Deep-fat fryers and dunking Jaffa Cakes: a nation further divided
August 28, 2016 10:38 AM   Subscribe

As the UK continues to absorb the implications of the Brexit referendum vote, further splits open due to the (possibly overcooked) arguments between TV cooking show hosts. The declaration of one, that “no family should own a deep-fat fryer” leads to the reply that “...the UK was built on chips and spam fritters.” Host hostilities are further inflamed by the cultural flashpoint of whether Jaffa Cakes should, or could, be dunked in tea, with the retort of “We don't do that in the south, you know.” (Previously [1] and [2])

Guardian: "Reminiscing about his childhood, Wallace said: “Just thinking about it takes me back to happy times when what we call dinner now was known as ‘tea’ and we ate it around five o’clock. Dinner was what you had at school at midday. The smell of deep-fat frying was universal back then, wasn’t it? It brought families and friends together.”"

i-news: "Everything except for fizzy drinks - Yes, she’d like to see them out of the picture entirely. “I honestly think there shouldn’t be sugared drinks. All my grandchildren drink water all through the day. I’ve just had them to stay and at breakfast they have water. They don’t even know what sugary drinks are.”"

Belfast Telegraph: "After setting contestants a technical challenge to make 12 identical jaffa cakes, Paul and Mary tucked into a plate of perfectly created biscuits as they discussed the correct way to make the sweet treats. As their discussion came to an end, Merseyside native Paul moistened his jaffa by sticking it in his brew." (not innuendo)

Jaffa Cakes on Wikipedia. (article now semi-protected due to vandalism)
posted by Wordshore (91 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
I thought this debate was supposed to be about whether you pour the milk or the tea in the cup first?

I'm actually a little curious about what percentage of British households regularly use a deep-fat fryer. That seems like old-fashioned unhealthy food. Don't more people these days just microzap whatever the UK version of a Hot Pocket is?
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:46 AM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


We don't buy deep fat fryers, we buy George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machines.
posted by Coda Tronca at 10:55 AM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


What I don't understand is how Jaffa cakes became a cultural touchstone so quickly. The UK didn't even know about the Stargate program until 2003.
posted by yeolcoatl at 11:00 AM on August 28, 2016 [15 favorites]




The UK has always tolerated a certain level of eccentricity. Dunking chocolate in your tea is cutting is pretty close mind.
posted by pharm at 11:01 AM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


fryer fight fiasco fucks farrage's fascist fissure !

journo's jaffa jeremiad jeopardizes job !

the sun, just call me!
posted by lalochezia at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2016 [15 favorites]


As an American, I recognize that I have no real role in this debate. As a southerner, I have spent the past few days working on a cross-stitch pattern of Mary Berry saying, "We don't do that in the south, you know."
posted by lemonadeheretic at 11:09 AM on August 28, 2016 [34 favorites]


Man I think Paul Hollywood is great but... 'silver fox'? Really, Belfast Telegraph?
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:16 AM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


The only time I have seen my British SO go ashen was when I absent-mindedly dunked a cookie in tea.

They don't do that indeed.
posted by The Whelk at 11:26 AM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


i was gonna flip the fuck out about orange jaffa jelly crapping up your tea but then i remembered the eastern european tea consumption method of my childhood which involved drinking a gulp of milkless black tea followed by eating a spoonful of jam and now im conflicted
posted by poffin boffin at 11:30 AM on August 28, 2016 [10 favorites]


...tucked into a plate of perfectly created biscuits...

Come on, everyone knows Jaffa Cakes are legally and culinarily not biscuits.
posted by rh at 11:32 AM on August 28, 2016 [17 favorites]


I wish I had some special edition blackcurrant jaffa cakes.
posted by Frowner at 11:46 AM on August 28, 2016 [5 favorites]


A million years ago at school I was ladling vegemite onto an English muffin. The child opposite me at the table had a fork full of powdered egg frozen between plate and mouth as he watched.

'What are you doing?'

Chew chew gulp. 'Breakfast'. Bite bite bite.

'You can't put vegemite on a muffin!'

