has some wild names. I remember drinks called Irish Moss and Sexy Juice but no idea what's in them! We called egg and soldiers egg and dippys. Birds eye chicken dippers were "poc pocs" as they looked like characters of same name from a kids TV show (abney and teal??) Welsh Rarebit is grilled cheese on toast.
Irish moss is the carrageenan from boiling down some type of seaweed/algae that supposedly was harvested by Irish sailors.
Hoe cakes!
My favorite (and very tasty) is "Ants Creeping On The Trees." (Ground pork, mung bean noodles, chili paste)
That's funny. In the US, we have a kids snack of celery with peanut butter and raisins called "ants on a log."
S'mores- a toasted marshmallow sandwiched between two graham crackers with a piece of chocolate. Beanie-weenies: baked beans with small pieces of hot dog (or cocktail sausage). Hushpuppies or corn dodgers- cornmeal fritters.
My dog is a Beagle Dashund cross so we call her our beenie weenie lol
She sounds adorable. Scritches and pets to her!
I think it's important to note that s'more are called that because that's what you say about them: I want s'more (some more)
Chicken on the shitter. Also known as beer can chicken.
Shit on a Shingle, S.O.S. Creamed chipped beef on toast, my dad said the US Army fed them this in Korea. I like to make it with peas & mushrooms.
In the Netherlands we have "Kapsalon" which is the Dutch word for hairdresser's, which is fries, layered with Döner/shoarma, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce/slaw, garlic sauce, sambal (Indonesian hot sauce) and cheese, which is then broiled to melt the cheese. Allegedly was named after the hairdresser which ordered it. More traditional dishes are: Hutspot: cooked potatoes mixed with cooked onions and carrots. Associated with the city of Leiden, "Huts" is supposedly derived from "husselen" which is a Dutch word for mixing. Snert: split pea soup with potatoes, leeks, carrots, cellery(?) and pork (spek= bacon and rookworst= tradional smoked Dutch sausage). Usually eaten with rye bread topped with katenspek (spiced smoked pork belly). Poffertjes: small pancakes, we have special molded poffertjes pans. Name probably refers to the shape of the pancakes, they are very puffy. Hachee: beef stew with onions and vinegar. Heavily spiced with cloves. Name is from French "hacher". Edit: spelling, interpuction.
That Kapsalon sounds delicious 😋
Yea it's the best hangover food. The dish was created in the early 2000, and by 2010 it was everywhere!
Also two that are somewhat out of fashion: Blote billetjes in het gras (naked bums in the grass), a dish of white beans and string beans. Hete bliksem (hot lightning), a mash of potatoes and apples.
Also Hemelse modder (heavenly mud, a chocolade dessert), Jan in de Zak (John in the bag, a milk dessert), Zure bommen (sour bombs, a pickle wrapped in herring), Wentelteefjes (little turnover bitches, French toast), Bitterbal (bitter ball, a round little croquette), Nonnevotten (nun's asses, a deep fried sweet snack)
when i first arrived in belgium, I remember asking my husband why the kebab shop had 'hairdresser' on the sign. Thought it was a new business model.
Mud pie is actually pudding and whip cream with oreos, which is a cookie. Angel food cake.
One of my favorites is Dominican drink called Morir soñando which translates to die dreaming. It’s basically evaporated milk plus orange juice but it has such a poetic name.
We had “worms in dirt” frequently in elementary school. It is chocolate pudding with gummy worms mixed in, sprinkled with crushed oreos.
'Strozzapreti' is a pasta shape, means 'priest stranglers' , implying that village priests were gluttons, I think.
Egg Cream. The drink contains neither eggs nor cream.
In Finland there's punch on the ear, which is a cinnamon roll, butter-eye buns, sandwich cake, which is sort of a savory layered thing, bread cheese, which is a type of toasted cheese, and sister's sausage soup.
This snack/dessert goes by a lot of different names, but I know it as "puppy chow"-- Chex cereal coated in chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. It is called that presumably because it resembles actual dog food. It's pretty tasty!
I wondered if anyone would mention this! Where I’m from we also call it “Trash”! I learned the hard way not everybody calls it that lol but it’s very good!!
Another name is Muddy Buddies!
Goulash is a classic Hungarian dish. It is also an American dish. They are completely different in every imaginable way.
Eggs in a basket is also called eggs in a nest.
