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March 28, 2024, 07:45:29 PM

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The price of fish

Started by Tony Tony Tony, June 22, 2022, 03:29:51 PM

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Martin Van Buren Stan

Quote from: monkfromhavana on June 23, 2022, 04:39:51 PMWhen you eat fish and chips at home, do you decant the chips etc from the paper onto a plate, or leave them in the paper? Knife and fork or fingers?
I'm under no obligation to answer this question

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: monkfromhavana on June 23, 2022, 04:39:51 PMWhen you eat fish and chips at home, do you decant the chips etc from the paper onto a plate, or leave them in the paper? Knife and fork or fingers?

I'm a fingers and paper man myself.

Depends recently I've been opting for microwave warmed plate with knife and fork but if it's after football then I'll just scoff from the paper on the kitchen worktop - both have their merits but you should always keep yourself trained in the art of devouring fish and chips from the paper as a survival technique when out on the lash (not that I ever really a) go out or b) eat if I was out on the lash).

imitationleather

When I buy fish and chips I also pick up a newspaper to wrap them up in just like we used to before the EU told us not to or whatever it was.

Does make the meal even more expensive though. You seen how much the FT costs these days?!


Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: monkfromhavana on June 23, 2022, 04:39:51 PMWhen you eat fish and chips at home, do you decant the chips etc from the paper onto a plate, or leave them in the paper? Knife and fork or fingers?

I'm a fingers and paper man myself.

Fingers and paper unless I want to dip in ketchup, then I still keep it on the paper but use a fork and put it on a plate just to stop me stabbing myself in the leg.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on June 23, 2022, 05:20:10 PMthis guy reckons don't do that, you'll end up fucking your microwave

https://microwaveexpert.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/heating-plates-in-the-microwave/#:~:text=In%20a%20nutshell%2C%20don't,hot%20food%20is%20the%20result.

The guy is sort of right in that microwaves probably don't like it (and the magnetron also won't like a rubbish swr ratio when there's nothing to absorb it).

But I think the guy also ignores it's not just moisture that causes the plate to warm, many plates have some absorbant stuff in the material (quite often intentionally so) and also designers know some of their users are daft and will inevitably run a microwave with nothing in it and factor that in.

It is notionally 'better not to' but I live in a rental and the micro is a battered piece of shit so fuck it.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on June 23, 2022, 05:20:10 PMthis guy reckons don't do that, you'll end up fucking your microwave

https://microwaveexpert.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/heating-plates-in-the-microwave/#:~:text=In%20a%20nutshell%2C%20don't,hot%20food%20is%20the%20result.

Eh there is already a plate in there, it comes with the microwave.  Guy is talking out of his arse you don't microwave plates for very long and they do actually get hot (hotter than anything else including the walls of the microwave because they are obviously made of solid material as well).

Granted it will fuck up your plates eventually due to thermal expansion and contraction (same problems with dishwashers or washing your dishes in hot water though).

Also why hasn't fuck nuts thought about putting a bit of water on the plate or cup of water on the plate? Because he is a bellend that's why, someone that seems to think nobody puts food on plates in microwaves.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: monkfromhavana on June 23, 2022, 04:39:51 PMI'm a fingers and paper man myself.

Do you eat battered fish with your fingers? For some reason chips eaten with fingers seems more acceptable but fish would be more greasy and undignified, uncouth even.

I decant any takeaway meal onto a plate, even pizza.

Sebastian Cobb

If you put food in there the food absorbs the majority of the waves due to higher moisture content, in that case most of the warmth on the plate is down to conduction which is easily demonstrable by having food on half of the plate, microwaving it and feeling the bottom to see where it's hot

Ferris

Quote from: iamcoop on June 23, 2022, 03:04:20 PMThe portion size of Fish & Chips is usually pretty big though, in takeaway terms. A large size with some mushy peas, a bit of curry sauce and perhaps some bread and butter is around £10-£12 round here and that would comfortably feed me and my partner.

The cost of pizza though? Absolute deso.

Got a propane pizza oven; I'm churning the bastards out for about 50p a go. Loving it.

monkfromhavana

Right, been to the chippy and for a change, I decided to continue to the decline in cod numbers (£5.80) with a regular chips (£2.20) and a small curry sauce (£1).

