Edinburgh: Krispy Kreme

[Dignan]

The custom at a new Krispy Kreme in Auld Reekie is creating a safety hazard.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/edinburgh-krispy-kreme-fears-over-dangerous-road-1-2800585

The story indicates this is the first Krispy Kreme in Scotland. The operation in Austrailia was boom then bust. How has it done in the UK?

I grew up in the South of the US, and these donuts were a treat for us when we allowed them. I probably haven't had a hot, fresh sample in 20 years, though.

[Harters]

I have had one once (when they opened in Manchester). If I had to wait another 20 years for the next, it would be too soon.

Looking at their website for the outlets (which includes in-store sales at Tesco), I'd suggest that they are doing extremely well as a business. Which probably says an awful lot about the state of the British diet.

By the by, on the last trip to America, I had the misfortune to need coffee where the only opportunity was at one of their outlets. Have to say, this was the vilest coffee I have ever tried to drink in any country I've visited (and I am used to the thin, pretty tasteless stuff that you find in many parts of the US)

[Dignan]

Thanks, Harters. It's good to know we need not fear for your safety there at Hermiston Gait. I don't drink a lot of coffee, but next time you're around, I've heard that the Dunkin Donuts chain has been getting good marks for its coffee, surely in a relative sense.

[Harters]

We're thinking of a couple of days in Edinburgh later in the year and I'll do my best to avoid it.

[SylviaLovegren]

I have had one once (when they opened in Manchester). If I had to wait another 20 years for the next, it would be too soon.

Really? I loved the Krispy Kremes we'd get in Savannah, GA. Especially the chocolate frosted ones. Was it that you didn't like KK donuts, or that you don't like donuts at all? Is there much history of donuts in the UK?

[Harters]

I love doughnuts and eat too many of them. I remember as a small child in the 1950s going to places like Blackpool with my parents and queuing up at the one of the stalls selling them, straight from the frier into the bag for you, with a shake of sugar. In fact, take me to Blackpool now and I'm going to be buying half a dozen to eat while walking along the front.

But I find KK's to be just too sickly sweet to be at all pleasant.

[SylviaLovegren]

I love doughnuts and eat too many of them. I remember as a small child in the 1950s going to places like Blackpool with my parents and queuing up at the one of the stalls selling them, straight from the frier into the bag for you, with a shake of sugar. In fact, take me to Blackpool now and I'm going to be buying half a dozen to eat while walking along the front.

But I find KK's to be just too sickly sweet to be at all pleasant.

Were the ones you had as a kid cake or yeast donuts? I'm just curious.

[gfweb]

Thanks, Harters. It's good to know we need not fear for your safety there at Hermiston Gait. I don't drink a lot of coffee, but next time you're around, I've heard that the Dunkin Donuts chain has been getting good marks for its coffee, surely in a relative sense.

Uggh. DD coffee is as bad as Starbucks.

[Dignan]

Thanks, Harters. It's good to know we need not fear for your safety there at Hermiston Gait. I don't drink a lot of coffee, but next time you're around, I've heard that the Dunkin Donuts chain has been getting good marks for its coffee, surely in a relative sense.

Uggh. DD coffee is as bad as Starbucks.

As i said, in a relative sense...

KK donuts are nothing if not sweet. When i was a teenager, we sold them at school for fundraising. Rather than that, some buddies and i had a donut fight. It was hard to drive with the sugar glazed windshield my VW sirocco had afterward.

[gfweb]

young hooligans

[Harters]

I love doughnuts and eat too many of them. I remember as a small child in the 1950s going to places like Blackpool with my parents and queuing up at the one of the stalls selling them, straight from the frier into the bag for you, with a shake of sugar. In fact, take me to Blackpool now and I'm going to be buying half a dozen to eat while walking along the front.

But I find KK's to be just too sickly sweet to be at all pleasant.

Were the ones you had as a kid cake or yeast donuts? I'm just curious.

No idea. Not only are we talking about a snack eaten 50+ years ago, I have no idea what the difference is between yeast or cake doughnuts. Doughnuts are doughnuts to me. - I have never seen them distinguished betwen styles of making.

[liuzhou]

Aren't we talking about two different things here? As far as I can make out American 'donuts' and British 'doughnuts' aren't the same thing. Apart from the hole.

