The Lemon Fool

swill453 wrote:

Lootman wrote:Agree 100% and that's exactly what I do - order the haddock. They have cod lying around but only cook the haddock to order.

Interesting. In my neck of the woods (central Scotland) the default "fish supper" is always haddock, and cod, if available, is by special order. And more expensive.

Scott.

I have certainly noticed a North/South drift with regard to cod vs haddock. Where I started in the middle of the country it was 50/50, when I moved to Yorkshire then haddock was definitely favourite and now back down South it is cod that is pre cooked and stewing in the display cabinet while the haddock is freshly cooked to order.

All this talk of fish and chips, I am definitely visiting the local chippy tonight, actually it is not the local, I have three chippies nearer but I would not use them. In fact there is a fish and chip shop about 100 yards down the road from me and it is so bad that I have not set foot in there since they changed ownership five years ago.

The guy who set it up bought up the old post office, fixed it up into a modern all stainless steel chippy, produced brilliant fish and chips for about 18 months then sold it...from which point it went quickly downhill. Who would have thought it could be so difficult to buy decent fish, switch on the fryer, batter some haddock and cook it properly.

John

redsturgeon wrote:
The guy who set it up bought up the old post office, fixed it up into a modern all stainless steel chippy, produced brilliant fish and chips for about 18 months then sold it...from which point it went quickly downhill. Who would have thought it could be so difficult to buy decent fish, switch on the fryer, batter some haddock and cook it properly.

John

I find that it is combination of cleaning and care in the cooking, and proper defrosting beforehand, that makes the difference. And as all 3 seem to go together you can usually smell which chippies to avoid by the smell of stale fat.

Slarti

redsturgeon wrote:I hadn't seen Slarti's post but yes haddock always used to be significantly more than cod but recently I believe it is slightly more sustainable than cod so prices have equalised.

I believe that haddock was viewed by some to be more likely to have the odd bone still in it and for many that was enough to go for the inferior (IMHO) cod.

John

My experience is that cod and haddock are always the same price. I have never understood why, when cod became scarce, this didn't result in an increase in price over haddock and other fish, which presumably remained less scarce.

My personal preference is for huss (they can't call it 'rock salmon' any more apparently, as it is not a member of the salmon family) due to its firmer texture and stronger flavour than cod. And of course it has to be cooked to order so you know it's fresh out of the fryer.

Watis

OK, the board is London lovers - the thread is 'Real fish and chips', so I qualify under the London label (ex resident) as the f & c recomendation is east coast.

When living in London, 3 or 4 times a year when we got up one of us would suggest fish and chips for lunch. Then it began. With military precision we would load plates, bread & butter, flask of boiling water, tea bags, salt & vinegar and 3 dogs into the car.

It was then a 110 mile drive up the A12 through Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Aldeburgh to this place.
http://www.aldeburghfishandchips.co.uk/restaurants/, then a 4 or 500 metre drive along the quay to park up and feed our ravenous faces. Absolutely well worth the drive.

This is Trip Advisor reviews.https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186382-d3469475-Reviews-Aldeburgh_Fish_and_Chips-Aldeburgh_Suffolk_East_Anglia_England.html

Seriously though, if you have the opportunity, take it. You won't be disappointed.

Oh PG, I know that chippy in Aldeburgh, from long ago, and it's nice to know it's still there.

Parents of my 'best friend' at school used to rent a house on the front street [Crag Path] overlooking the sea for a couple of weeks in the summer, that was back when I was 14-15. And so I spent several summer weeks there in the late 70s. And that chippy is where we quite often went.

What with a bit of junior sailing on the river by the yacht club, and blagging my/our way into a pub for the first time, I've fond memories of that town

I was there a few weeks ago, and was quite underwhelmed. Small portion of fish offset by way too many chips. Fish OK, chips good.

NomoneyNohoney wrote:I was there a few weeks ago, and was quite underwhelmed. Small portion of fish offset by way too many chips. Fish OK, chips good.

Heh, Hoh. It was the 90's so time, apparently, does take its' toll. Nostalgia really ain't what it used to be.

Ahem, only three years late in answering but if ever in Westbourne near Bournemouth this place is excellent.............

http://www.chezfred.co.uk

Right- if Edinburgh then my local, The Gold Sea, Ferry Road, Edinburgh is very acceptable- if careful hang around at the bus stop until the last fish up top goes then right in for one straight out of the fryer (Haddock of course-this is Scotland)

http://www.thegoldseatakeaway.co.uk/

L'Alba D'oro in Henderson Row is also good but they have won a fair few prizes so the portions seem slightly smaller, but again a good quality supper


https://www.lalbadoro.com/

Charlottesquare wrote:Right- if Edinburgh then my local, The Gold Sea, Ferry Road, Edinburgh is very acceptable- if careful hang around at the bus stop until the last fish up top goes then right in for one straight out of the fryer (Haddock of course-this is Scotland)

http://www.thegoldseatakeaway.co.uk/

From their website I see they offer a Donner Kebab. That is a rather unfortunate misspelling. It should of course be a Doner Kebab.

Donner, on the other hand, has rather unfortunate connotations with the infamous Donner Party in 19C California, where the trapped pioneers ate each other to survive:

"As the blizzard progressed, Patrick Dolan began to rant deliriously, stripped off his clothes, and ran into the woods. He returned shortly afterwards and died a few hours later. Not long after, possibly because Murphy was near death, some of the group began to eat flesh from Dolan's body. Lemuel's sister tried to feed some to her brother, but he died shortly afterwards. Eddy, Salvador, and Luis refused to eat. The next morning, the group stripped the muscle and organs from the bodies of Antonio, Dolan, Graves, and Murphy. They dried them to store for the days ahead, taking care to ensure nobody would have to eat his or her relatives.

