Grab: In the US, sticks of butter, oleo, margerine etc. are marked off on the wax paper in which they are wrapped into Teaspoons, tablespoons, 14 cups, 1/2 cups so that all a cook need do is slice off the desired amount - no measuring or squashing into a cup needed!

Also, in the US - most butter has a consistant moisture and fat content unlike Ireland and UK where it can vary from Creamery to Creamery. If you want higher fat and moisture contents in the US..you need to buy what is called 'Artisinal' butters or...Kerrygold..or churn your own.

>I< was raised to believe that 'Flapjack' denoted a griddle-cake using the Oats recipe and that the only thing called a 'pancake' was with wheat flour. The first Oat-cake recipe was pretty much what I'd been raised with, but my parents are of recent Irish descent (Dad's family was born there) so maybe I'm not sufficiently 'American' to have grown up believing in the fairytale that anything cooked on a griddle is a pancake.

Now Oatcakes are a whole 'nuther matter. Those are also made with Golden Syrup but come out like Hockey-pucks. Tasty hockey pucks.

To the basic Oat Flapjack, I would suggest you add a sprinkle of Ginger, All-spice, Mace and Cinnamon, but NO dried fruit - those are for Oat-cakes.

As for the Syrup, half-Golden Half-Maple is a nice blend. Pure maple is not to most UKers tastes.

Of course, you can also make a type of griddle cake called Hoe-Cake with cornmeal although you can find more Pancakey recipes using Cornmeal these days.

Another good topping is seedless boysenberry preserves, melted in a sauce-pan until the right conistancey.

The Gold Standard of American Pancakes is The Buttermilk Pancake, preferably a Southern Recipe and wrapped around a sausage and called: Pigs in Blankets.

I'm getting hungry - time for IHOP
Champagne Carol's Secret Santa
who stops by to look for Cllr and inevitably posts somewhere else.