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Originally Posted by Glice
Well, first of all - London doesn't do too badly for chips. Depends where you are an so on, but you get a proper Great British chippy - as in a shop that specialises in fish and chips, inevitably not run by Brits - and they're ok. Nothing outstanding, but London does better than everywhere else for everything else foodwise (there's a particular kebab house in Dalston that shits on the world, in my eyes).
Personally, I grew up with seaside chips. Very salty, quite dry, genuinely need to be drenched in vinegar. Good consistency, but resistant to ketchup. Since living in Bristol I've tried to love Evelyn's, really I have, but they're just not the seaside chips I grew up with.
I should also mention - there's a worrying trend for Chinese-style chips. This tend to be more oily than greasy, and tend to be cold before you've finished them. This is fine if they're an addendum to, say, pork balls and chicken fried rice, but on their own they're just substandard.
Now the Hull chip has optional spice. It's an odd thing. Sort of peppery, but not quite pepper. Also, there's this odd texture to them, like they've got a fine salty batter (which isn't the spice, I don't think). My understanding is that they take pride in their chips. It's not the typical 'will this do?' of chips in a kebab house. Oh no. Proper chips.
A bit of Googling reveals that you too can have the authentic Hull chip experience with chipspice |
I've noticed a tendency of late, even in fish n chip shops, to use pre-cut potatoes that i have a suspicion have been defrosted before frying. This may account for an overall lack of substance in chips today compared with a few years ago.
I wonder if the 'seaside chip' is made differently to the city chip or whether the experience of eating them in the bracing coastal wind somehow affects our appreciation of them. Certainly the finest chips I've tasted in recent years have been from seaside towns, most notably Hastings.
The chinese style chip is ok so long as you know what you're getting. I don't really think of them as chips as such, similar to how i never really think of pork balls as pork. They're like a thing unto themselves.
I love the idea of the vague spiciness that comes with the Hull chip. I definitely agree that chips seem to be taken far more seriously in the north than they do in the south.