One herring to bring them all, and in the darkness fry them

August 31, 2017 9:52 AM

What makes the land of J.R.R. Tolkien so distinct? Is it the sport? The music? The shopkeepers? The tea? The pubs? The manners? The landscapes? The culture? The coinage? Most likely the national dish. Fish and chips EAT ME is, like other staples, originally a food of immigrants. Buy it in a "chippy" (a shop) or a van (modern). Annual awards and previous winners (pictures), though some people pretending to be common may prefer these. Some facts, frying tips, a recipe and some correct chips. Lo! the Chip Butty, a sandwich of chips sometimes found overseas. The modern British (including Scotland; Happy Easter and previously) chippy can make other (healthy) meals and drinks. "Smack barm pea wet". And (previously), far beyond the rip-off Shire in the Grey Havens...
posted by Wordshore (22 comments total)

So Tom Bombadil was a Jewish immigrant.

I got you.
posted by maxsparber at 9:54 AM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

Welp, I know what I'm having for dinner tomorrow night (Fri night = fish fry specials at the local places, Lent or no)

Related : a retired botany professor created a botanical guide to Middle Earth
posted by Fig at 10:07 AM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was in a chippie in St Ives, Cornwall the other night. Huge, shaven-headed, bull-necked football shirt wearing bloke in front of me got a double portion of chips, triple mushy peas right on top, and a massive pile of scraps (tiny bits of stray batter) on top of that. Salt and vinegar on every layer. It must have weighed three pounds. It looked wonderful.

Chips, picked eggs, pea fritter and curry sauce = heaven.

Rick Stein's version of fish and chips is very nice but not at the prices he charges.
posted by dowcrag at 10:10 AM on August 31, 2017 [3 favorites]

I used to think that frying was a terrible thing to do to really good fish, but then I went to a particular chip shop in Oban, and my friends, the light of the two trees shines from its windows.
posted by The Gaffer at 10:28 AM on August 31, 2017 [3 favorites]

I lament the chippy that used to be on Washington Street in Brighton (MA). The owners were Irish, as I recall, and they did a lovely, perfectly soft and flaky batter that nobody else around here does.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:52 AM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wordshore, I'm not done with the pie post yet.
posted by theora55 at 11:03 AM on August 31, 2017 [8 favorites]

So many questions... Is Sean Bean the only actor in Jackson's LOTR who hails from England? Is that why he gets two signature dishes? Does he eat anything like that in the movies?

I'll pass on the donner meat.
posted by TreeRooster at 11:03 AM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure I could take on that Giant Fish and Chips.
posted by SansPoint at 11:07 AM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

So many questions... Is Sean Bean the only actor in Jackson's LOTR who hails from England?

About half the Company is from England, actually. Billy Boyd is from Scotland.

I'm going to assume that the places with Boromir/Sean Bean specials are in Yorkshire, where he's from.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:08 AM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm going to assume that the places with Boromir/Sean Bean specials are in Yorkshire, where he's from.

Yes; they are both from the chip shop owned and run by his nephew, in Sheffield.
posted by Wordshore at 11:09 AM on August 31, 2017 [3 favorites]

Scanning the "Grey Havens" link (20 best Fish and Chip shops in the US), I was gratified to find my favourite - Eamonn's in Alexandria, VA, listed as #3. A little pricey but excellent quality, if any DC area MeFites have a hankering for a decent chippy I'd definitely recommend it.
posted by Nice Guy Mike at 11:19 AM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

I could totally get into the deep fried brussel sprouts. With mayo yes please.

"Smack barm pea wet"

The title of my first poetry collection, definitely.
posted by JanetLand at 11:33 AM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's a damn good thing that Susan's FIsh & Chips in Portland, ME makes the Top 5 of that "20 Best Fish & Chips In THe US" list, or there would be trouble.
posted by briank at 12:18 PM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

Dutch kibbeling met frites is the rough equivalent. I could eat that every day if I didn't mind turning into a sphere.
posted by 1adam12 at 12:27 PM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

"20 Best Fish & Chips In THe US" list

Huh, we accidentally wound up at the Barking Crab in Boston last month (#16 on the list) at the end of a pretty long day and figured it to be an awful tourist trap for its look and location, but damn if the food wasn't genuinely good. My wife and I were both a little disappointed that our daughter actually ate all of her fish.

Fish wasn't eaten in my house growing up -- my mother doesn't like it -- and while I do eat fish now, I'm rarely actually excited about it, but fish and chips? Yes, please.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:10 PM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

Does the famous Pittsburgh institution of a sandwich (like, with actual meat and veg on it as well) that also has the fries and slaw on it count as a chip butty? Or is a chip butty just bread and chips and nothing else?

(Also, the Pub Chip shop on Carson St. in the Burgh has amazing fish and chips and also many types of pies and other such Britishy things.)
posted by soren_lorensen at 2:01 PM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

Smack Barm Pea Wet happened to me in basic training. Still don't feel comfortable around green wool sheets.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:20 PM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Or is a chip butty just bread and chips and nothing else?

Two slices of buttered bread (preferably white bread). Hot chips in the middle. Maybe a sauce on the chips, or salt or vinegar. Nothing else. Serve with a cup of hot, strong tea.
posted by Wordshore at 2:23 PM on August 31, 2017

Wordshore, you might quite like Calvin Trillin's food writing. He has long campaigned to make pasta carbonara the national dish, and advocates it for Thanksgiving in lieu of turkey.
posted by theora55 at 4:04 PM on August 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

Wordshore, I'm not done with the pie post yet.

Try to save some room for tomorrow's post about wafer-thin mints.
posted by sebastienbailard at 8:30 PM on August 31, 2017 [4 favorites]

The worse the bread, the better the chip butty. This is not a time for artisanal sourdoughs. It is a time for plastic bread-resembling product, whiter than snow. The butter should be of an equivalent thickness to the bread.

Also, do not miss the delight of a curry battered bun. Take one soft white roll. Inject the middle of it with chip shop curry sauce. Batter the bun. Deep fry it. Serve it anyway you like, who cares, you're drunk anyway.
posted by reynir at 2:23 AM on September 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Am just now reading "Hellfire and Herring, a childhood remembered" by Christopher Rush, his memories of east Scotland 1950s
posted by Schroder at 3:34 AM on September 1, 2017 [1 favorite]