Swallow, sip of tea (a sugary drink) 'I just did'
posted by adept256 at 11:53 AM on August 28, 2016 [7 favorites]


I grew up with a Geordie stepfather. An old-school deep-fat chip fryer had a permanent spot on the stove and he would make the most delicious chips at all hours of the night, occasionally scotch eggs. It seemed as much a necessity to British cuisine as a rice-cooker would be in Japan.
posted by Flashman at 12:12 PM on August 28, 2016 [12 favorites]


Paul (Atreides) moistened his jaffa by sticking it in his brew.

You would think he was over any dry-mouthed nervousness...


fear is the mind killer.
posted by ennui.bz at 12:13 PM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


The UK has always tolerated a certain level of eccentricity. Dunking chocolate in your tea is cutting is pretty close mind.

While I am against jaffa cakes being dunked (you don't dunk a sponge! it'll fall apart!) I must nonetheless call out this attitude. A chocolate Scotch Finger (fig 1) dunked in tea is truly God's greatest biscuit-related wonder.
posted by solarion at 12:30 PM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


God's greatest biscuit-related wonder.

I'm so so sorry you've never heard of the Tim Tam Slam.

It involves drinking tea through a chocolate biscuit.
posted by adept256 at 12:37 PM on August 28, 2016 [20 favorites]


They used to run The Empire not that long ago.

Also, barf.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:39 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Poffin Boffin remembered the eastern european tea consumption method of my childhood which involved drinking a gulp of milkless black tea followed by eating a spoonful of jam

Is that why the Hedgehog in 'Hedgehog in the Fog' is carrying jam? I'd always assumed he was going to make some toast with the bear. I had no idea tea and jam could be used like that.
posted by BinaryApe at 12:42 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


Britain has a biscuit that was specifically invented for dunking. Very little taste and all mouth feel, the legendary Rich Tea.

"What flavour it does manage to achieve comes from sucrose, maltose and some glucose plus a little bit of salt."
posted by Coda Tronca at 12:47 PM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


For a long time my favourite blog was "A nice cup of tea and a sit down" where they reviewed cakes and biscuits and such. Different kinds of tea were never discussed. There was one type of tea.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 12:49 PM on August 28, 2016 [15 favorites]


Metafilter: (not innuendo)
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:50 PM on August 28, 2016


The deep fat fryer spat is a weird proxy for class war, with the Sun trying to mobilise working class nostalgia and resentment of bossy middle class do-gooding in defence of the unhealthy foods industrial complex.
posted by Mocata at 12:51 PM on August 28, 2016 [14 favorites]


Certainly, deep fat fryers were a thing growing up, but in the past few decades they've vanished - along with a huge drop in chip pan fires and heart disease, as people realised that frying things in oil was a shit idea. Hell, even lorry drivers don't want shitty greasy fried food any more, and they're the target demographic.
posted by The River Ivel at 1:00 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


fuck yeah a food thread I got food opinions

where's the fight at I got some hot takes under the broi--

...

yeah I got no angle on this at all. gl brits
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:03 PM on August 28, 2016 [6 favorites]


I... don't think that many people did have deep fat fryers, though? I think they were pretty damn specialist; people might have had a chip pan, is that what he's thinking of? Even then, the fish and chip shop is well established and with Victorian roots, and 'chippy tea' as a weekly treat was a trip to the shop not a home-made batch of chips. I dunno, Gregg, I think you may be misremembering a chip pan and a shallow fried fritter.

re. the jaffa cakes, just... no. It's a crappy old sponge, keep it out of your tea. In fact, throw it away and get a proper biscuit.
posted by AFII at 1:06 PM on August 28, 2016


Chip pans, for that's what they're really called, are such a thing of my youth. But I think they've dropped out of favour not just because of health, but because they're madly dangerous
Deep fat fryers fires cause one fifth of all accidental dwelling fires attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in the UK each year. About twenty people are killed or injured every day in accidental fires that start in their kitchen, the most common of these are caused by deep fat frying.
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 1:10 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


OMG, how have I never heard of spam fritters? I was already mentally planning a trip to the UK, but now it's moved up a couple rungs; must eat spam fritters at a chippie! I didn't know spam was a post-WWII UK thing, also. It was and still is huge in Hawaii, the only time I allow myself to eat it while on vacation, but I had no idea about the obvious deliciousness of a spam fritter.

