Traditional English food part one - Fish and Chips.

[absolutedestiny]

OK, so kusoyaro was curious about the traditional english food Fish and Chips. So, on the spur of the moment, I went to my local Fish and Chip Shop (or Chippie) and got some.

The chippie near me isn't all that great - it used to be known as the Penguin Fish Bar but has recently changed its name to Spice Village and has begun selling kebabs and other things which, although common to Oxford 'take aways' with indian owners - it is not a traditional Chippie.

I got cod and chips, but haddock was also on offer at the chippie I was at. A dedicated chippie would probably have a larger selection of fish.

Here's what I got for £3.50 ($5.60 usd - not really cheap but this is Oxford)

Fish and Chips with salt and vinegar... plus some dvds for a size comparison - the fish here is, if you took a national average, probably a medium sized one. It all looks incredibly greasy doesn't it? Well, it is greasy (this varies from place to place) but that's mainly because it was fresh out the frier and hadn't been drained as much as the fish normally would be. The vingegar also adds to the greasy look.

The secret of a good fish and chips is in the batter. Unfortunately nobody seems to want to tell this secret to Oxford - if you got some in Yorkshire or in the North East you would get a more bubbly, crisp fish with tasty batter - although there is a place in town that does a pretty good beer battered fish. In most northern chippies you can ask for a small bag of batter (or 'bits') for those who really like staring heart failure in the face. Yorkshire is particularly famous for its fish and chips, being the birth place of the Harry Ramsden's chain of restaurant chippies.

The chips are, to be honest, below average for a chip shop but above average for Oxford. They are pretty basic at this chippie - other chippies often have bigger chips. They are tasty enough though, despite the appearance :)

I actually forgot to order some mushy peas - a bizzare side order for fish and chips which I actually like a lot but is an acquired taste. The bright green colour is almost entirely artificial :) There's an episode of Mini Goddess where they find an unlabelled can of disgusting looking food which they taste and is delicious. I'm pretty sure it's mushy peas :D


So there you have it - an insight into English Fish and Chips.... well, ones from Cowley Road, Oxford at least.


Tomorrow I'll continue with part two of the series - the Full English Breakfast at a local "greasy spoon". High cholesterol here I come.

Comments

[gambitt.livejournal.com]

Excuse my American "duh-ness" but would 'chips' happen to be french fries? That's what they look like in the pics. Also, that's a nice sized fish! Is it actually taller than the DVD box or is that just a bad guess on perspective?

[exedore.livejournal.com]

As my British friend Kanji told me, NEVER call Chips "Fries". The closest thing we Yanks have are steak fries, and even those, supposedly, still fall short.

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

I think they're too different to fall short, really. Similar principle but there's something about the type of potato, the cut and the frying in a traditional chippie which really makes the difference.

It's a dying tradition though, with fast food chains taking over everything. Shame really.

[gambitt.livejournal.com]

You have a British friend named Kanji? What, do you also have a Swedish friend named Hebrew?

[exedore.livejournal.com]

Kanji is his handle (I think...), darned if I know his real name. He's a darned cool oldschooler who's old enough to have worked in the British anime industry back in the 80's. If you've got the old UK dub of Nuku Nuku...he worked on that.

[quu.livejournal.com]

in northern germany (near the ocean) chippies were all over the place (we call them an Imbiss... but hat's more for any street vendor... you know the small shacks they setup)

my favorite si the fests... with the thick "Pommits" or french fries... they are a meal by them selves... or the currey katschup...

[ashyukun.livejournal.com]

I miss curry katsup. 'Course, I also miss nice, fresh Brotchen, Butterkase, and Pfefferwurst. And good, hot, crisp Brats on Brotchen with Senf from the street vendors in Nurenburg... *drool*

[jingoro.livejournal.com]

I love the F&C at Five Seasons... think we can get Ian up there for a true Brit's verdict on them?

And the F&C at Epcot Center is pretty good too, if he comes to JACON next year.

[quu.livejournal.com]

5 seasons is close to AWA this year...

I think an AMV dinner with bear might be in order?

is the place of the amv dinner that redwolf is plannign set yet?

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

I dont think the thursday place has a location picked yet but I could be wrong.


I'm going to be around Thursday night until monday morning so I'm guessing that will probably include some sociable dining on thursday and sunday nights (it better :P).

I'm always up for eating out :)

[quu.livejournal.com]

5 seasons is the closest to a beergarten that i found here in atlanta

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

SOLD

[quu.livejournal.com]

=^_^=

also... alot of the AWA people know personally the person who runs 5 seasons... its really good food...

more like a german gastehouse than a english pub

do you want to try to influence the thursday to go there... or do you want to do like friday night with a smaller group of freinds?

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

I guess that depends on the size of the place... would it accomomodate the amount of people we are likely to have on thursday without splitting people up too much?

I honestly dont mind but if you think it's suitable we can give paul a nudge.

Of course, I'd you to be there too - so if you can't on thursday then we should try another day.

[quu.livejournal.com]

i can't count on being free thursday... due to setup for the convnetion... i might or might not...

besides... i think a smaller group on friday after DDR would be more fun

[bigbigtruck.livejournal.com]

In Alabama, you could sometimes get "bits" at the local catfish/hushpuppy shack, but we called them "cracklin's".

When my friend and I visited London back in 1997, we did the whole "LOLOLOL WE ARE TOURISTS LET'S HAVE FISH AND CHIPS" thing... I got about 1/3 of the way through a Guinness and 1/3 of the way through the fish before I was full to bursting. Yow.
(Later that night, we had a fabulous dinner at some place called Plummer's. It flagrantly defied all the vicious rumours about British cooking. Mmmm, I still remember the taste of that soup...)

[kusoyaro.livejournal.com]

Aside from the fish and chips place we went to near our hotel in London, the only other thing I can remember about British food is eating at a place called Stick and Weasel...I don't remember what I had, but I'll never forget how the waiter said the word "potatoes":

"puh-TIE(*short pause, like with a little subscript tsu in Japanese*)-uhs."

The food on the European tour I took with my family was disappointing in general...I think they were trying to make us Americans comfortable. Generally, it was just some bread, a side of vegetables, and some sort of meat. About half of the tour group was Indian, so there was a special vegetarian menu......they served eggs over-easy -_- Most of the vegetarians left dinner still hungry.

[amyblack.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those chips look evil.

I may have to buy me some potatoes and cook some up for Dave... give him some REAL Chips XD

[solidkz.livejournal.com]

Oooooh... The Fish and Chips look so ... Yeah...
I'll wipe up my drool now...

[synthestatic.livejournal.com]

there's a pub here in orlando that does them decently (well, decently enough to attract a mostly english/irish crowd to it's door)... the Bull and Bush.

got to get out there sometime this next week... I was already craving fish and chips... now it's worse.....