National chippy cuisine

[letsgobrian]

I'd say choice of fish is something you'd only see in yer upmarket artisian chippys.

I've found it's standard operating practice within a 75 mile radius of Grimsby.

[Shaxberd]

What about Australian and NZ chippies? I bet they serve something mental that you've never heard of, like battered Jooba Jooba fish or something.

I've had "flake" in an Aussie chippy, which is a euphemism for shark. It wasn't very good.

There's also the traditional Aussie burger, which includes a slice of pickled beetroot and a fried egg along with the usual toppings. I haven't tried that one but several people have insisted to me that it's delicious.

[Ferris]

Can't believe Alexei stole my observation then did it 25 years before I'd thought of it to throw everyone off the scent. The thieving bastard.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Speaking of which, I bet Canadian chippies are dire, if they exist.

[cromby]

Liverpool:
Generic 'Fish', there's only one chippy in Liverpool I can think of (Byrnes in Walton) where you can specify the type of fish.

In my experience a lot of chippies in Liverpool offer haddock OR cod? Our local certainly has for years.

[Midas]

Can't stop thinking about that US novelty chippy that had "Famous Southend Haddock" on the menu

[cromby]

In my experience a lot of chippies in Liverpool offer haddock OR cod? Our local certainly has for years.

As an aside, I'm based in That London these days and have never been able to get my head around chippies leaving the skin of the fish on underneath the batter. Rotten.

[Ferris]

Speaking of which, I bet Canadian chippies are dire, if they exist.

They don't really. Poutine and pizza by the slice has filled the evolutionary niche.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

one small portion of poutine please.

that will be 25 dollars

[Terence Bowl]

Didn't know chippies everywhere didn't all have the choice of Cod, Haddock, Plaice and Rock on the menu.

Around here in the North of Glasgow it's always just been 'Fish' on the menu board as it was almost always cod. For the last few years though it's been an extra greasy and almost tasteless mystery fish which if you ask they'll claim is haddock but it's not.
It's most likely Vietnamese River Cobbler (or Basa as the supermarkets now call it).

What about Australian and NZ chippies? I bet they serve something mental that you've never heard of, like battered Jooba Jooba fish or something.

As far as I know they still mostly do flake which is shark meat.
I have a vague memory of an attempt in the 80's or 90's to introduce flake as a budget chippy option to cod etc. in the UK until one of the tabloids did a 'It's shark!' expose.
In OZ and NZ flake primarily comes from the Gummy shark, dunno what the UK version was but thinking about it you could get a fuck ton of fish suppers out of a Basking shark.

[seepage]

I'd say choice of fish is something you'd only see in yer upmarket artisian chippys.

local certainly not artisan and has cod, haddock, plaice, rock, skate wing, middle skate [?!]

[Brian Freeze]

According to their Pie Finder, Hollands chippy distribution extends as far down as Ellesmere Port at the bottom of the Wirral to the south-west, Garstang/Hollins Lane (just north of Preston) to the north west, Keighley/Illingworth/Halifax (just over the border into Yorkshire from their HQ in Baxenden) to the north east, and Wilmslow/Bramhall/Marple/Glossop to the south east. There is also a conspicuous hole in their reach around Prescot/St. Helens/Warrington/Widnes/Runcorn, where I suspect the local incumbents from around St. Helens (such as Pimbletts) have the market sewn up.

Their empire is shrinking, as you used to be able to buy them in chippies further north than Garstang (approximately 20 miles further north to be precise).

Wonder if the posters and opening signs are still on display?

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

I didn't realise until reading the two chippy threads that childhood favourites battered roe and saveloys aren't a thing everywhere. Surely a fried chicken variation is available everywhere. Years ago the only option was a plain breast portion, skin on and on the bone, but southern fried portions seem to have taken over.

Wigan (I think?) delicacy pea wet sounds so appetising I'm surprised there's not a nationwide demand.

[curiousoranges]

Poutine

A specialist poutine place has opened in Cardiff, but I don't think the many chippies here that sell chips, cheese and gravy are too worried.

[timahall]

I'd never heard of roe until this thread.

[shoulders]

I'd never heard of roe until this thread.

Wait til you find out about wade

[Cuntbeaks]

As an aside, I'm based in That London these days and have never been able to get my head around chippies leaving the skin of the fish on underneath the batter. Rotten.

Couldn't agree more, absolutely AIDS level behaviour.

I thought this was an English thing in general as they also did it in Derby and Manchester. With this in mind, I was filled with trepadation when visiting Whitby last year as I wanted to inhale a few fish suppers. Luckily they know the score, no skin to be seen, GBOL.

[buzby]

In my experience a lot of chippies in Liverpool offer haddock OR cod? Our local certainly has for years.

None of the ones I've frequented over the years (mostly Chinese) in West Derby/Norris Green/Tuebrook/Fazakerley areas have done anything other than 'fish'. The exception was Byrnes, who opened a second shop in Muirhead Avenue a few years back, but that closed earlier this year (and has since reopened as a Chinese chippy).

The 2 branches of the Lobster Pot in the city centre, which are typically 'English' chippys for Liverpool, have 'fish' on their menus, for example.

[Mr Trumpet]

Fish skin is fine, get a grip

[shoulders]

Excuse me, I would prefer my battered fish without the skin please sir.

The fish fillet itself needs to be in full contact with the batter for maximum goodness, the skin is an unnecessary barrier.

