|
NtotheTC posted:I agree with most of your post (as an english person) though it does seem a bit bizzare to go "Theres nothing special about a country's cultural food. MY country's cultural food however... Yeah, let's leave this as a fish and chips discossion and not bring pizza, cheesesteaks, etc. into this.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:10 |
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2013 07:12 |
|
|
I'm going to agree that, by-and-large you're going to find as many, say, North American places that do excellent fish and chips as you will places in the UK; typically you're going to find the best fish and chips near the water, and if you look hard you'll find someplace that does it well. That being said, it also sounds like you, Spacedad, haven't been eating the best stuff. If you're viewing it as take-away, fast-food stuff covered in grease primarily, then you haven't been eating the best. You can take out fish and chips for a time on the beach or something, but it's never going to be as good; all the best fish and chips I've had have been as proper sit-down meals, eaten immediately after being made and served.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:13 |
|
|
Spacedad posted:Pretty much all over, including the north. Scotland seemed to be generally better at not over-frying the fish. Most of the places I got it from seemed to basically nuke the poor critters. This is kind of to be expected with fast food in general though... Look at this guy not 'get' fish and chips.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:13 |
|
|
NtotheTC posted:I agree with most of your post (as an english person) though it does seem a bit bizzare to go "Theres nothing special about a country's cultural food. MY country's cultural food however... Yeah, I'm not sure if I should have said that bit about new york pizza, as it was a bit unfair and double-standardish. You'll find excellent and poor quality of any cultural food anywhere. Hell, you can find amazing pizza in the UK too.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:15 |
|
|
Trin Tragula posted:See, if only this one didn't have a sausage in batter instead of fish, it'd be perfect. Not that there's anything wrong with a sausage in batter, mind. What the hell is a sausage in batter? Seriously who the gently caress calls a battered sausage that.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:16 |
|
|
Spacedad posted:Hell, you can find amazing pizza in the UK too. Actually, I have yet to be convinced of that. Pizza here sucks.* *UNFOUNDED BLANKET STATEMENT DON'T FREAK OUT.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:17 |
|
|
Theglavwen posted:I'm going to agree that, by-and-large you're going to find as many, say, North American places that do excellent fish and chips as you will places in the UK; typically you're going to find the best fish and chips near the water, and if you look hard you'll find someplace that does it well. The best stuff I had was moist flavorful fish that made me forget I was eating fish. The best chips made me feel energized after eating them, like someone had put some love and care into making the warm morsels - they had skins on them too, which added to the flavor a good deal. There were a few different places that had them that good at the many random places I got them at. Some of them on the other hand were so bad that they almost put me off the good stuff. Spacedad fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 12:23 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:19 |
|
|
Works for me. So is the main point that you're making A) Fish and chips isn't anything worth mentioning when pitted against other foods/cultural staples, or B) Good Fish and Chips isn't restricted only to the UK. One of those I have no problem getting behind.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:26 |
|
|
Theglavwen posted:Actually, I have yet to be convinced of that. Pizza here sucks.* As with the US, you have to go wherever the Italian immigrant communities are to get the best stuff.  I'm from San Diego, so there's a substantial Italian immigrant community here.  We're more about the pasta than the pizzas though. (A fact new yorkers like to rub in our faces.) Theglavwen posted:Works for me. I'm going for B) - I've got no problem with fish and chips and every culture has its junkfood staples. I'm sorry about communicating what I was trying to say rather clumsily. Spacedad fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 12:31 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:26 |
|
|
Spacedad posted:As with the US, you have to go wherever the Italian immigrant communities are to get the best stuff. Aha, unfortunately I think the Italian immigrant community in St. Andrews is pretty much 'that one Italian restaurant between South St. and Market St., you know, the one?'
