this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
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I actually went and had some last night and jesus christ my palate was offended. Even when swimming in malt vinegar and tartar sauce, I just couldn't stand it. I can fix this:
The sun never set on the British empire, and they never used the spices they stole.
That kind of just sounds like you went to a bad restaurant.
No true....Englishman?
100%, they did. Good fish & chips doesn't need fixing.
The thing about spices in cooking is that - as great as they are, and as much as they enhance flavour - you shouldn't need them to make good food.
Fish & chips is the perfect synthesis of the "Salt, acid, fat, heat" theory of cooking. Truly delicious food starts with the combination of those elements in exactly the right amounts.
There's a lot of great things you can do with spices. I love, love, LOVE Indian food, Thai food, Mexican food, Spanish food, Chinese food, Cajun food, etc, etc, etc. But if you don't understand how to make something delicious without spices, you'll never really understand how to make good food with them. It's always about fundamentals.
Edit to add: Here's another really good way to think about this; people to bring up British food and complain about a lack of spices, but you never see the same complaint about aglio e olio or caccio e pepe, two dishes that contain, respectively one herb and no spices, and one spice and no herbs (parsley, and black pepper).
It's exceptionally easy to do as a tourist. Last I visited, first we went to a restaurant and ordered and it was subpar. So then we were told "you have to go to a Chippy, if you want real fish and chips" so we did... they should have told us which "Chippy", they are not all the same.
That was the worst culinary experience of my life. I have never had a more oily nasty fried fish. The wet breading just fell off, and it tasted like very old oil. I threw out 2/3s of it, as did basically everyone else.
We ended up eating at indian restaurants the rest of the trip.
Oddly enough, I had the exact opposite experience last time I was in London. Amazing fish and chips, terrible Indian food. Worst saag paneer I've ever had. By far. And that's a low bar because I've had some really disappointing saag paneer.
Also, I was entertained when the South Asian guy at the Chippie asked me stuff like, "do you have a big car and a big house?" when he heard my American accent. I had to disabuse him of the notion that we're all wealthy. I wasn't even paying for that trip, it was an especially good contract work gig.
Are you a breakfast person? We normally just ate the biscuits from the hotel room and starved until lunch, but one day my dad and I was going to meet up with my mom and her sister for a traditional English breakfast. However we got lost and ended up in some tiny Cafe, God knows where. They were serving lasagna for breakfast, and it was delicious.
My mom and aunt actually found the place and had some beens and toast and blood sausage, they were not impressed.
I am definitely a breakfast person and a full English breakfast, minus the horrific beans on toast, is great. I'm not sure about lasagna for breakfast though. Seems like kind of a heavy breakfast meal.
To be fair, this is not helped by the fact that British people are often very bad at recommending good places to eat. A lot of people value familiarity over quality.
We were actually there for my uncle in laws wedding, so you would think we would have gotten better advice. But I guess weddings are busy...
The food at the wedding was amazing though. I can't even remember it all, they brought out so much food. I think there was venison and duck, and fish I have never even heard of before, it was over the top. But his parents were like old money wealthy, so I doubt that's common. It was also in like a minor castle, and the grounds were just gorgeous. I could have spent days just inspecting all the plants, so much variety of foreign plants and super cool hardwood trees.
That was the only great food we had, although the Indian food pretty good. Got old after a week though.
Counterpoint: some people eat food so covered in spices/herbs/etc. they lose the ability to taste more subtle flavours.
well, I gotta say, I lived in the UK, their standard for fish and chips is oily af; it's hard to enjoy the toppings and use the thing as a vehicle for sauces etc when it's super greasy from breading to fish. I've had better fish and chips in Canada and Belgium.
It's almost like some people have different preferences. Wild.