# British style chips with vinegar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2012, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407 "2012-02-01T09:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/61 "2012-02-03T00:08:52Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > These pics you guys are linking to look exactly like what you get in the States. The difference is that fish and chips in the States are well cooked, the batter is crispy, the fish delicious, and the chips crunchy and yielding inside. Whereas to properly recreate the typical British experience, the batter should be soggy and slough off the fish when you attack it with your weird-ass wooden two-pronged fork. The fish should be slightly grey and fall apart. Some of the chips should have been through the fryer two or three times and be carbonised, while the rest should be soggy, pale and slightly raw in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/62 "2012-02-03T00:34:03Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > The difference is that fish and chips in the States are well cooked, the batter is crispy, the fish delicious, and the chips crunchy and yielding inside. > > Whereas to properly recreate the typical British experience, the batter should be soggy and slough off the fish when you attack it with your weird-ass wooden two-pronged fork. The fish should be slightly grey and fall apart. Some of the chips should have been through the fryer two or three times and be carbonised, while the rest should be soggy, pale and slightly raw in the middle. 😃 Yes, kinda. It’s junk food, not gourmet. But I don’t usually encounter chips as bad as those. Maybe five chips out of fifty would be that bad in a bad chippy, and my local does crap fish batter like you describe but perfect chips. Those chips are not crunchy - they’re not crisps - but they’re not raw or pale either. I think you’re kinda anti-romanticising it. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/63 "2012-02-03T01:03:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Are you asking why cole slaw with F&C? > > It’s common here in the US to serve cole slaw with fried seafood, seafood in general, and many other dishes. Exactly, and I’ll add that Canada does the same thing. Also thanks, **TriPolar** , for fielding that one for me. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/64 "2012-02-03T09:32:17Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Chips and curry sauce is a _whole_ other topic. In my extensive experience, the best chips and curry sauce are to be found in Chinese takeaways. This is the chippie I used to work in 🙂 > **[Knight's Fisheries in Leyes Lane](http://www.whatsinkenilworth.com/2010/06/knights-fisheries-in-leyes-lane.html)** > > mike downes - we make videos to help people learn at youtube.com/mikedownes the mike downes page ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/65 "2012-02-03T09:35:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just curious if you, or anyone else, has ever been to Malin’s of Bow Street in London Afraid not. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/66 "2012-02-03T09:38:24Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > This is the chippie I used to work in 🙂 > > [mike downes - we make videos to help people learn: Knight's Fisheries in Leyes Lane](http://www.whatsinkenilworth.com/2010/06/knights-fisheries-in-leyes-lane.html) Class. Did they also do chips with fluorescent sweet-and-sour sauce in a polystyrene pot with a lemon floating in it? ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/67 "2012-02-03T10:44:55Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Class. Did they also do chips with fluorescent sweet-and-sour sauce in a polystyrene pot with a lemon floating in it? We didn’t advertise it on the board but such a request could be fulfilled. Damn I’m hungry now. I worked there around 1990. The biggest change these days seems to be the default fish. Back then you got cod and had to order haddock or plaice on entry. Now haddock seems to be the fish de jour in every place I go. Apart from London where they eat dogfish _cough_ “rock salmon”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/68 "2012-02-03T11:09:01Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > 😃 Yes, kinda. It’s junk food, not gourmet. > > But I don’t usually encounter chips as bad as those. Maybe five chips out of fifty would be that bad in a bad chippy, and my local does crap fish batter like you describe but perfect chips. Those chips are not crunchy - they’re not crisps - but they’re not raw or pale either. I think you’re kinda anti-romanticising it. Concur. I don’t _want_ crunchy chips in this context. I want some of them to be crispy, but I want the big ones to be a bit bendy and maybe some of them slightly doughy and stuck together. There’s nothing wrong with that - it’s like bacon - there’s a world of options besides cooking it to a brittle husk. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/69 "2012-02-03T11:44:04Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > This is the chippie I used to work in 🙂 > > [mike downes - we make videos to help people learn: Knight's Fisheries in Leyes Lane](http://www.whatsinkenilworth.com/2010/06/knights-fisheries-in-leyes-lane.html) Excellent! Stick a kebab heater/spit/thingy in and that’s the perfect post-pub place. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/70 "2012-02-03T13:22:58Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > This is true. Even though it’s a bit posh to actually sit down and eat off a plate at the seaside, I have done so. But TBH it’s always felt a little wrong to me, like eating a roast dinner or curry or stew out of paper would be wrong. And vinegar for fish and chips is not a dipping sauce. In Blackpool, in winter, when it’s raining it’s not posh it’s _essential_. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/71 "2012-02-03T13:49:04Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Excellent! Stick a kebab heater/spit/thingy in and that’s the perfect post-pub place. 🙂 There’s a pub “The Tiltyard” just across the car park too 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/72 "2012-02-03T13:50:21Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > In Blackpool, in winter, when it’s raining it’s not posh it’s _essential_. Pfft. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/73 "2012-02-03T16:49:20Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > In Blackpool, in winter, when it’s raining it’s not posh it’s _essential_. I love Blackpool. Not even ironically so, I genuinely love it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/74 "2012-02-03T23:33:28Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Exactly, and I’ll add that Canada does the same thing. Also thanks, **TriPolar** , for fielding that one for me. What, no thanks for me for helping you? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/75 "2012-02-03T23:48:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Possibly related to the originator of Fish and Chips. Which may be why I like you. FTR, white vinegar is an industrial solvent, dilute acetic acid, not food. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/76 "2012-02-04T00:50:31Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > You ate fish and chips off a plate? 😕 Yeah–it came on a plastic or styropfoam plate with a plastic fork. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407/77 "2012-02-04T07:22:54Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > What, no thanks for me for helping you? 😃 Many thanks, **Cat Whisperer**! Sorry–got a lot on my mind; if something slips between the cracks, many apologies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-style-chips-with-vinegar/611407.md?page=3)