Fish and Chips

It has taken four months, but I have now eaten fish and chips.  For it being a British staple, and there supposed to be a fish and chips shop on neighborhood corners, I haven't come across very many.  Infact, this was my first real encounter with one and it was at a service station, not a neighborhood variety.  

A service station or a motorway service area is like a rest area/truck stop/food court kinda thing.  So when traveling the motorway and you are hungry, or need the loo, you pull into a service station.  It's like a mall food court without the mall.  Some also have hotel accommodations and there is a separate area at some to buy petrol.  (gas station which is what most of you thought of when I said service station...)  It's a "one stop shopping" for all your traveling needs.  I find it really interesting at most of these the food offered is things like McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Starbucks.... though they throw in Costa, WHSmith, Waitrose, and some others to remind you that you really are still in the UK and didn't somehow drive across the pond and land in the US.  

So traveling back on Wednesday afternoon from the London Temple (which is in Lingfield, Surrey...) we stopped to grab a bite to eat at a service station.  This was a big newer one and almost as overwhelming as a large mall food court. Surveying our options, my friend Margaret spotted a fish and chips in the corner.  That seemed like a better idea than KFC, or McDonald's to me, and since I hadn't had proper fish and chips decided that was my best option. 

 Margaret, being the kind person that she is, decided I needed help trying to order, because really it was way simpler than I was used to, mostly.  You just order a regular plate of fish and chips.  The side dish was the problem.  I was then asked if I wanted mushy peas or baked beans.  Mushy peas? the picture on the board looked like, well mushy peas... She described them to me as mushed canned peas with ... I didn't catch that.... added.  Apparently quite good.  I was told it was a Yorkshire thing.  I've never been a fan of canned peas, I don't care what you put with them, it can't help them, so I opted for the baked beans.  The guy behind the counter at this point asks "American?"  Seems Americans are the only people who don't know about Mushy Peas.  Margaret figured he'd heard me speak and figured by my accent.  So now it's his job to educate me on how this works.  He gives me my receipt, tells me to take a table and he will call when it is ready.  I dutifully sit while Margaret and Don go and get KFC.  When my food is ready, they guy announces Fish and chips, looks at me and points to my food, so I know it is my order.  He asks if I want vinegar and salt.  There are large salt shakers and containers of vinegar to the left of the pick up counter. I opted to try the British way and I put vinegar on half of the fish and chips for a trial run.  I didn't add salt, because I figured it wouldn't need extra.  Unlike the states, they didn't salt any of it, and so I actually needed to go back and salt it.  It was rather bland without any. 

The meal was rather delicious.  I am a fan of vinegar on chips.  The baked beans were warm and not sweet, that was a pleasant surprise as well.  Yes, I at the chips with a fork and knife.  The fish was moist and almost as good as my daughter in law makes.  ;) The meal hit the spot and I can understand why the British eat it.  I guess normally it would be served in a newspaper, instead my plate was a newspaper.  I learned many interesting facts about fish and chips from my plate actually.  

 

I also learned that day that British doughnuts used to always be the filled kind, either the long ones or the round kind.  They had custard or jam.  It wasn't until Krispy Kremes came along and they learned you could have them with icing or sprinkles.  So they will pay to have the experience of Krispy Kremes.  I however have always been a fan of the filled doughnuts, but they are not jelly filled, jelly is jello.... and we won't discuss how they pickle everything...onions, walnuts, red cabbage, gherkins, beetroot, eggs....mostly found at christmas time to off set all of the cheese that they eat. 

So now I have experienced fish and chips.  I'll have to find the "good one around the corner" for those days when I just don't want to cook.  Maybe I'll even try the mushy peas.