Conference turris::cooks

    I'm not too sure about GB English, but the Spanish "corn flour"
    (harina de maiz) translates into "cornmeal". The correct meaning
    should be fairly obvious from the use in the recipe, though.

    I have two cookbooks written by Australians, and both say that
    "cornflour" is equivalent to "cornstarch" in America.  (Yes I know
    that England and Australia aren't the same country, but their versions
    of English are closer to each other than to 'American').
    

    I'll second the cornflour->cornstarch. Harina de Maiz (cornmeal/corn
    flour) (also strangely called "masa harina" or roughly "dough flour")
    is not used [much?] in Chinese cooking.
    
    Another - kitchen paper == paper towels?
    
    -Scott
     

    How about this one:
    greaseproof paper = wax paper
    
    I never used masa harina for anything except Mexican food, but when
    a recipe requires it, nothing else (finely ground corn meal,  for
    example) really seems to work very well.  Quaker Oats packages the
    stuff.

    HELP!  I am totally confused, cornmeal, cornstarch, cornflour......
    
    I use cornmeal for baking breads, cakes, etc. and I use cornstarch
    for thickening gravies, sauces, etc....
    
    So what is the argument?? What does the English cornflour translate
    to in America???
    
    Maybe someone from England could help us!
    
    donna

    The original note, as well as several of the replies (including
    one from me) correctly equated cornflour (British/Australian) to
    cornstarch (American).  No cause for confusion  8^) !
    
    
    Jan
    

    The confusion is... that finely ground cornmeal is sometimes called
    corn flour in the US, but it isn't cornstarch.
    
    		UK		US        		Spanish   
    	Cornmeal		?
    	Cornflour		cornstarch
    				cornflour               masa harina
    							or harina de
							maiz

    This may sound pretty picky, but is it perhaps clarified by the
    presence or absence of a space between the words?
    
    corn   flour    =  finely ground cornmeal  (akin to rye flour, not
					                ryeflour)
                                                    
    cornflour       =  cornstarch
    
    
    I thought it was a pretty good explanation myself!
    
    Jan
    

A friend found a recipe for a chocolate flummary (sp?). The recipe
was in a british publication of a book originally in german. It called
for 40g (1.5 oz.) cornflour (one word). She assumed it refered to what
is called in the States corn-starch. The dessert was a total failure...

For proportions, the recipe called for 600ml (20 fl.oz.) of milk. On the
same page there is a recipe for a semolina flummary with the same ratio
(600cc milk to 40g of semolina). 40g of corn starch seems a bit much for
that amount of liquid.

Can anyone help me figure out what we need to use for that recipe? My
other guess is corn-meal, but then why would it be called 'cornflour'?
I always thought the "european" cornflour was corn-starch, not corn-meal.

All help appreciated,

 - Naomi

The recipe probably wants something finer than meal, made from corn.  Corn meal
is kinda coarse, corn flour is much finer, but it's still not corn starch.
If you can't find corn flour, you might try masa harina.  Or you could try
putting corn meal in a blender until it has the consistency of wheat flour.

corn flour = masa harina; if corn starch wasn't the answer, then I'd try the
flour made from corn....commonly known as masa harina in the southwestern USA.

If you figure it out, please share the working recipe...sounds interesting...
what does flummery mean?