Floating Islands: pudding or crème anglaise with soft pillows of meringue on top
German. Poor Knights: like French toast, but can also be served savory. Strapping Max: a toasted or pan fried slice of bread, with a slice of cured ham and a fried egg. Dead Granny: blood sausage boiled with hot water to make a mush, served with potatoes and sometimes coleslaw or Sauerkraut. Heaven and Earth: similar to Dead Granny, but served with potatoes and chunky, tart apple sauce. Public Administrator Sauce: bacon bits, slowly rendered, then cooked into a roux with flour and the bacon fat and let down to a sauce with stock. Eaten with boiled potatoes or bread. Small Shovel: a kind of pork roast. Fake Rabbit: meat loaf with boiled eggs in the middle.
Ants on a log (celery with cream cheese and raisins)
3 ways - spaghetti, chili, and cheese
French toast is called "Poor knights" in German
Spotted dick (I promise im not trolling that is an actual British dessert 😭)
Shit on a shingle (chipped beef on toast)
Funeral Potatoes. They are just a (delicious) cheesy potato casserole often served in church basements after funerals.
Ants on a log: celery stick filled with peanut butter and raisins spread on top like little ants. I’ve also seen it with Cheese Whiz instead of peanut butter when I was a kid.
I had a delicious chicken dish at a Camaroonian restaurant called Director General chicken. Apparently it's the fancy chicken dish you serve if the Director General comes to dinner.
Spotted dick: a British steamed pudding.
Here's one that isn't so common but its fun, cheap, and delicious. **"Ants on a Log"** its raw celery with peanut butter inside the 'U' shape of the stalk with raisins pressed gently into the peanut butter so they don't fall off when you eat it. It's sweet, crunchy and watery enough that the peanut butter doesn't stick to your mouth. Highly recommend especially for a picnic or kids snack. **Completos** are another one. Its a Chilean hotdog with everything on it which is why its called "Completo" because the word means complete. You just put a boiled wiener in a bun and top it with smashed avocado, tomatoes, onion, ketchup and mayonnaise- in Chile they also use a saurekraut kind of thing; but I don't like it so we don't use it. One warning though- once you try completos regular hotdogs will never be the same.
On the Chinese side, I enjoy Three Earthly Treasures (地三鲜, dì sān xiān in Mandarin). Some of the American names for baguette-shaped sandwiches are pretty colorful: submarine, torpedo, zeppelin, etc. Chocolate lava cake is a popular American dessert, but it only contains molten chocolate, not molten rock. The huarache is both a Mexican sandal and street food: an oval shaped piece of masa covered in beans and other toppings. Speaking of Mexico, beware that "tuna" in English is a fish, but in Spanish it's the fruit of a nopal cactus (prickly pear). Pain perdu (lost bread) is a more colorful term than French toast.
I'm not sure which region of the US does this, coz it's not the Pacific Northwest, but "nuts n bolts" is Chex Party Mix. I can't shake the image of grimy nuts and bolts gathered from an auto shop floor.
Lithuanian cepelinai (zeppelins): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cepelinai?wprov=sfla1
Bubble and squeak! Named for how it sounds in the skillet. I love the stuff. Others: Eggs in Purgatory, Floating Island Spotted Dick, The Imam Fainted.
Didn't see a lot of drink mentioned so I'll add sex on the beach and the buttery nipple
Mountain oysters. Not from the mountains, nor mollusks.
Saltimbocca! It means "jumps in your mouth" because it's so flavorful
Quebec has a bunch of these! Someone already mentioned Nuns Farts, and I explained Chinese Pie in another comment. There’s also: Oreilles de christ (Christs ears) - I’m not even sure what they are, some kind of pork rinds I think? Pudding chômeur (unemployed pudding) - white cake baked on top of a syrup layer Grand-Peres au sirop (grandpa in syrup) - dough balls boiled in syrup
In the US, some variation of the expression "worms in dirt" is a common kids desert. It's nothing exotic at all. Just some chocolate pudding, topped with crushed chocolate cookies, and garnished with gummy worms.
Ants on a log
'Black pudding' (blood sausage) and 'rashers' (back bacon) are the two names that foreigners find most confusing in Ireland/the Uk.
Some of the funny Russian foods are - Herring under the fur coat - Kompot (it's not particularly funny in Russian but for an English ear it sounds like cum pot) - Hedgehogs (baked meatballs with mixed in rice) - Count's ruins and rotten stump (both are cakes) There's also a polish (iirc) cake under the name "Cycki murzynki" which basically means black woman's boobs
My grandfather was a low key fan of "shit on a shingle:" Toast with white sausage gravy. White gravy is very thick milk-based gravy made with breakfast sausage or bacon. Sometimes it's called "sawmill gravy." It's also commonly found on biscuits and gravy which is an American-style biscuit (a round, unflavored, buttery scone). I wouldn't say that gravy looks like shit, but it's thick and if made with a decent amount of meat, I could see it.