Didn't have any fish ready, so was done fresh and was very nice and I am now stuffed. During the cooking time, I took advantage by quizzing the co-owner about the state of business. Aside from a sadly predictable statement about "the amount of foreigners round here" he also proscribed the falling trade to changing eating habits, the fact that they don't deliver, more options and competition and also being located in an area where people don't have a lot of spare cash and are cutting back due to the recession.

There going to keep at it though, so I'm OK for chips for a good few years yet.

monkfromhavana


Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: iamcoop on June 23, 2022, 03:04:20 PMThe portion size of Fish & Chips is usually pretty big though, in takeaway terms. A large size with some mushy peas, a bit of curry sauce and perhaps some bread and butter is around £10-£12 round here and that would comfortably feed me and my partner.

The cost of pizza though? Absolute deso.

Every chippy I've been to seems to beef up the chip servings as you become more regular too. When I worked in a bookies as a student they were long shifts with no real kitchen so went regularly, the guy that worked there was a regular with us too (he always very odds on or evens with lots of notes that stank of chip fat, possibly to tax dodge and claim 'bookie winnings') and that got a bit out of hand.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 23, 2022, 05:49:25 PMIf you put food in there the food absorbs the majority of the waves due to higher moisture content, in that case most of the warmth on the plate is down to conduction which is easily demonstrable by having food on half of the plate, microwaving it and feeling the bottom to see where it's hot

I get the science and it is right less water molecules less for radiowaves to agitate but as mentioned there is literally a plate in there anyway (a toughened glass plate that will eventually succumb to the laws of entropy) and you can just put a cup of water on it anyway.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: checkoutgirl on June 23, 2022, 05:46:44 PMDo you eat battered fish with your fingers? For some reason chips eaten with fingers seems more acceptable but fish would be more greasy and undignified, uncouth even.

I decant any takeaway meal onto a plate, even pizza.

Even pizza? That is decadent.  Fish eaten from the bag with fingers is definitely more tasty in my experience if you are not the go, the sweatiness of a hot bag of chips with all it's salt and vinegar vapours tantalising the nostrils and gaping maw.

Mmmm sweaty fish.

monkfromhavana

Quote from: checkoutgirl on June 23, 2022, 05:46:44 PMDo you eat battered fish with your fingers? For some reason chips eaten with fingers seems more acceptable but fish would be more greasy and undignified, uncouth even.


I grab it with both hands and wrestle the battered monstrosity into my salivating mouth with no regrets or afterthoughts.

TrenterPercenter

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on June 23, 2022, 06:17:24 PMEvery chippy I've been to seems to beef up the chip servings as you become more regular too. When I worked in a bookies as a student they were long shifts with no real kitchen so went regularly, the guy that worked there was a regular with us too (he always very odds on or evens with lots of notes that stank of chip fat, possibly to tax dodge and claim 'bookie winnings') and that got a bit out of hand.

I got banned from my local chippy back in the late 90s for being pissed up and jumping over the counter to give my boys a group hug (the manager got incredibly pissed off as it was setting precedent to other pissed up idiots - he had a point).  Dark days, but then I was restored to glory in 2005 when after secretly sneaking in (the other lads would still let me in on the sly when the manager wasn't working) and heroically helping them when some guy tried to attack one their staff and steal money out of the till (helped grab him and throw him out the door).  I then received free fish and chips on my birthday ever since which probably wouldn't happen with today prices if it was still open.

imitationleather

When I've eaten battered cod with my fingers I've felt like a savage.

Using those tiny wooden forks that chippies have is somehow even worse, though.

Tony Tony Tony

On the subject of 'how do you eat your chips' I was once out with my line manager early for an appointment. He treated me to a bag of chips whilst he had his with a cod of prodigious proportions. He rested the meal in his lap and on completion grabbed the wrappings to roll into a ball. Unfortunately the grease had soaked through making his light coloured chinos (fashion leader) translucent.

You could see his under crackers and not in a sexy way.

Let that be a salutary lesson to all.

Tony Tony Tony

Seems the extortionate cost of a fish supper is of concern even to Superstar DJs.

How much?

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: TrenterPercenter on June 23, 2022, 06:29:06 PMI got banned from my local chippy back in the late 90s for being pissed up and jumping over the counter to give my boys a group hug (the manager got incredibly pissed off as it was setting precedent to other pissed up idiots - he had a point).  Dark days, but then I was restored to glory in 2005 when after secretly sneaking in (the other lads would still let me in on the sly when the manager wasn't working) and heroically helping them when some guy tried to attack one their staff and steal money out of the till (helped grab him and throw him out the door).  I then received free fish and chips on my birthday ever since which probably wouldn't happen with today prices if it was still open.

