We now have English owners!

[Scabbydog]

Best fish and chips on Woodseats are English owned, the others are Greek owned I believe, and nowhere near as good, as for Chinese takeaways, never had great chips from any of them and have never wanted fish and chips from a Chinese chip shop.

I know plenty of people who have been critical of foreign owned chip shops, the chip shop mentioned in the op had previously been under non English ownership, and probably not been liked by the locals, therefore the new English owners are probably claiming their quality is going to be better ..... no harm done, standard business bull**** principals.

It is of course still legal in this country to be critical of things that have been owned, run or made by foreigners, just as it is to be critical of anything owned, run or made by the indigenous English / British !

 

As I remember them when the Chinese started doing fish & chips the batter was like the stuff they put on sweet & sour pork. It was bright orange, flexible and 1/4 inch thick. It kept the cooking oil inside so you had to drain it before you could eat it, but there was always a white milky layer left on the fish which tasted awful.

 

I learned to avoid them like the plague. Fortunately most seem to have stopped trying to fry F&C using equipment set up for cooking frozen chips.

[boyfriday]

As I remember them when the Chinese started doing fish & chips the batter was like the stuff they put on sweet & sour pork. It was bright orange, flexible and 1/4 inch thick. It kept the cooking oil inside so you had to drain it before you could eat it, but there was always a white milky layer left on the fish which tasted awful.

 

I learned to avoid them like the plague. Fortunately most seem to have stopped trying to fry F&C using equipment set up for cooking frozen chips.

 

I think you've hit a nail on the head there Scabbydog, the chippy at Greystones produces perfectly uniform fish sealed in that orange/yellow batter..with the soft layer next to the fish..had never analysed it before but confess to liking it, probably because I love sweet & sour pork/prawn balls!

[JanetJ123]

Oh for Popple Street chips of my youth, and scraps, never been as good. I've had the promise of a great curry many times by none "Asian" people, generally white British. I've never had one as good as those in a respected "Indian" restaurant.

 

Its not so much about the race of the cook but more about the training and cultural aspects of them. All prefer different methods. We are creatures of habit and tend to prefer our food as its always been cooked. Bland in many respects for the white Brits...

[Scabbydog]

I think you've hit a nail on the head there Scabbydog, the chippy at Greystones produces perfectly uniform fish sealed in that orange/yellow batter..with the soft layer next to the fish..had never analysed it before but confess to liking it, probably because I love sweet & sour pork/prawn balls!

 

I think the other problem is what else gets cooked in the fat. I don't think fish is improved for being tainted with spices and fat from flavoured pork, squid or anything else that goes in it. It probably doesn't hurt to mention the frier is English to differentiate from a Scottish one who cooks battered Haggis, Mars Bars, pats of butter and blocks of cheese.

[boyfriday]

Oh for Popple Street chips of my youth, and scraps, never been as good. I've had the promise of a great curry many times by none "Asian" people, generally white British. I've never had one as good as those in a respected "Indian" restaurant.

 

Its not so much about the race of the cook but more about the training and cultural aspects of them. All prefer different methods. We are creatures of habit and tend to prefer our food as its always been cooked. Bland in many respects for the white Brits...

 

I understand where you're coming from, but a good proportion of fish & chip shops in the UK are now run by British people of foreign descent.

 

As I said earlier I learnt to cook in the Broomhill Friery, 35 years ago working there part time for 3 years, yet I'm a black male of Jamaican descent but definitely think I can cook good chips!

 

I think it would be odd to encounter an Indian restaurant run by indigenously English people, in the UK. But the same wouldn't be true of say English people running a Caribbean restaurant in Jamaica if they'd lived there for years.

 

---------- Post added 30-08-2013 at 09:58 ----------

 

I think the other problem is what else gets cooked in the fat. I don't think fish is improved for being tainted with spices and fat from flavoured pork, squid or anything else that goes in it. It probably doesn't hurt to mention the frier is English to differentiate from a Scottish one who cooks battered Haggis, Mars Bars, pats of butter and blocks of cheese.

 

Another good point scabby, thank you for your observations. I went through a gluten free phase and found the odd chippy that would fry my fish in a separate fryer so it wasn't contaminated by oil from their other products.

 

It definitely tasted better and that was due to it being fried in 'clean' oil.

[Vague_Boy]

So it’s another adopted dish.

 

And potatoes themselves are not native to the UK.

 

Following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, the Spanish introduced the potato to Europe in the second half of the 16th century.

 

LINK

 

Another bunch of foreigners!

[Scabbydog]

And potatoes themselves are not native to the UK.

 

 

 

LINK

 

Another bunch of foreigners!

 

I think if you had to rely on non introduced plants and animals for food we'd be vegetarians eating trees and wild garlic.

[ANGELFIRE1]

I believe when I visit the "Indian" restaurant the food is cooked by "Indians" and is delicious. Could an Englishman cook it as good, no. Likewise I think the fish and chip shop food is better when cooked by an Englishman.

 

Oh, and chinese grub is better when cooked by a Chinese chap. Nowt racist about it, just common sense to me.

 

Angel.

[Halibut]

I believe when I visit the "Indian" restaurant the food is cooked by "Indians" and is delicious. Could an Englishman cook it as good, no. Likewise I think the fish and chip shop food is better when cooked by an Englishman.

 

Oh, and chinese grub is better when cooked by a Chinese chap. Nowt racist about it, just common sense to me.

Angel.

 

More like nonsense to me. As anyone who knows anything about food and cooking will tell you, it's all about ingredients and the skill and imagination of the person doing the cooking.

 

Race/ethnicity have got naff all to do with it.

[Scabbydog]

I believe when I visit the "Indian" restaurant the food is cooked by "Indians" and is delicious. Could an Englishman cook it as good, no. Likewise I think the fish and chip shop food is better when cooked by an Englishman.

 

Oh, and chinese grub is better when cooked by a Chinese chap. Nowt racist about it, just common sense to me.

 

Angel.

 

Nail hit on head. I note that the Ethnics seem to put great store in bringing in chefs from Asia when there are loads of lads with experience at MackyDees. Are they racist for not advertising jobs locally?