h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I thought cod was a no-no because stocks are so low?

Two answers to that:

1. Cod does seem to have declined in popularity because of that perception.

2. That perception is controversial.

In any case, most chippies in my recent experience default to haddock.

And the haddie is the King of fish (just ask a fisherman)

Random free-associated memory: laughing like a thwat at "Down With Skool", in which nigel molesworth (sic) subtitled a treatise on skool dinners as "the piece of cod which passeth all understanding".

Standard cod £3.60, large £4.80, jumbo £5.50

Chips £1.70, large £2.30

So cod & chips from £5.30 up to £7.80!

They are GOOD chips, freshly chipped from real potatoes and the fish is prepared and cooked to order.

For £7.00 there is a "Fish Supper" meal deal: Large cod, chips, mushy peas, ketchup, lemon wedge, can of drink.

Mmmmmm chippy chips...

Re: Fish N chips... I always go for haddock, as I prefer the flavour...
Price wise, anything from £7 up to about £10 or more depending where in the country you are, how 'posh' the place your going is... and to xsome extent how good it is... Can't get decent fish round here, we've not even a fish mongers in the entire city, and we're less than 100 miles from the coast, adn a lot less distance from the very decent fish markets I believe they still have over in London So, the only time I eat it now is when I'm within a couple miles of where its landed, at my Dads, and strangely the fish there is pretty damn tasty though, strangely some of the cheaper joints selling it there are delivering the tastiest

I have to say...its harder to get decent chippy chips in Scotland than in (the north of) England.

Theres a couple of places in Anstruther (although one of them you have to queue for literally two hours), one in Bridge of Allen, those ones in Aviemore and Tyndrum, one in Stornaway...but after that Im struggling.

Pickled eggs.

<>

ahem - the one with the queues is actually the imposter, set up after the other one to capitalise on the first one's success. Go to the one without queues

I tried the one in Tyndrum last year after your recommendation - they might have had a bad day because it really wasn't nice.

The one on the A90 near Brechin is excellent, as is the one on the shore at Arbroath and the one near Aberdeen (sounds like cAshvale) is pretty good too. And of course there's the one in Stonehaven (rhymes with Baron). The young lad's gone from there but he passed on his batter secret.

There's a common denominator - for good fish & chips you need to go to the east coast

The chippy I'm going to be eating in less than an hour from now does a standard battered haddock for £4, and standard chips for £1.80.

You can also have a sit-down deal of fish, chips, peas, bread & butter and a cup of tea or coffee for £6.90. It's officially the third best fish and chip shop in the UK.

They also do other fish, fresh on the day, depending on what's come in.

I must say I dont really know the east coast - but when in ~Ainster~ we patronise The Other One.

I still rather like the Tyndrum one, Its good for vegetarians - vegetable tempura and chips washed down with a bottle of Schiehallion.

"bread & butter and a cup of tea" - Now that's what I call a meal deal!

expensive though... bread butter, cup of tea, massive plate of cod, or haddock and chips, back at my Dads, and this is very much the East coast, and your sitting in sight of the sea, there are a few little fish n chip 'resturants', more like cafes in some rspects, and they're all competing for your custom... Most I think now are reduced to under a fiver, as they try to beat each other on price.... mind, Cpt Nemo's on the pier is damn good too, and even closer to the sea natch
One of the best places there used to be, strangely, an awful themed Irish pub, but which somehow had invested in a decent chef... you'd get there early, and get a pin of guinness, and order food... to be told there was a little wait.... and then you'd see the strange milk-float like weird transporter thinggy, arrive, outside the window, bringing in the fish, landed that day, and just brought oo about a mile up the road from the fish market Sadly its managed to go down hill from the Themed Irish pub level, and now boasts being the most vilent pub in town, and the most likely place for all the police to be parked up, ready each friday and Saturday night
Mind... my Father always swears by the place a bit further down the coast, which is a lot* more expensive, and when I've eaten there... I'm not convinced its that* much better... sadly the nearest one to my Father's house, changed hands when the VAT people got hold of the preivous owner and the new people don't fry in beef dripping, and the fish ain't as good... nor, come to think of it, are the chips damn I'm hungry now...

Theres a peculiarity of the Scottish chippie ordering protocol. A Supper = something (fish; battered haggis; deep-fried pie; whatever*) with chips. A Single = without chips.

So sometimes you hear people order (eg) Two single fish.

A fish...and another fish.



End with a song (fwd to 0:50):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-PmQ3dFQvs







*No - deep fried Mars bars are largely mythical. Theyre a kid-on to extract money from gullible tourists.

MMmmm, best fish and chip shop in Norn Irn is my local, John Dorys

http://www.johndorys.co.uk/

They make a habit of listing "today's special - fish from sustainable sources", so I've eaten basa from there quite a bit recently (usually in a gluten free batter - I dont avoid gluten as much as I used to, but it's that bit crispier, and I like to support the concept)

iirc, the most widely eaten fish in the world is Tilapia. Its a convenient protein source in the developing world because its easy to farm - just dig some trenches, fill them with water and fish and chuck in a few scoops of garbage occasionally.

I heard it said that the first GM farm animal was likely to appear soon. Its a neck-a-neck race between American Salmon and Cuban Tilapia.

The only UK chippy shop I met was in Chelmsford, one mega-slab of haddock for her, a bigger one of cod for me, and more fresh hand-cut chips than we could deal in two days. That along with our hostess's dinner was still under 20-quid in '07. And a damned yummy feed it was after a long day of walking Colchester and its sights/sites

Find the fish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlUu54muOs

Mushy peas, saveloys, scallops (potato not the shellfish)and pickled eggs were some other extras I can recall from fish and chip shops of yore. Pickles????????????walnuts! remember them? Are they still available? I recall the first time I ate one, I was amazed that the shell too was soft because of the pickling process. They must use that vinegar mix to clean the pipes of nuclear power stations!

>>scallops (potato

It seems that this usage is only known in NW England. (true?) Eg in Scotland theyre Fritters. I discovered a couple of months ago that it derives from the Irish for chips.

(can dig out a ref from my F/b if you insist.)