[Mjx]

Aren't we talking about two different things here? As far as I can make out American 'donuts' and British 'doughnuts' aren't the same thing. Apart from the hole.

Leaving aside the spellings (which I thought was one of those advert-y things, like 'lite'), isn't there at least signficant overlap (unlike 'biscuits' or 'muffins')? I've never had a do[ugh]nut in the UK, but I didn't think that two very different things were involved, and so far, I no one has said 'Krispy Kreme? That's not a doughnut... THIS is a doughnut!' (imagine images here).

[liuzhou]

isn't there at least signficant overlap

I only know a 'donut' shop opened here in China and all the American ex-pats were praising it to the skies, so I went. I couldn't find anything I would call a doughnut.

[SylviaLovegren]

In North America (Canadians are very "into" donuts as well I have happily discovered), a "cake" doughnut is made with batter raised with baking powder. A "yeast" doughnut is made using yeast as the leavener for the the dough. Krispy Kreme are mostly yeast donuts, although they probably sell some cakes.

In North America, cake donuts are often sold at fairs, roadside apple stands, etc., fried fresh on the spot and rolled in sugar and cinnamon while still hot out of the fat. They are delicious -- for about 15 minutes. Once they cool, they are stomach bombs. Yeast donuts are lighter. One of my favorite doughnut memories was from a shop in Eastern Ontario where they used high protein flour -- the resultant yeasted donuts had a wonderful unique chew to them.

[SylviaLovegren]

isn't there at least signficant overlap

I only know a 'donut' shop opened here in China and all the American ex-pats were praising it to the skies, so I went. I couldn't find anything I would call a doughnut.

What do you call a doughnut?

[liuzhou]

Well, for a start, not something covered in 20 varieties of artificially coloured sugary icing.

Just a ring of deep fried dough dusted with sugar. Or a ball of the same dough filled with jam and deep fried. Stop.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/aug/16/how-cook-perfect-jam-doughnuts

Edited February 24, 2013 by liuzhou (log)

[SylviaLovegren]

Well, for a start, not something covered in 20 varieties of artificially coloured sugary icing.

Just a ring of deep fried dough dusted with sugar. Or a ball of the same dough filled with jam and deep fried. Stop.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/aug/16/how-cook-perfect-jam-doughnuts

Jam-filled donuts are popular in N.A., too, but they're called "jelly doughnuts" and are usually cut in flat squares or circles rather than being round, for some reason.

Doughnuts started out here mostly just rolled in sugar. Then came the sugar glaze (my favorite) which is a sugar syrup that dries to a crackly, slightly sticky sweetness. The glaze led to flavored glaze, which led to frosting. My two favorite frostings are maple (very big in Canada, obviously, but also for some reason in the Pacific NW of America) and chocolate. I can leave off the pink icing with sprinkles.

It's interesting that the Guardian article you link to about donuts does not include any rings, just dough balls. No one knows who invented the ring donut (or when, for that matter), but it was an obvious idea to increase the crispy fried shell while also making sure there was no soggy uncooked dough in the center. In North America, doughnuts probably came from the Dutch settlers with their "oily cakes" but those were definitely round balls and not rings.

[Mjx]

Well, for a start, not something covered in 20 varieties of artificially coloured sugary icing.

Just a ring of deep fried dough dusted with sugar. Or a ball of the same dough filled with jam and deep fried. Stop.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/aug/16/how-cook-perfect-jam-doughnuts

Hm, that seems pretty close to what you can find in the US too. The particoloured mayhem that you find is in some places is just gimmick (to my mind, like ice cream shops that feature bubble gum and Smarties flavours), but doesn't define US doughnuts; in their basic forms, they're what you describe.

[Harters]

Well, for a start, not something covered in 20 varieties of artificially coloured sugary icing.

Just a ring of deep fried dough dusted with sugar. Or a ball of the same dough filled with jam and deep fried. Stop.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/aug/16/how-cook-perfect-jam-doughnuts

Must confess that, when in Spain, I'm quite partial to the industrial "long-life" ring doughnuts you get in all the supermarkets. No, they're not the "real thing" but they are nice.

[Dignan]

FWIW, a nice fresh cake donut is my favorite variety.