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:31 |
|
|
Theglavwen posted:Aha, unfortunately I think the Italian immigrant community in St. Andrews is pretty much 'that one Italian restaurant between South St. and Market St., you know, the one?' I'm spoiled, being a San Diego brat. We've got a lot of international food here due to all the immigrant communities. In particular, the well-developed Japanese community down here has freaking amazing stuff. The south korean community has also exploded over the past decade and brought a lot as well. The mexican food is also great, though my mexican immigrant-family friends insist that nothing beats real mexican food from mexico. (Of course.) My childhood memories of eating out with my family here are peppered with numerous gastronomic trips around the world. Spacedad fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 12:36 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:33 |
|
|
Spacedad posted:The best stuff I had was moist flavorful fish that made me forget I was eating fish. The best chips made me feel energized after eating them, like someone had put some love and care into making the warm morsels I don't know what posh chips you were eating but good fish and chips should leave you so stuffed you can barely move afterwards, not energized 
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:38 |
|
|
Iniluki posted:Do you lot not have babby's heads (steak and kidney puddings) in your chippies? If not its just more proof of the superiority of Lancashire chippies. Only steak and kidney pies, no puddings. Our chippies don't faff around with all that pudding poncey poo poo, you go there for fish and chips. Or if you go to Steele's in Cleethorpes you go for the fish and then the cheesecake afterwards. If you want a pudding or a pie, go to a pie and mash caf.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:41 |
|
|
Marenghi posted:I don't know what posh chips you were eating but good fish and chips should leave you so stuffed you can barely move afterwards, not energized Maybe it's just that they didn't overcook them, so there was plenty of potato left to get nutrition from. But yeah, normally a lot of grease in deep-fried-anything will make anyone feel sluggish. Anyway, I get a similar charge of energy when I eat good pan-fried yaki-soba so there's probably something related there. Bad chips also would make me feel queasy from all the grease - the same's true of overcooked fries though. Edit: gently caress, this thread wound up making me crave fish and chips. Spacedad fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 12:50 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 12:45 |
|
|
I can say with authority that the Brits are deluding themselves when it comes to fish and chips. Although Blighty's offerings are perfectly acceptable, the combination of fish and imported spices to be encountered on market day in the Netherlands is superior, but regrettably the northerners street-food pales into insignificance when compared with the delicious coral trout available in such idyllic locales as Noosa Heads.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 13:26 |
|
|
It is true, though, that there's nothing really stopping you from making good fish and chips at home except maybe the availability of good fish. Compared to, say, something like certain styles of pizza or barbecue which requires a bunch of specialized equipment and is much more fiddly, technique wise. If you don't have a bigass coal-fired oven that reaches super high temperatures or a big smoker setup and hours and hours of time, you're not going to get New York pizza or pit barbecue. I guess there will be minor differences because of whatever effect frying tons of fish in it has on the frying oil, but other than that, a big commercial fryer isn't really appreciably different from a dutch oven with a thermometer if you're only making small batches.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 13:27 |
|
|
The most confusing part of this story to me is the screwdriver. My understanding is that basically anything pointy is illegal over there, but if you were to carry a pointy object anyway surely a small knife would be easier to explain away than a screwdriver. Is there some weird cultural thing here and there's a special significance to a screwdriver shanking? Is there a lesser penalty for stabbing someone with a non-knife?
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 14:18 |
|
|
Spacedad posted:As with the US, you have to go wherever the Italian immigrant communities are to get the best stuff. Sometimes. My mother and all of her extended family grew up in Little Italy in NYC (it wasn't called Little Italy back then, it was just the Lower East Side), and as a matter of fact, all of those variations of "Ray's Pizza" (there are 5000 in the city, and if you are familiar with NYC you know exactly what I am talking about (Hell, they even spoofed it on the "Simpsons" episode when they travel to New York, much to my delight)) are all rip-off's of my ex-uncle's joint which was the original Ray's located on Prince Street (in Little Italy). Little Italy now is just a parody of itself, and consists of poo poo Italian food aimed at tourists, and for the most part Little Italy is confined to two blocks of Mulberry Street, while everything around it is Chinatown and consists of street vendors selling fake handbags, watches, and perfumes to the teenage girls/mom tourists that come to the area SOLELY for the purpose of buying fake Louis Vuitton poo poo and Rolexes that break a week after you buy them. The majority of the restaurants serve low-grade poo poo aimed at tourists who think they are eating "real" Italian food, while the quality of it is piss-poor. The only restaurant on those two blocks that escapes my wrath is Pellegrino's. Ferrara's makes "decent" baked goods and "Cha-Cha's" makes a unique tiramisu in a sundae glass. NYC's Little Italy is bullshit anymore. Don't be fooled if you have been or are planning to go there. /angry derail off To the topic at hand: I've had fish and chips numerous times, from Irish places in NYC to various places in New England to restaurants like Legal Seafood, and I wish I knew how to tell which dishes I had that most closely approximate the "traditional" version. Count Freebasie fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 14:39 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 14:35 |
|
|
A FUCKIN CANARY!! posted:The most confusing part of this story to me is the screwdriver. My understanding is that basically anything pointy is illegal over there, but if you were to carry a pointy object anyway surely a small knife would be easier to explain away than a screwdriver. Is there some weird cultural thing here and there's a special significance to a screwdriver shanking? Is there a lesser penalty for stabbing someone with a non-knife? Dunno about the law over there, but in the US, a screwdriver is in general way less suspicious than a knife, which is more unambiguously a weapon. You just say you were fixing something up and left it in your pocket. Even a pen-knife, especially since the judge/jury will read "knife" instead of "screwdriver" in the police report and immediately picture a giant Rambo knife instead of a Swiss Army knife with like a 1 inch blade. Also, it's a probably lot easier to actually kill someone with a screwdriver than a small knife, which won't be long enough to reach a major blood vessel or vital organ as easily. If it was, then it would be a "big knife."