Please, UK people, tell me more of your deep fried deliciousness! I only knew about fish-and-chips Scotch eggs, and deep-fried Snickers: what else have you been holding back?!
posted by Pocahontas at 1:11 PM on August 28, 2016


Pineapple fritters were totally a thing in the chippies in the East Midlands. And "bodybuilders", which are the crispy bits of batter from the bottom of the fryer. They used to sell them in little paper bags.

Sausage-in-batter is super good too.
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 1:14 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


Spam fritters were never sold at chip shops to the best of my knowledge; they were served as part of 'school dinners', which means lunch when served at a UK state school. I can only recall them being served from the mid-70s to the mid-80s, and by the end of this period they were a standing joke amongst the kids who had been expected to eat them previously. Paul Hollywood's spam fritter memories are very peculiar (after all he is now in the La-La Land of big money TV/chauffeurs/booze/coke) and must by now be the subject of a Vice article.
posted by Coda Tronca at 1:36 PM on August 28, 2016


I'm so so sorry you've never heard of the Tim Tam Slam.

I am entirely aware, and rate it inferior. Mostly because the Tim-Tam subsequently collapses and you get chocolate all over your hands.
posted by solarion at 1:41 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Used to do horse riding near Dartmoor. Our Friday lesson ended at noon. We always had a cup of tea and a biscuit after. I, the American, was always the only one not dunking a biscuit in tea.

I did introduce them to the TimTam Slam after a trip to Australia and some duty free TimTam shopping. They were mildly horrified by the amount of chocolate that got on one's face and fingers in the process.
posted by olinerd at 2:12 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have decided that I want to live in Mary Berry's fantasy Britain, where one of the major threats to the nation's diet is that people just consume too many homemade doughnuts. That seems like my kind of place. Once I have moved there, I will be careful not to start any chip pan fires.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 2:21 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Mostly because the Tim-Tam subsequently collapses and you get chocolate all over your hands

What are you doing- slurping up the entire mug? Sip just enough to pleasantly liquify the center without compromising the structural integrity of the biscuit.

*Team Double Coat and Cadbury Drinking Chocolate 4 Lyfe*
posted by zamboni at 2:26 PM on August 28, 2016


only curly wurlys are good for dunking because otherwise you'd break your teeth on them
posted by poffin boffin at 2:37 PM on August 28, 2016


I had a scone once fit for a throne.
posted by clavdivs at 2:58 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Brexit proxies aside, one would think such silly things as class-based arguments over food would fall by the wayside. It's a silly debate (pick one of the above), but yay Mary Berry! Love seeing her indignant, even over such a silly topic. My biggest concern with GBBO at this point is whether i love Val, Jane or Benjamina the most.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 3:11 PM on August 28, 2016


... compromising the structural integrity of the biscuit.

It's like, how much more of a British phrase could there be? The answer is none, none more British.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:42 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


I had a scone once fit for a throne.

Was it no longer the whole of the thing by the time you'd gotten it?
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:45 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


Spam fritters / battered spam definitely showed up on the menus of chippies in my part of the north, though it was also a mainstay of school dinners.

I'm trying to remember when the chip pan -- stainless, but with a brown-to-black gradient of burnt grease acquired over years of use -- disappeared from my parents' hob. It was probably in the mid-80s, thanks to the rise of frozen oven chips and also after years of exposure to public information films about the fire risk.

I'm temperamentally anti-dunking for Jaffa Cakes, and also for Jammie Dodgers: it's not the cakey stuff that's the problem, it's the jammy fruity bit. Everything else, dunk away.

(Though this reminds me of my much-missed grandmother who would not permit the dunking of biscuits in her house, because it was common. Hers wasn't a posh household by any reckoning, but there were certain indicators of having not been brought up in the gutter, and that was one of them.)
posted by holgate at 3:50 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


To be clear, a chip pan is an electric deep frying pot, like the Fry Daddy brand? Or is it a stovetop pot well suited to hold oil for frying? We call those dutch ovens in the US, although I've heard they're not dutch and are rarely used as ovens.

