Talk:Apple crisp

How is Apple Cobbler a variant of Apple Crisp? The two are very different dishes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.64.8.106 (talk) 08:15, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Crisp, crumble, and brown betty

The headline says:

Apple crisp (name used in the United States and Canada) or apple crumble (name preferred in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand) …

So, "apple crumble" is just the UK name for a crisp? OK. But then, under "Variants":

Apple crumble is a British pudding similar to the apple crisp that originated during World War II food rationing. The topping is made of butter, flour, and brown sugar rolled together so that it resembles breadcrumbs. Care must be taken to balance the correct amount of crumble with the fruit, or else the filling may seep through and spoil this crust.

So it's a variant that's… exactly the same thing? In fact, it's not even a variant, because the section lead says:

There are a number of desserts that employ apples with sweet toppings, but none of them are the same as apple crisp, making them not so much variants, but instead other related apple desserts.

(So why is it called "Variants" if these aren't variants, anyway?) Meanwhile, crumble has its own article, linked under See also, which tells you that a crumble is also known as a brown betty! But here, a Brown Betty is described as a completely different dessert:

Apple Brown Betty (or apple pudding) consists of alternating layers of apples and sweetened buttered bread crumbs or crackers, often with a sauce.

Meanwhile, if you look at the cobbler page, it says, "NOTE: The crisp and crumble differ from the cobbler in that the formers' top layers are generally made with oatmeal." Which directly contradicts what the crisp and crumble pages say.

From my own knowledge: a crisp and a brown betty are distinct variants on the cobbler, and the crumble is just a specific kind of crisp. Both substitute something sweet that crisps as it bakes for the batter crust, which can be anything from streusel to oatmenal-brown sugar to soaked crackers. The distinction is that a crisp has a single layer of topping that seals the filling; the brown betty has multiple interspersed layers where the filling seeps into the interior layers. A crumble is a crisp specifically using streusel or something very similar, like on a crumb coffee cake. Brits are familiar with crumbles in exactly that sense (whether they invented it independently during WWII or borrowed it, I have no idea). If shown an oatmeal-based crisp, or a brown betty, or any of the other American cobbler variants, they won't consider it the same dish as a crumble (but won't think it's some weird and inedible thing, either). Also, some Americans call some or all these things kinds of pies (so you may have an "apple crumble pie"), but others find that confusing (is it a crumble, or a pie?); most Brits would call all of them puddings, which Americans find even more confusing.

I may be wrong about this, and even if I'm not, my own memory is certainly not a reliable source. But someone should do the research to figure out how to make these pages not contradict themselves and each other at every step. (And maybe there shouldn't be so many separate pages for minor variations on the same idea?) --50.0.128.185 (talk) 18:17, 1 May 2016 (UTC)