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 14:37 |
|
|
Count Freebasie posted:NYC's Little Italy is bullshit anymore. Don't be fooled if you have been or are planning to go there. Yeah, but Brooklyn and the other boroughs still have some pretty good old-school Italian food left. That's where a lot of the former Little Italy residents fled to anyway. Cream_Filling fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 14:42 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 14:39 |
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:Dunno about the law over there, but in the US, a screwdriver is in general way less suspicious than a knife, which is more unambiguously a weapon. You just say you were fixing something up and left it in your pocket. Even a pen-knife, especially since the judge/jury will read "knife" instead of "screwdriver" in the police report and immediately picture a giant Rambo knife instead of a Swiss Army knife with like a 1 inch blade. Also, it's a probably lot easier to actually kill someone with a screwdriver than a small knife, which won't be long enough to reach a major blood vessel or vital organ as easily. If it was, then it would be a "big knife." This. People will carry work tools, especially box-cutters (very commonly carried in construction and warehouse jobs, where people will actually buy their own for use) as weapons. Cream_Filling posted:Yeah, but Brooklyn and the other boroughs still have some pretty good old-school Italian food left. That's where a lot of the former Little Italy residents fled to anyway. You know, I meant to put that in my post, but forgot. This man speaks the truth. You can find good Italian food in NYC quite easily if you're willing to ask around and do the legwork, but unfortunately tourists don't know better, and it really is to their loss. The vast majority will never step outside of Manhattan anyway. Count Freebasie fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 14:46 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 14:42 |
|
|
Goddamn now I want fish and chips, and it's only quarter to seven in the morning.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 14:50 |
|
|
A FUCKIN CANARY!! posted:My understanding is that basically anything pointy is illegal over there... Yes and when I was a student I was once arresting after making a particularly cutting remark. Of course you can carry a screwdriver around with you, don't be daft. Anything with over a three inch blade is considered a weapon (along with something like a half brick in a sock) but pointy objects, such as forks and screwdrivers, are not normally considered to be the tools of an urban ninja. Kudos to the guy for not shedding his tasty load (see, I really am dangerously witty) but you have to admit that 'tis not a mortal foe who would assault a man with Phillips screwdriver when they might use a broken bottle.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 14:51 |
|
|
I've got to get fish and chips today; the local fish and chip place has a line out the door on Ash Wednesday.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 14:52 |
|
|
Count Freebasie posted:You can find good Italian food in NYC quite easily if you're willing to ask around and do the legwork, but unfortunately tourists don't know better, and it really is to their loss. The vast majority will never step outside of Manhattan anyway. There are plenty of great Italian restaurants all over Manhattan. It's just that Little Italy is no longer the best place to find them.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 15:07 |
|
|
Earwicker posted:There are plenty of great Italian restaurants all over Manhattan. It's just that Little Italy is no longer the best place to find them. No argument there. I was just re-affirming Cream Filling's point about Brooklyn having some GREAT places, especially Italian specialty stores.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 15:09 |
|
|
GuestBob posted:Kudos to the guy for not shedding his tasty load (see, I really am dangerously witty) but you have to admit that 'tis not a mortal foe who would assault a man with Phillips screwdriver when they might use a broken bottle. I believe screwdrivers are actually more deadly than bottles - I recall reading a report from the UK saying that they're the second leading weapon used in fatal stabbings (after knives, obviously), with the interpretation being that glass is more commonly used in stabbings but screwdrivers result in more fatalities. Will have to look it up, since I might have that wrong and I can't even remember if it was the NHS or the Police that came up with that number. Anecdotally, I definitely see articles in the local paper here in the US about screwdriver stabbings.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 15:19 |
|
|
Having worked through much of this thread, I've realized that Captain Highlander has been letting me down something fierce. And here I thought frozen Fish 'n' Chips of indeterminate origin were the bees knees. Now I don't know what to think. World view? Shattered. (fresh fried and breaded pickerel with home cut fries is the best drat thing ever. Especially as a shore lunch)
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 16:01 |
|
|
Count Freebasie posted:
Arthur Ave. up in the lovely Bronx still keeps it going pretty well for the most part but I definitely agree with you about fake Little Italy down in Manhattan. My eyes have been opened though thanks to this thread. I've only ever had those small little fish and chip fillets and god damnit I feel like I've been getting ripped off all this time.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 16:07 |
|
|