I'm surprised the electric ones would be a fire hazard with decent testing, since they don't have an open flame and presumably fuses and thermostats could prevent overheats.
posted by mccarty.tim at 3:55 PM on August 28, 2016


A chip pan is a medium-ish regular metal saucepan with a matching wire basket. In its classic incarnation, it would be placed on a back ring of a hob, and the oil (or dripping for the purists) would rarely/never be changed apart from occasionally scooping out the burnt bits. (Cast iron isn't commonly used in the UK.)
posted by holgate at 4:00 PM on August 28, 2016 [4 favorites]


Shut yer gobs.
posted by srboisvert at 4:03 PM on August 28, 2016


You had a basket in your chip pan?
posted by biffa at 4:08 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


holgate: "A chip pan is a medium-ish regular metal saucepan with a matching wire basket. In its classic incarnation, it would be placed on a back ring of a hob, and the oil (or dripping for the purists) would rarely/never be changed apart from occasionally scooping out the burnt bits. (Cast iron isn't commonly used in the UK.)"

Jesus, that looks terrifying.
posted by octothorpe at 4:27 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


fuses and thermostats don't protect against being bladdered and wanting a nice 2am fryup tho
posted by lalochezia at 4:30 PM on August 28, 2016


I worked on Brighton Pier as a teenager, and one of the supervisors there had just returned from having months of extensive skin grafting done after pulling a dinky doughnut machine over onto himself. So no, even electric deep fat fryers are dangerous as fuck. Boiling oil is something to steer well clear of.
posted by tinkletown at 4:35 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Please, UK people, tell me more of your deep fried deliciousness! I only knew about fish-and-chips Scotch eggs, and deep-fried Snickers: what else have you been holding back?!

There is a legendary, almost mythical food. The meal which those who laugh in the face of deep-fried Snickers, turn a pale shade on encountering. The meal which people, experienced diners at midwest US state fairs, glimpse and say "Good God no; I'm out". And the only meal I've eaten (and I've consumed deep fried butter on a stick at the Iowa State Fair) where I seriously thought afterwards that I would die in my sleep that night. And either I didn't, or in Heaven/Hell we spend a lot of time typing waffle into MetaFilter.

I (or rather Glasgow) gives you...

THE MUNCHY BOX

(As featured in 2008 on MetaFilter)

- 3,000 calories
- 150 grams of fat
- total filth

LOVE SCOTLAND. LOVE YOUR MUNCHY BOX.
posted by Wordshore at 4:35 PM on August 28, 2016 [8 favorites]


Hob Nobs and other digestive biscuits are infinitely improved by a dunk in milky tea, provided you are quick about it. The chocolate melts, the biscuit warms and softens, the flavors are magnified. Perfect.

This is also true for Jaffa Cakes, though they are more likely to leave behind a greasy sheen in the cup.
posted by leotrotsky at 4:38 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Come on, everyone knows Jaffa Cakes are legally and culinarily not biscuits.

Biscuit Man, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
posted by duffell at 6:06 PM on August 28, 2016


The UK has always tolerated a certain level of eccentricity. Dunking chocolate in your tea is cutting is pretty close mind.

Get those Pepperidge Farms milano cookies and a glass of a nice fruity red. Dunk away. You can thank me later after you eat all the cookies and the wine.
posted by fshgrl at 6:37 PM on August 28, 2016 [3 favorites]


Oh, does the Sun still exist?


Fuck them.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 7:27 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Has the air fryer made inroads in the UK yet? They're becoming the default now in Singapore where a lot of local home foods are deep-fried or pan-fried, and they're supposed to be healthier and safer than either a pan/wok full of oil or an electric fat frier.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:47 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Yes, everyone I know who has a chip fryer has an air fryer nowadays. So much less oil to use.
posted by ambrosen at 8:44 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


> UK people, tell me more of your deep fried deliciousness

Oh how I miss deep fried haggis, and the other mealie puddings, white and black, from Scottish chippies. And deep fried battered herring roe from English chip shops. I think those, and the NHS, are the only reasons I'd go back to the UK.
posted by anadem at 9:48 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]


Someone mentioned the Munchy Box, and I am just here, to say, AYE!
posted by cendawanita at 11:15 PM on August 28, 2016 [1 favorite]


After an 8 hour meeting in a windowless, over air conditioned, room, I conclusively proved that the ginger nut is the best biscuit for dunking.

