The proper package!

It was the 150th birthday of fish and chips the other day and I was in Aldeburgh on the North Sea coast and decided to mark the occasion with the bag of “rock ‘n’ chips” shown above. As an insititution, fish and chips was voted in a recent poll as Britain’s most loved (knocking the Queen into second place).

Britain’s first fish and chip shop opened in London in 1860. It is not clear exactly how and when the battered fish first met the deep fried potato but historians interested in that sort of thing often cite Jews in the east end of London selling (cold) fried fish in the street as a precursor. There was also a tradition of potatoes as street food but these were baked and not fried.

Manchester and Leeds make claims for inventing fish and chips as we know it today and indeed fish and chips is arguably more popular up north than down south. Many Scots would claim fish and chips as the Scottish national dish, rivalling haggis (though in Scotland you ask for a “fish supper” when ordering fish and chips, and haddock is more common than cod).

In spite of concerns over dwindling fish stocks and the consequent escalating price of fish, there are still over 10,000 shops in Britain selling affordable, takeaway meals to people from all walks of life. My lunch cost just under a fiver and included the fluorescent green mushy peas, the scarlet ketchup, copious amounts of salt (which helps the fish batter stay crisp though the chips remain resolutely soft) and lashings of malt vinegar.
Deep frying fish makes eminent sense as the batter protects the flesh from overcooking and drying out. My rock eel was really juicy as was Abi’s piece of haddock. Some people leave the batter but we couldn’t resist the salty, fatty crunch contrasting with the moist fish flesh within and the unmistakeable taste of beef fat.

To drink, something sharp and fizzy is good to cut through all that stodge: I think a traditional India Pale Ale is good (there is an excellent one made at the nearby Grain Brewery) or sparkling wine, if not actually Champagne. Crisp, zesty Sauvignon Blanc would work too (from the Loire Valley or South Africa). And if eating fish and chips in the south of Spain (at the Codfather in Nerja perhaps) a dry Sherry or Montilla would be perfect.

This post has been reproduced with the kind permission of the author. We seriously love his stuff. He is both a real foody and a serious wine geek. just like us!

moules marinières

A rule of thumb I have when looking at a fishmonger’s slab is, if the fish look a bit sad and dull and not very fresh, I go for the mussels; at least you know that they’re alive and therefore fresh (unless they’re dead of course).  In the picture below I am reacting to the fish man’s question on how many kilos I want; I never know what to say but am showing him the rough quantity I want using my hands.  I think this equated to 2 kg, so good for 2 people (and at only £6, a cheap treat).

How much?

Mussels are widely grown all around the Kingdom’s coasts and yet I don’t think we eat enough of them.  Perhaps if they weren’t such good value we might not take them for granted and could treat them with a little more reverence.  These came from Brancaster in Norfolk.

A drop of cream is always good to add to moules marinières if you have any but it is optional.  On the recent Master Chef competition on television the judge John Torode marked down the contestants who had added cream and said “it’s just wrong!”  Well, his French pronunciation is not only “just wrong”, it’s downright painful to hear.  But, we’ll let him off if he allows us to occasionally add cream to “moolz”.

Moules Marinières & Muscadet

This post has been reproduced with the kind permission of the author. We seriously love his stuff. He is both a real foody and a serious wine geek. just like us!

Wine and food matching never excites as much debate as when the food in question is cheese.  It is true that a corner of mousetrap or a wedge of supermarket Brie will take the rough edges off a glass of plonky red but great cheese deserves decent wine and the most pleasurable combination will often be with a white

The French especially have a tendency to serve their best red wines with the cheese and many a fragile mature red Burgundy or thin oldClaret is laid waste by a board groaning and reeking with impossibly strong, runny, salty, acidic cheeses of which there are hundreds in France.  Far better really to serve just one cheese in perfect condition and match it with the appropriate wine.  And if in doubt about whichwine then sometimes local goes with local.  In this case,  Munstercheese from Alsace matched with white Alsatian Gewürztraminer.

This post has been reproduced with the kind permission of the author. We seriously love his stuff. He is both a real foody and a serious wine geek. just like us!