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How to properly eat a scone?


MarkBearSF
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...and avoid other faux pas.

 

As we were enjoying afternoon tea on the QM2, at the end of the service, I was again confronted with scones. I was well brought-up in the US, but some foods and situations weren't part of my childhood.

 

When eating a scone, with jam and clotted cream (or similar, in this case)

 

 

 

  • Does one separate the halves and eat them separately?
  • Do I spread the jam or cream on the entire portion or as I go?
  • Is it acceptable to bite into the scone, or should I tear my portion before eating (as with a dinner roll)?

And, while I'm at it, are there any other faux pas if which I should be aware?

(I heard long ago that the "pinkies up" approach to holding a tea cup is a silly affectation that somehow took hold in the popular mind as "classy")

 

Thanks - I always try to match the manners of the room, but sometimes need coaching.

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Separate scones add cream and jam and then eat separately. Another issue we have in the UK is whether to eat Devon cream tea put clotted cream on scone and then jam on top. Cornish cream tea put the jam on first and then the cream on top. It's your choice but for me my personal choice is jam first then the cream on top.

 

Dont ask whether you should add milk before pouring tea into cup or add milk after pouring tea into cup that is another whole argument.

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When dealing with fine china putting the milk in first avoids cracking and having your little finger up avoids burning it on the hot cup. Neither of these things are necessary these days.

 

 

 

Just one small point, you will need to move your napkin as well as the folk and knife before you will be served any food.

 

 

 

As for jam or cream first, I go with cream first my friend does jam first. We have agreed to disagree, but it makes it easier when sharing a pot of jam.

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This topic is potentially more divisive than Brexit.

You split the scone first. Ideally with fingers if it’s a proper scone, but suspect you’ll need a knife on QM2 ones.

I’m a fan of Cornish style, jam first, then cream. If you put cream on first it slides about too much and you can’t get an even spread of jam.

Put the whole lot on, rather than bit by bit, and don’t try and break it up with your fingers. Just munch away and relish the mess!

I will be on board next week, so there will be a covert test. If you spot a figure with a clipboard peering out from behind a pillar as you are taking tea, you will know who it is...

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Cut the scone across horizontally to produce two discs.

 

Spread the cream thickly on both halves.

 

Using a spoon, add a large amount of jam on top of the cream on both halves (don't spread the jam, just place it).

This is the highly correct, or "Devon" way, and is a tradition that dates from soon after early man first stood upright (indeed he did so to better grasp a scone with one hand, and spread the cream with a primitive knife held in the other).

 

Accept no heathen, unnatural substitute.

Cream first, jam second was ordained by the gods.

 

For further, logical proof; one dairy product (butter) that many spread on a scone for an "ordinary tea", is replaced in the "cream tea" by another dairy product, cream.

 

Quite easy to remember, both dairy products, and as nature intended.

 

(Avoid any faux/wrong/mistaken cream tea ideas that suggest reversing the cream/jam placement, esp if it comes from a county that isn't really part of England, where they've yet to get electricity, and where until fairly recently you weren't allowed to get married unless it was within your own family (your immediate family) :D ).

 

Enjoy your (Devon) Cream Tea :) :D ;)

Edited by pepperrn
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I do possess infallibility in all questions that concern the most blessed sacrament of afternoon tea. Therefore I rule once and for all time that the Devonians are heretics whose false and evil teachings shall not be followed. It is JAM before CREAM.The sacred name of the baked goods of the lord is pronounced SKON.

 

 

Selkie74 is probably right. If jam or cream first had been the question of the last referendum, there would have been a fourth English Civil War. Oh, and cut the scones with the knife, its more preactical and elegant (and no heresy in my view).

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Those folk from Devon have no idea at all about food, just look at the way they crimp their pasties, along the top rather than correctly along the side. So.…. slice your scone, then spoon on strawberry jam, then smooth out slightly. Then spoon on as much Cornish clotted cream as you can without it all collapsing, then eat it by biting, probably be impossible to break it up with your fingers anyway and just enjoy!

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I do possess infallibility in all questions that concern the most blessed sacrament of afternoon tea. Therefore I rule once and for all time that the Devonians are heretics whose false and evil teachings shall not be followed. It is JAM before CREAM.The sacred name of the baked goods of the lord is pronounced SKON.

 

 

Selkie74 is probably right. If jam or cream first had been the question of the last referendum, there would have been a fourth English Civil War. Oh, and cut the scones with the knife, its more preactical and elegant (and no heresy in my view).

 

Unfortunately I have to disagree. In June my wife and I were invited to attend the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham palace. The scones were served with cream followed by jam. If it's good enough for the Queen, who are we to disagree?

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I am afraid not you only get that luxury when having afternoon tea if you are in Princess/Queens Grill.
That sound you hear is the fall of civilization.

 

Shocking that they even include this charade in the advertising without clotted cream.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G935F using Forums mobile app

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I can actually buy British clotted cream (shelf stable, in a jar) at certain US groceries (Wegmans in the Northeast). Should I bring some along for my own pleasure?

 

I've also considered bringing a bottle of Tabasco Sauce so I don't have to wait while the waiter tries to remember where the onboard stock are stored.

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I am afraid not you only get that luxury when having afternoon tea if you are in Princess/Queens Grill.

We were recently on the QE and the exact same clotted cream (in it’s original plastic container) was available not only in the Grills lounge but also....in the Lido!:o :eek:

 

Sharp intake of breath ;)

I wish I had taken photos!

 

It was available in the Lido every day until about 2 days before the end of the cruise when it ran out and wasn’t replaced.

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Properly baked scones abhor a knife. Twisting the scone slowly, left hand clockwise and right hand counter-clockwise while raising the score below one's nose allows the aroma of the scone to delightfully defuse. A knife, my friend from the 22nd Regiment once instructed me, holds to an entirely different purpose unfit for civilized company.

 

Other important lessons from the Desert Storm era: "Jam then clotted cream, milk then tea. We're soldiers, not savages!" Thank you, Sir Peter!

 

"We had a kettle: we let it leak:

Our not repairing it made it worse.

We haven't had any tea for a week....

The bottom is out of the Universe!"

 

~Rudyard Kipling, "Natural Theology"

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And let’s not even get started on how to pronounce the word!

Is it SKON to rhyme with gone, or SCONE to rhyme with cone?

And the great Scottish Stone of Scone is pronounced SCOON. Baffled? So are we.

I asked the maid in a dulcet tone

If she'd order me a buttered scone.

The silly girl, she's been and gone

And ordered me a buttered scone.

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Oh what a wonderful thread- very british- which i love! I remember so well- when I had my first scone aborad the Mary- years ago- and I call myself well brought up to... well at least I THING SO! The damn thing crumbled between my fingers and I made a real mess! Leason learned. I learned by watching! I tried both ways- the Cornish and - was it Devon- way. My taste butts did not feel any difference. So every since- first that cream thing- and then jam on top!

 

Since i drink my tea with just a little sugar the question if milk or tea first- does not arise! I tried milk in my tea though- tasted not to bad- but the sensation when the tea came after the milk was great to watch...! Brexit- well - each his - or their own- how you like or as you wish...!

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I can actually buy British clotted cream (shelf stable, in a jar) at certain US groceries (Wegmans in the Northeast). Should I bring some along for my own pleasure?
On many occasions I've stopped at Marks & Spencer in Southampton or Waitrose in Hythe and bought a tub of clotted cream to take on board myself, or give to friends who are about to sail that day.

 

The shelf-life is long enough (stored in the cabin 'fridge) to last most of the way to New York (if not used up long before of course).

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