You're welcome.
posted by Helga-woo at 12:29 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


the Tim-Tam subsequently collapses and you get chocolate all over your hands

This is a n00b error, easily eliminated with a little dedicated practice.
posted by flabdablet at 12:31 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Pepperidge Farms milano cookies and a glass of a nice fruity red

Along somewhat similar lines, the Tim Tam Slam executed over a mug of heavily brandied coffee is the poor man's tiramisu.
posted by flabdablet at 12:36 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'd never heard of a munchy box before now and was dimly aware that something called a spice bag had become the currently fashionable fried food item here in Ireland. It appears that these have now been combined into a mind-boggling Mega Spice Box.
posted by o seasons o castles at 2:07 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


My parents decided to throw out the deep fat fryer in the late 80s. My brother and I were deeply disturbed as we'd have one meal a day at least that came out of the deep fat fryer and couldn't comprehend how one was supposed to eat without one (which in retrospect makes my parents decision all the more correct).

My grandparents kept with the more primitive chip-pan to the end. It's ferociousness in domestic fatalities probably meant that the long term health effects of having one were probably under reported as the fire would often kill you before the cholesterol.
posted by Gratishades at 3:19 AM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]


DangerIsMyMiddleName, we still sell the crispy bits from fish and chip batter. Also my SO's family has a deep fat fryer (not an electric one, a stovetop one like mccarty.tim mentioned) and they all refer to the third meal of the day as "tea." There's breakfast, elevensies, dinner, and tea.

There are air fryers here too, but I don't know how popular they are. I've never met anyone with one anyway.

I'm sure Mary Berry has a point (with all her books featuring sugary baked goods) but there are people here still bitter about having their Turkey Twizzlers taken away by Jamie Oliver.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 3:56 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


Those Turkey Twizzlers are really something. I'm sure we have an equivalent somewhere in the US, but nothing comes immediately to mind. They contain aspartame!

At the same time, I can see why they'd go over big with kids, given the amount of inter-child conflict I've observed over Takis. A small child once gave me several Takis out of his precious stash and it remains one of my proudest moments - by no means all the adults got Takis.
posted by Frowner at 5:09 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Has the air fryer made inroads in the UK yet?

Only with health nuts and people on a diet. You can't make proper chips in the oven or in an air fryer. Only beef dripping at 220C will do the job properly
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:13 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


LOVE YOUR MUNCHY BOX.

Ah, so it's become that sort of thread now. Phwoar!
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:25 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


the legendary Rich Tea

I've always thought of RTF as Rich Tea Format. Save your files as delicious biscuits. They are not delicious, you say, but I say you are not buttering them.
posted by Segundus at 7:36 AM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]


Bastards. I haven't had a spam fritter in 30 years, and now I'm going to the shop to buy the ingredients. The frustrating thing is I can taste it already but it's nowhere near my mouth.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 8:33 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


> I've always thought of RTF as Rich Tea Format. Save your files as delicious biscuits. They are not delicious, you say, but I say you are not buttering them.

Rich Tea + a thickly spread layer of Nutella = Heaven. But don't dunk 'em.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 8:53 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


I usually just go for a plain old McVitie's digestive biscuit with my tea, but I definitely do like ginger nuts when I can find them.
posted by Kitteh at 8:55 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


Note the monster-sized Irn-Bru in one of the Munchy Box pics. A nice touch, but bottle of Buckie would take it straight over the top.
posted by bwvol at 9:52 AM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


This thread got me thinking about scotch eggs. I couldn't stop thinking about them. It's been a long time since I've had them.
I've never made scotch eggs.
I now have a 12 boiled eggs and all the fixings to make them later today.
I'm more excited about this then I should be.
posted by Jalliah at 11:31 AM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]


I am eating a Scotch Egg right now.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 1:34 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]


Hobnobs, people.
HOBNOBS.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:56 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]