Limp Wristed Limey posted:What the hell is this crap. Shaped fillets and french fries!!!!! Anyone from blighty would be offended at such paltry offerings. The fish should be as long as your forearm and served with thick greasy chips. Hey man, it's Cleveland. I'm sure you get all the great fancy fish n' chips out in King's Yonk, Englishland but we gotta make do here in Amerrica. Count Freebasie posted:
Oh my God, this is my mother. Gatts fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 16:14 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 16:08 |
|
|
So what does the regional breakdown go for acceptable sauces/condiments/accompaniments on fish and chips? In the US generally, it's tartar sauce, malt vinegar, maybe cocktail sauce or tomato ketchup. Lemon also seems prevalent. If fried catfish counts, then hushpuppies instead of potato.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 16:13 |
|
|
Gatts posted:Hey man, it's Cleveland. I'm sure you get all the great fancy fish n' chips out in King's Yonk, Englishland but we gotta make do here in Amerrica. Ha, your picture looks like it came from a gourmet restaurant compared to the greasy goodness you would get in the UK. If anyone offered such poncey food to my Sheffield brethren they would spit in your face and stick the nut on. Right going to the Admiral 2 for some fish and chips tonight this thread has made me get the hunger.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 16:29 |
|
|
A FUCKIN CANARY!! posted:The most confusing part of this story to me is the screwdriver. My understanding is that basically anything pointy is illegal over there, but if you were to carry a pointy object anyway surely a small knife would be easier to explain away than a screwdriver. Is there some weird cultural thing here and there's a special significance to a screwdriver shanking? Is there a lesser penalty for stabbing someone with a non-knife? You are reading too much into it, a Screwdriver is less obvious a weapon than a Knife and has been mentioned but work people generally carry them on their person, if you were randomly searched by Police, they'd ask you what you were doing with it though. Judge Tesla fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 17:07 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 17:04 |
|
|
Wisbech is literally the worst place I've ever been to, and it doesn't surprise me that a guy was able to fight off 4 people from there. They were probably scrawny fifteen year old scum with nothing better to do than interrupt a man on his sacred British duty.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 17:09 |
|
|
Spacedad posted:We're more about the pasta than the pizzas though. (A fact new yorkers like to rub in our faces.) Such cruelty.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 17:42 |
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:So what does the regional breakdown go for acceptable sauces/condiments/accompaniments on fish and chips? Salt and Vinegar, bonus if it is the vinegar the gherkins were in. Tomato sauce is acceptable if it is just a bag of chips with no fish. Also, what the hell is cocktail sauce?
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 17:52 |
|
|
Mushy peas, gravy and chip shop curry sauce. Not all at once mind. Oh and you need a buttered bread cake to stuff full of delicious chips. Limp Wristed Limey fucked around with this message at Feb 12, 2013 around 18:15 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 18:00 |
|
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_saucequote:Cocktail sauce is one of several types of cold or room temperature sauces often served as part of the dish(es) referred to as seafood cocktail or as a condiment with other seafoods.[1] In America it generally consists of ketchup mixed with prepared horseradish.[2] Some restaurants use chili sauce, a spicier tomato based sauce in place of the ketchup. The common form of cocktail sauce in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, France and Belgium, usually consists of mayonnaise mixed with a tomato sauce to the same pink color as prawns, producing a result that could be compared to fry sauce. Furthermore, in Belgium, a dash of whisky is often added to the sauce, and in Iceland, sour cream is considered essential. It is popularly served with steamed shrimp and seafood on the half shell. In Australia, it is often provided in fish and chip shops. Personally, I would keep ketchup the hell away. Tartar type sauces are awesome. Lemon is awesome. Malt vinegar is awesome.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 18:00 |
|
|
Pizzachat: the Margarita version ("Margaret") I had from Union Jack's, a big gastropub-style chain part-owned by Jamie Oliver, was the best pizza I've had in ages – and that includes a recent trip to NYC, where I went to a few places highly spoken of by locals. Also made the mistake of having a lunch break in one of those Little Italy tourist traps  We tried picking a less glitzy-looking one, and they had Italian-American celebrity endorsement pics on the wall dating way back, but I only finished my panini because I was starving.And I don't eat fish but I do like my local chippy here in the UK. However, I live in a nice little middle-class town and seldom need to fight off anyone besides charity muggers.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 18:55 |
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2013 07:12 |
|
|
This thread may as well be a giant advertisement for your favourite fish and chips joint or pub because goddamn it I'm thinking of abandoning my dinner plans to go get some now. As far as sauces are concerned, I'm partial to tartar sauce, but only a light amount. And I'm sure someone will get mad at me but I like Hollandaise with my chips instead of ketchup or vinegar.
|
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 18:59 |
|