[cromby]

Fish skin is fine, get a grip

Lovely crispy fish skin on pan-fried seabass or similar 👍
Soggy flaps of black skin under lovely fried golden batter 👎

[mrpupkin]

In my life I've been to chippys all over the UK and Ireland, and I've never once seen a gherkin for sale.

I recently asked a chip shop man in Suffolk for a wally and he didn't know what I was on about so I had to use its formal title gherkin. As if that wasn't enough I now encounter the quite remarkable statement quoted above. Hat thoroughly fucked. Wally Perkins never made it beyond the cockney diaspora.

[timahall]

Are the gherkins fermenting in jars like pickled eggs?

TBF pickled eggs are a pretty rare sight too, and i've never heard of someone actually buying and eating one.

In Northern Ireland a portion of chips is a "chip". I thought that was universal for most of my life until a woman in a Cardiff chippy thought I was trying to order a single chip.

I also found out a few years ago that 'fish supper', 'sausage supper' etc. is not something they say on the mainland either.

[timahall]

if you're older than 40 good chance you ate bhajis a full decade before you ever tried pizza

I'm 41 and i've been eating pizza since I was a child in the '80s, it's like the most basic food for kids. My partner introduced me to onion bhajis in the past 10 years.

[confettiinmyhair]

Aussie chip shops go mad for chicken salt. And the chips tend to be pretty naff from what I remember.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

I'm 41 and i've been eating pizza since I was a child in the '80s, it's like the most basic food for kids. My partner introduced me to onion bhajis in the past 10 years.

in the 80s i remember a couple of my friends going to Pizza Hut for family special occassions and one time i saw square party pizza at a friend's birthday but it wasnt nearly as common as in the 90s. i didnt have pizza until later. it wasnt a regular thing until the mid 90s. my best friend in primary school used to delivery with garlic bread and in true Peter Kay style that struck me as very fancy. by mid 90s pizza was a staple for me.

but onion bhajis were a chip shop staple. since i can remember. i think for most kids where i was (south wales) bhaji and curry sauce with chips was their first taste of 'foreign food' or the only regular item at least

[Theoretical Dentist]

Are the gherkins fermenting in jars like pickled eggs?

The gherkins (which are very common in chip shops here in Sussex) are in a big jar with liquid, which I assume is the same liquid as in jars of gherkins you buy in shops. I think that's a mixture of brine and vinegar infused with flavours from the extra stuff they put in gherkin jars (although I'm not sure if the big jars in chip shops might not have any extra stuff). I don't think it's really fermenting any more – I guess the gherkins are pickled in a stronger vinegar before being transferred to the briny stuff. The gherkin liquid is popular with sportspeople for preventing cramp and has other claimed benefits.

In Northern Ireland a portion of chips is a "chip". I thought that was universal for most of my life until a woman in a Cardiff chippy thought I was trying to order a single chip.

I also found out a few years ago that 'fish supper', 'sausage supper' etc. is not something they say on the mainland either.

'Fish supper' (and maybe other suppers) is used in parts of Great Britain – Scotland and north-east England, at least. As a southerner I'd never heard it until a murder in Newcastle that was widely reported in the national news as being for a fish supper (I assume it was this one in 2002, unless fish supper murders are common round there). Wikipedia describes 'supper' as 'Scottish and Northern Irish chip-shop terminology for a food item accompanied by chips' and Wiktionary lists 'fish supper' as '(Scotland)'.

I've never heard of 'chip' being used for a portion of chips. I guess it's not ambiguous when you're ordering from a place that doesn't sell single chips, but if you're with someone who's eating some chips can you ask for a chip without it sounding like you want all of them?

[seepage]

Pizza Hut was popular round my way circa 1983, and a local pub had a Pizza Hut concession too. I often used to have frozen pizza for my supper during the 70s. Never seen onion bhajis in a chip shop.   

[Clatty McCutcheon]

In Northern Ireland a portion of chips is a "chip". I thought that was universal for most of my life until a woman in a Cardiff chippy thought I was trying to order a single chip.

I also found out a few years ago that 'fish supper', 'sausage supper' etc. is not something they say on the mainland either.

Fish supper etc. is the normal terminology throughout most of central Scotland, and used by some (or at least understood by most) people in other parts of Scotland (although they might turn their noses up at it a bit depending on how much they despise Glaswegians). As a youngster, I assumed it was a universal term too. A 'special fish supper', as noted upthread, features fish with breadcrumbs rather than batter.

The alternative to a 'supper', if you're skint, is a single (usually pronounced in the Glaswegian/West of Scotland way with a soft/barely existent 'g' sound), e.g. a 'single fish' - a battered fish without chips. Although, confusingly, I've heard a small portion of chips being given with a single fish, by some chippies.


Never heard of the singular 'chip' for a portion of chips though.

[Clatty McCutcheon]

'Fish supper' (and maybe other suppers) is used in parts of Great Britain – Scotland and north-east England, at least. As a southerner I'd never heard it until a murder in Newcastle that was widely reported in the national news as being for a fish supper (I assume it was this one in 2002, unless fish supper murders are common round there). Wikipedia describes 'supper' as 'Scottish and Northern Irish chip-shop terminology for a food item accompanied by chips' and Wiktionary lists 'fish supper' as '(Scotland)'.

Yeah, supper is an all-purpose suffix in (parts of) Scotland, meaning with chips, e.g. blackpudding supper, chicken supper (just fried chicken without batter, usually) etc.