I'd completely forgot about the two women nearly having a fight at a midweek teatime.

It was one of those chippy's with an in door and an out door and a one-way system that folded the queue round a barrier before you got to the counter (Torry Chip Bar or 'Henry's' to the locals).

Anyhow I was in for my evening special, probably a chicken pie and chips as they were pretty good from there, and there's a few of us in and this middle-aged woman squeezes past all of us to the front of the queue, not unusual, sometimes people ordered then nipped out or orders got phoned in. A younger woman, probably about 30ish at the front politely and calmly tells her she's pushed in. Rather than calmly saying 'nah, I'm just picking up' the conversation goes like this:

'NO I HAVE NOT PUSHED IN, DON'T YOU DARE ACCUSE ME IF THAT!'
Chip shop owner mumbling: 'she's just picking up'
'THANK YOU HENRY, NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME, SOME OF US HAVE TO GO TO WORK!'
Other woman, still calm as fuck: 'do you normally go to work with a bottle of wine in your handbag then?'
'DON'T YOU FUCKING START, YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SIZE OF MY MAN'
Still calm: 'well you haven't seen the size of mine either'

*woman storms out, door slams* 'TERRY! TEEEEEERYYYYYYYYYYY'

incidentally Terry was one of our punters and we had to bollock him for having cans stuffed down the front of his jeans because you're not allowed them in a bookies, the old manager once let him put them between the roller shutter and door we never opened but me and the deputy reckoned he was a prick so didn't do him favours. Once when I was on my own he stumbled as he ran to put a horse on and cracked his head off the bottom of the counter, and I darted out to check on him, locking myself out and having to shimmy back over the counter.

Also I know she said she had a man but I fell in love with calm woman a little.

Dex Sawash

My last microwave was amazingly powerful but refused to cook microwave popcorn at all. 4 minutes and there would be a fist size ball of black smoking kernels.
What were that all about?

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Dex Sawash on June 23, 2022, 08:59:17 PMMy last microwave was amazingly powerful but refused to cook microwave popcorn at all. 4 minutes and there would be a fist size ball of black smoking kernels.
What were that all about?

I think those things usually have a metallic thing in them that gets hot and cooks the bag, but you can actually if you're careful microwave popcorn kernals in a normal bowl because popcorn works by having a sealed vessel (kernel) get hot and the moisture turning to steam rapidly and expanding to make the starch stuff also in the kernel be like it is after it's popped - that process is the same no matter how you heat it.

It's way more effort than using hot oil though as requires a good few minutes and turns quickly. If your microwave doesn't distribute its waves easily you can get hot spots so an area gets burned and forms a ball that gets burned and stinks before the rest has popped.

So I reckon given your mention of high power it's a similar problem - uneven distribution and a hot spot was causing an area to get disproportionately cooked and burned. You could've mitigated this with a lower power setting, which would cause the microwave to work on a duty cycle and the off period would allow heat dissipation (assuming it's not a Panasonic 'inverter' model).

Older microwaves were better at this, both through lower power, but also because as well as spinning the platter to reduce hot spots, they also tended to have a motorised waveguide that the magnetron shot at, acting a bit like a disco ball, but for microwaves - commercial platterless models still have these, but domestic ones don't due to cost cutting.

Cold Meat Platter

Where can I get good cooking oil for my deep fat fryer? The supermarket stuff doesn't taste right. Have tried filling a fryer up with beef dripping once which was fucking brilliant but my fryer didn't like it and wouldn't heat it up from solid making it a pain in the arse.

I know a lot of takeaways use palm oil which isn't great for the old orange monkey men and is solid at room temp anyway.


Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on June 23, 2022, 10:27:55 PMWhere can I get good cooking oil for my deep fat fryer? The supermarket stuff doesn't taste right. Have tried filling a fryer up with beef dripping once which was fucking brilliant but my fryer didn't like it and wouldn't heat it up from solid making it a pain in the arse.

I know a lot of takeaways use palm oil which isn't great for the old orange monkey men and is solid at room temp anyway.


Lard?

Glebe

Cod and chips twice please Mr Fish & Chip Shop Man!