After three days' rest, they set off again, searching for the trail. Eddy eventually succumbed to his hunger and ate human flesh, but that was soon gone. They began taking apart their snowshoes to eat the oxhide webbing and discussed killing Luis and Salvador for food, before Eddy warned the two men and they quietly left. Jay Fosdick died during the night, leaving only seven members of the party. Eddy and Mary Graves left to hunt, but when they returned with deer meat, Fosdick's body had already been cut apart for food. After several more days—25 since they had left Truckee Lake—they came across Salvador and Luis, who had not eaten for about nine days and were close to death. William Foster shot the pair, believing their flesh was the rest of the group's last hope of avoiding imminent death from starvation."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party

I've kinda just lost my appetite . .

Reading that, anybody would lose their appetite, what were you thinking?....thanks to you, I hope I don't remember this the next time I go to a chippie

swill453 wrote:

Lootman wrote:Agree 100% and that's exactly what I do - order the haddock. They have cod lying around but only cook the haddock to order.

Interesting. In my neck of the woods (central Scotland) the default "fish supper" is always haddock, and cod, if available, is by special order. And more expensive.

Scott.

The old "special fish"!
- my dad would have that while I tried to get through my half-pizza (didn't know they could be done in an oven till I was about 10)

There must be a line somewhere it's vinegar on one side and sauce on the other
- sd

Lootman wrote:

Charlottesquare wrote:Right- if Edinburgh then my local, The Gold Sea, Ferry Road, Edinburgh is very acceptable- if careful hang around at the bus stop until the last fish up top goes then right in for one straight out of the fryer (Haddock of course-this is Scotland)

http://www.thegoldseatakeaway.co.uk/

From their website I see they offer a Donner Kebab. That is a rather unfortunate misspelling. It should of course be a Doner Kebab.

Donner, on the other hand, has rather unfortunate connotations with the infamous Donner Party in 19C California, where the trapped pioneers ate each other to survive:

"As the blizzard progressed, Patrick Dolan began to rant deliriously, stripped off his clothes, and ran into the woods. He returned shortly afterwards and died a few hours later. Not long after, possibly because Murphy was near death, some of the group began to eat flesh from Dolan's body. Lemuel's sister tried to feed some to her brother, but he died shortly afterwards. Eddy, Salvador, and Luis refused to eat. The next morning, the group stripped the muscle and organs from the bodies of Antonio, Dolan, Graves, and Murphy. They dried them to store for the days ahead, taking care to ensure nobody would have to eat his or her relatives.

After three days' rest, they set off again, searching for the trail. Eddy eventually succumbed to his hunger and ate human flesh, but that was soon gone. They began taking apart their snowshoes to eat the oxhide webbing and discussed killing Luis and Salvador for food, before Eddy warned the two men and they quietly left. Jay Fosdick died during the night, leaving only seven members of the party. Eddy and Mary Graves left to hunt, but when they returned with deer meat, Fosdick's body had already been cut apart for food. After several more days—25 since they had left Truckee Lake—they came across Salvador and Luis, who had not eaten for about nine days and were close to death. William Foster shot the pair, believing their flesh was the rest of the group's last hope of avoiding imminent death from starvation."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party

I've kinda just lost my appetite . .

I know the story- my other half did a fair bit of American and Canadian history in her degree, Westward Expansion/Manifest Destiny and the Plains Indians (Dee Brown et al) being her pet topics (alongside her obsession with Russia/Revolution/Romanovs/Soviets) so we have a room downstairs awash with American History books a fair few of which I have read (I also knocked off an American History course at university)

It is frankly amazing what people would endure for the dream of a better life.

Afraid I prefer say The Hundred Years War (Sumption's books are excellent), 30 years war, Reformation/Counter Reformation and Wars of the Roses- in effect ,apart from the Reformation, periods I never actually studied at school or university.

Gold Sea does everything but frankly I would not go past the fish, the family who own it are an embedded part of Edinburgh's Italian community and while the local school kids may eat these oddities, and their delivery drivers take them to other people, as we just live within walking distance a trip on foot (or by car on the way home) is the best way to see what you are getting- on the best nights the fish melts in your mouth whilst the batter is wonderful, just salt, nothing else-perfection.

Donner? I thought she was the girl that lived above the chip shop?

redsturgeon wrote:I hadn't seen Slarti's post but yes haddock always used to be significantly more than cod but recently I believe it is slightly more sustainable than cod so prices have equalised.

I believe that haddock was viewed by some to be more likely to have the odd bone still in it and for many that was enough to go for the inferior (IMHO) cod.

John

It should be noted that very fresh haddock (very unusual) has a significantly different taste to adequately fresh haddock.

stockton wrote:

redsturgeon wrote:I hadn't seen Slarti's post but yes haddock always used to be significantly more than cod but recently I believe it is slightly more sustainable than cod so prices have equalised.

I believe that haddock was viewed by some to be more likely to have the odd bone still in it and for many that was enough to go for the inferior (IMHO) cod.

John

It should be noted that very fresh haddock (very unusual) has a significantly different taste to adequately fresh haddock.

As the Chinese used to say, 'That can't be fresh, it's dead'.

Dod