I wish to report that my scotch eggs were really, really, really yummy.
posted by Jalliah at 7:28 PM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]


Hobnobs are God's own biscuit. Accept no substitutes.
posted by pharm at 1:45 AM on August 30, 2016 [4 favorites]


Never had one. They look pretty similar to Anzacs though, and those are indeed a superlative dunker.
posted by flabdablet at 4:33 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


Where I come from (Shropshire) the scollop was king; a big thick wedge of spud coated in batter and deep fried. They used to be 10p, but recently I bought one at the wonderful Salop Fish Bar for 40p
posted by Myeral at 7:30 AM on August 30, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'd forgotten about scollops. The ones I remember were crinkle-cut slices of a whole potato, crispy battered, and served with a simple beef stew or a thick cheesy sauce.

The local chippy have added spam fritters to their menu, and it's really taking willpower not to serve Spam 'n' Fish 'n' Chips to my family tonight, just to see what they make of it.
posted by Eleven at 9:07 AM on August 30, 2016 [2 favorites]


Ah, scallops. (Content warning: 15 year old skiphop.)
posted by zamboni at 10:04 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


Scallops? I take it you mean potato cakes.
posted by flabdablet at 10:41 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


Potato cake took first place at 44.3 per cent

IN YOUR FACE, Sydney
posted by flabdablet at 10:42 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


Further report on my scotch eggs.

I just got home from the store with more ingredients for scotch eggs.
They are super easy to make. I baked mine because I don't have a fryer and not enough oil to use a pan. You don't get the deep fried crisp but they are still perfectly yummy.

Just boil some eggs. Get some ground meat, add some herbs and spice and mix it up. Take the meat and mush it around the egg. Dip it in a beaten egg and roll in bread crumbs. Then bake it for 1/2 hour at 400 degrees. Easy peasy and kinda fun cause it is kinda messy.

And as I discovered this morning after eating a nice cold one for breakfast they are awesome make ahead meal thingys and at least for the forseeable future they will be in my fridge every week.
posted by Jalliah at 11:02 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


I see your scallops (something I know and love from my time in the West Midlands) and raise you the Cumbrian cheese pattie. Can't find a decent photo online, but imagine a ball of cheesey mashed potato, the size of an orange, deep fried in batter.

Heaven in a paper bag.
posted by Helga-woo at 11:24 AM on August 30, 2016 [2 favorites]


I don't make scotch eggs, but I do make octorok eggs

you mix some spicy ground Italian sausage with breadcrumbs, wrap that around a pickled egg, and pan-fry it
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:47 AM on August 30, 2016 [3 favorites]


IN YOUR FACE, Sydney

'Aaaahh potato cakes' doesnt seem to work

cheers,
proud member of the evil commie potato scallop traitors
posted by zamboni at 12:47 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


When I was growing up in Western New York, everybody had a Fry Daddy or a Fry Baby on the kitchen counter.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:15 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


Just boil some eggs. Get some ground meat, add some herbs and spice and mix it up. Take the meat and mush it around the egg. Dip it in a beaten egg and roll in bread crumbs. Then bake it for 1/2 hour at 400 degrees. Easy peasy and kinda fun cause it is kinda messy.

Even better: go to the freezer aisle and buy the weird loose-sausage-in-a-tube called Parks Hot n Sagey. This stupidly-named sausage makes SUPER TASTY scotch eggs, not that I as a damned Yank have any real basis for comparison.
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:30 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


Any tips for cooking scotch eggs in an air fryer? Mine only goes max 200°C but I don't think we're supposed to cook anything in it any longer than 20-30 mins.
posted by cendawanita at 8:30 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]


On the GBBO tonight, there is a section on biscuit dunking etiquette (article contains mild spoilers, use of the word 'moist').
posted by Wordshore at 3:44 AM on August 31, 2016 [1 favorite]


Metafilter: I see your scallops
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 9:07 AM on September 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


Can I suggest scotch quail eggs as the epitome of the scotch egg art.

I have attended the scotch egg world championships many times, and the quail scotch egg from HG Walter of Barons Court is still the winner. (Though I've had some warm soft boiled scotch eggs which were close).
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:08 AM on September 8, 2016


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