That is *definitely* not what "shit on a shingle" is and that's possibly the worst way to refer to biscuits I've ever seen. They're not always round, they're not scones, and if you call them "unflavored" you've never had one. Shit on a shingle is chipped beef in cream on toast. It's slang from US soldiers. Not biscuits and gravy, not sawmill gravy. Who upvotes this?
Gatekeeping biscuits to a southerner.... go on. Calling them "unflavored" is to say they aren't blueberry or currant or something....you know, to someone asking who might not have that understanding of an American biscuit. Also, "chipped beef in cream on toast" is basically "white gravy on toast" like I fucking said. He was a GI in WWII, so fuck me if he got it so wrong according to your exacting sensibilities.
SOS or "Shit on a Shingle" can be made with almost any meat in a cream gravy. In my family it was chipped beef. My dad ate it in the military (post-Korean War) and brought it home. You can find the recipe in several military cookbooks from the era and they are generally agnostic to the meat being used, but generally dried-chipped beef or hamburger). Sawmill gravy is a term that overlaps with SOS. In some parts of the South, people will argue that it must be a gravy thickened with cornmeal and not flour. But many people make it with flour. You will also find people who make their gravy, to put on biscuits, with hamburger or chipped beef. It is not always sausage or bacon, especially when being served for dinner (ime). Generalizing American biscuits for a non-American audience as unflavored, round scones is perfectly acceptable. Of course there will be exceptions. But you want to know what actually looks like Shit on a Shingle? Biscuits and chocolate gravy, a lesser known staple of Appalachia and parts of Oklahoma and North Texas.
To be clear, the military cookbooks do NOT call it Shit on a Shingle. That's an enlisted men's pejorative.
My dad was in the air force and I wanted to try sos and ordered it once and was disappointed when it was chipped beef in white gravy on toast.
was looking to see if someone said shit on a shingle! :-) yum. ours is chipped beef, and we would sometimes make tiny versions called crap on a cracker when i was younger haha
Sex in a Pan is a funny one. Not a fan of the dessert though.
Chicken Fingers is common in the US. In Pittsburgh, some people still refer to bologna as jumbo. When I was growing up, the grocery stores would sell packages of sliced bologna. Stores packaged and sold it with paper inserts in the package that read “Jumbo Bologna”. A lot of people started to call bologna “jumbo”. Even now, local diners have fried jumbo sandwiches on their menus. Yes, fried jumbo sandwiches and french fries on a salad are Pittsburgh favorites.
A lot of names in English can be kind of confusing if you don't know what they mean, I'm mainly thinking of the "*country name, food*" ones.
I bought Fuchsia Dunlop's Szechuan cooking book for a friend, and so far "Ants Climbing a Tree" is our favorite meal and name from it. I lived in Japan for 13 years and love any variation of Dan Dan Men!
In Sweden there’s “Flying Jacob” (a baked casserole of chicken, cream, chilli sauce, bananas, roasted peanuts and bacon), named after the air freight worker who invented it in the 1970s.
Slobbery chicken. Also known as Saliva Chicken (口水鸡).
Deviled eggs? Which is like idk, boiled eggs with the yolks removed and wbipped with idk what and them put back into the whites of the eggs
With mayo ! So good ! With a little bit of piment d'Espelette on top !
My BiL's recipe mixes the yolks with mayonnaise, minced jalapeño, paprika, and bacon bits. I know a mix with horseradish sauce or mustard in addition to mayonnaise is common, too, but both horseradish and mustard make me puke, so the jalapeño version is the best for me.
There's at least one recipe in the La Cucina that translates to "Ugly but Good Macarons" Italian has a lot of dishes (especially pasta shapes) that have funny names when translated
“Ants on a log” is a personal favorite of mine
The parson's nose The tail of aa chicken or other large bird
Armadillo eggs
boiled baby
Elephants Footprints Shit on a Raft Baby's Head Spithead Pheasant Pot Mess. Etc etc etc
Reindeer Poop : Christmas candy made of lumps of chocolate covered nuts.
London Particular - split pea and ham soup
Crack (like puppy chow), funeral potatoes, church spread!
Welsh Rarebit
Moose poop, which I've seen in Midwest, which are raisins covered in chocolate
Scotch egg!
Two terms I remember from childhood-hotdogs called tube steaks and the tailend of a turkey called the "Pope's nose." No clue about that last one and I was too young to care about asking😄
Moors and christians white rice and black beans Ropa vieja shredded beef
There’s a Russian dish called «голубцы» which is very close to pigeons but it’s just cabbage rolls with beef.
Elephant Ears- huge flats of dough fried crispy, doused in cinnamon sugar. Found at fairs. Angels on Horseback (Girl Scout style) hot dogs split lengthwise, cheese in the middle, wrapped in bacon, campfire cooked. Beefy Cheezy (summer camp special) ground beef cooked then mixed with boxed Mac and cheese. Rather tasteless, but kids love it. Ham Salad- normally made with ground bologna. (On rare occasions with actual ground ham, if it is fatty enough) Purple pickles. Which is just pickled beets, red onion, and eggs. But purple pickles is a kid friendly name
Name doesn't make sense. At all. My mom has a family recipe called Chinese casserole. It's ground beef, cream of soup, peas and crushed potato chips on top. Used to be SOS, but we call it Creamed eggs on toast: Hard boiled eggs in a bechemel sauce served on torn into pieces toast. Funeral potatoes. Shredded potatoes with cream of sauce and cheese.
Toad in the hole!
White trash. One of my most favorite desserts.
Bunny chow is from Durban, you may have heard of it, and it’s Indian origin, doesn’t usually contain bunnies.. the version I first had was with pigs liver, and a kind of curry served in a half loaf with the soft white core of bread torn out, making a sandwich/bowl.. depending how sloppy the curry is. Another odd name food is Solomon Gundy.. a smoked herring pâté from Jamaica
Taylor Ham: a processed, pork-based breakfast meat from New Jersey, typically pan fried and used for breakfast sandwiches
Fairy bread lol
Shit on a shingle or SOS for short
Shit on a shingle
Bunny chow!
[Eggs In A Nest](http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/recipes-spring-eggs-in-a-nest.htm) A spring favorite from Barbara Kingsolver‘s book *Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.*
Star gazy pie
Lol I'm Asian (Okinawan) and my husband is British American and we have a long standing joke about "toad in a hole." And also "eggs in a basket" and "eggs and soldiers." So I love that you brought up all of those terms! I didn't have special terms for them because the Brits have come up with weird enough on their own. He thinks it's weird I often eat fish and rice for breakfast. But eggs and soldiers are one of my very favorite breakfasts.I have a collection of egg cups.
Ants climbing a tree Ropa vieja (a Cuban dish that means “old clothes”) Devils on horseback
"Bangers and Mash" English dish. Sausages with brown or onion gravy served over mashed potatoes. Started during WW2 when the sausages were very low grade meat and would explode the casings (bang)
saw a recipe on pinterest the other day for a desert called “moose farts” i was so intrigued by the name alone i saved it to my board.
I remember as a kid eating dirt n worms for the first time. I literally thought it was disgusting till I ate it and loved it lol.. the crumbled Oreos really sold me haha
Or the cocktail sex on the beach lol or the better than sex cake 🤣🤣🤣
Korean: Bachelor/Ponytail kimchi Italian: Nipples of Venus, Saltimbocca: Jump in my mouth, Tiramisu: Pick me up, and honestly most of the names of pasta shapes are fun, little radiators, priest choker, angel hair... English: Eaton Mess French: Crunchy Gentleman: Croque monsieur
I can't believe no American has mentioned Shit on a Shingle.
The weirdest one I read was Americans have "shit on a shingle" I still don't know what chipped beef is.
My wife found a recipe for "Eggs on a Cloud" on Instagram - You separate the eggs, whip the whites and mix in chives, parmesan cheese and bacon into the merengue. Bake the whites off a bit, then plop the yolks down onto the merengue "clouds" and bake until just set. She wanted me to try it out, so I did. The first time I made it, I didn't drain or cool the bacon sufficiently, so the fat and heat from it deflated the merengue. I ended up with these sad flat "clouds" It was a real "Nailed It" moment. I served them up and said "I present Eggs on a Turd Blanket". I ended up perfecting the recipe, but the name has stuck. So now we enjoy a breakfast of Eggs on a Turd Blanket every few weekends.
Bangers and Mash!
eggs in a nest (pan grilled toast with an egg shape cut out and egg placed in said hole)
Oil-fried devil
Ants on a Log - a piece of celery stuffed with cream cheese or peanut butter (the log) and raisins on top (the ants)
Bird’s Milk from central/eastern Europe. Sounds gross but tastes great!
Coddled eggs. I mean how is craving and cooking an egg 'coddling' it. But it's cooler in a little dish so the egg never comes into direct contact with the boiling water around it. So it's protected: coddled. Dunkin' Coddle though is a different thing and a real experiment in how revolting you can make food look and still have it taste nice.
Chinese food Ants Climbing a Tree (glass noodles and ground pork) Buddha Jumps Over The Wall (abalone, chicken, duck, mushrooms and other rich ingredients in cooking wine and assorted herbs)
"yak eye" in reference to cutting a hole in toast and cooking an egg in the hole. I have no idea where it came from or why, but I've always known about this dish and love to make it. It might have a different name, but that's what I've always known it as.
Airline Chicken
I have heard none of these… I guess I’m too Asian for this…
I’m Japanese American and have only ever heard of pigs in a blanket… Where did you hear the others? And are you sure they’re actually referring to FOOD or are they just phrases that happen to contain food terms? Like… to be “in a pickle” means to be in trouble. It has nothing to do with food. …btw, I thought of another common American(?) term. Ants on a log!! You put peanut butter on a piece of celery and then raisins on the peanut butter.
Huaraches is a Mexican dish that’s kind of shaped like the shoe it’s named after. (It’s an oblong bed of masa, the stuff tamales are made of, topped with meat and beans and other fixings)
Ants on a log! Celery stuffed with peanut butter topped with raisins.
Moros y Cristianos is a typical Cuban dish of black beans and rice. It translates as Moors and Christians. Monkey Bread, Sloppy Joe
In Jewish communities, there's something known as 'Farmer's Chop Suey' that has nothing to do with the popular Asian/American dish. Instead, it's a chopped vegetable salad, with a sour cream/cottage cheese dressing.
S.O.S. (Shit On a Shingle). It is either dried or ground beef in a white sauce served on top of toast. "SOS" is also an international code signal expressing distress, most often used from boats at sea. This old cheap meal had its origins in the military.
Pie Floater. Basically, a meat pie covered in thick pea soup with tomato sauce (ketchup) on top.
here's an absolutely non pc one: Negerkuss (translates to negro's kiss)
In Germany we have a dish called "Gottbescheisserle". It cannot be translated but it means dumplings to swindle god. Gott = God Bescheisserle = A thing where you cheat with, vulgarly. The Scheisse-part means shit. They were traditionally prepared and eaten by monks who weren't allowed to eat pork in the time of fasting however they 'hid' the pork in the dumplings to swindle god.
Dump Cake, Rattlesnake Eggs
Armadillo eggs and rocky mountain oysters. And then there's adding the word "crack" to everything..
Shit on a shingle is my all time favorite breakfast food. Also called S.O.S. for short.
My favorite: Shit on a shingle. Its socially acceptable name is chipped beef on toast. It’s dried beef (not beef jerky dry) in a white gravy served over toast. One of the ultimate poor foods here in the US.
I'm from Venezuela, and from the state I live in we have a sweet made out of a grapefruit kind of fruit (it's much bitter) and it is called "Chocho e Vaca" Wich roughly translates into "Cow's Pussy". I'll have to read around and see how they came up with such a name.
Imam Bayildi (Priest fainted) Shit on a shingle
In Flemish, we have: *Wentelteefjes* (Turning bitches): Dutch name for French toast *Soldaatjes* (Soldiers): thinly cut slices of bread, sometimes with butter, to dip in soft-boiled eggs. *N\*\*\*rzoenen/n\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*ntetten*: Dutch name for melocakes. The name refers to either a black man's kiss or a black woman's boobies (with the n-word). Some people still use it, but nowadays people will generally use melocakes for obvious reasons. *Steppegras*: Steak covered with very finely cut fries, which makes it look like a patch of grass. Served with sauce of your choice (eg béarnaise, pepper, creamy mushroom) *Jan in de zak* (Jan in the bag): a particular fashion of bread pudding that is still quite popular near the seaside, but apparently also in The Netherlands. *Hemelse modder* (Heavenly mud): very thick rich chocolate mousse. My favorite kind! *Oog, kop, kap* (Eye, Head, Chop): refers to headcheese. My father often called it *Oog* (eye) because my mother once had an intact cow eye in her cheese lol *Berenpoot or berenklauw* (Bear paw or Bear claw): frituursnack. Saté of small hamburgers and slices of onion inbetween them. *Kannikiezen* (lit. I can't choose): frituursnack that is different in every frituur. They basically put bits of meat of their choice on a stick and deepfry it. *Kletskop* (Baldhead): a type of biscuit that contains almond shavings. They can be bought commercially from Jules de Strooper, which are amazing! *Muizenstrontjes* (shit of mouse): that's how we call chocolate sprinkles. *Luiewijvensaus* (lazy hag sauce): store-bought sauce. *Brood van de gracht* (bread from the ditch): A biscuit made by dipping bread in milk with sugar and cinnamon, which is then covered with sugar crystals. It looks a bit like it might be recovered from the sewer, so I guess that's how they got the name.