# Getting 'Fish and Chips' hilariously wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 3, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719 "2015-04-03T17:02:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/61 "2015-04-05T11:06:47Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I believe it is a sure sign that you are going to be served bad Chinese food, when the restaurant puts bottles of Heinz ketchup and French’s mustard on the table (this happened years back in Salina, Kansas).\* > > \*although the worst Chinese food I ever ate was a glutinous tasteless mess at a place in a small town in coastal Scotland. Afterwards, we went back to our room in a rickety multi-story “lodge” and spent the night rehearsing fire escape routes. > [@silenus](#): > > OK, these you just deserved. Anybody who eats ethnic food anyplace where said ethnicity doesn’t at least have a sizable enough population to be represented on the city council (or local equivalent) deserves whatever atrocities they are served. Chinese food in Scotland? In a coastal village? I’d as soon expect authentic Aleut food. 😛 There are plenty of places in the UK which don’t pass the suggested “sizable enough population” test, but which nevertheless have a Chinese – or, yet more widespread-ly – Indian restaurant (it needs to be a really tiny British settlement nowadays, _not_ to have an Indian restaurant). For some travellers, it can be a case of “any port in a storm”. My worst-ever Chinese food experience was when a friend and I were travelling around the south-westerly parts of Great Britain, nearly fifty years ago. We arrived in Carmarthen, in west Wales, on a Sunday evening. Back then, Sabbath observance was a pretty big thing in Wales: the Chinese restaurant was the only eating place we could find in town, which was open. With the passing of time, I forget the details of what we had there; it was eatable, but fairly horrid – maybe a bit less foul than what **Jackmannii** got. Still, when there’s no alternative… ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/62 "2015-04-05T12:38:35Z")
Pretty often restaurants offer a Reuben Sandwich on their menu that bears no resemblance at all to a real Reuben. A typical example is one I was served at a Mimi’s location. It had ham, turkey, swiss cheese coleslaw and thousand island salad dressing on toasted sourdough. I admit it was a tasty sandwich, but it was definitely not a Reuben ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/63 "2015-04-05T13:02:10Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Nachos. How can anyone screw up nachos? > > Everyone who tries to make it in England, that’s who. > > [snip] > > Cheese? Houston we have a problem. In the UK, all cheese is cheddar. It’s shredded and there’s lots of it. For the first five, maybe six seconds after serving it’s actually pretty nice. But then it sets. You bowl of nachos congeals into a cheesy slab of concrete. If you can wrench out a mouth sized chuck, it’s doesn’t taste too bad, but whatever it is, it sure ain’t nachos! I just spent five minutes googling nachos recipes. And I was trying to make sure that I sourced them from America and everything. But I still couldn’t find any recipe which did not say that the correct cheese for nachos is cheddar. Well, apart from one which referenced ‘American cheese spread’, and I’m pretty sure that’s low in the old authenticity quota. So - educate the ignorant - what DO you make nachos with? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/64 "2015-04-05T14:05:32Z")
A few years ago, I was working in South Korea at a boys’ middle school. During the students’ summer break, the school was required to have what was called “English Camp”. Basically, it’s just more school. I’ve no idea why it can’t be called “Summer School”. Anyway, here was my experience one summer. I posted this on another board when it happened; the post entitled _I thought I knew how to make a PB & banana sandwich_. You tell me if this isn’t “hilariously wrong”. > [@](#): > > **I thought I knew how to make a PB & banana sandwich** > > Evidently, I was incredibly mistaken. Dollars to donuts, so are you. > > For my boys middle school’s “Summer English Camp,” every Friday is “cooking day.” That means on Thursday, I have to show them a video of some typical American dish, something easy to make, and then explain it in detail. This week, being the first week of the camp, instruction from the director of all the camp classes was that the typical dish would be peanut butter and banana sandwich. That actually went very well. The kids are low-level in English but highly motivated and in 7th grade. They enjoyed the silly song that accompanied the step-by-step video recipe (I’m not ashamed to say I enjoyed it also, although I’ve never heard it before–some British song). And they all were able to explain to me in English at the end of class yesterday how to make the sandwich. > > Now imagine my surprise when it comes to the “practical exercise” portion of this little endeavor. You probably think, just as I used to until today, that the recipe merely calls for the following: > > [ul][li]Bread [/li][li]Peanut butter [/li][li]Banana[/ul][/li]Oh, no! You are forgetting that we are in Korea and, apparently, not only do we Native English Speakers not really understand our own language, we do not even understand our own culture, specifically its cuisine. I say this because the items missing from that list but definitely present in the practical exercise portion were: > > [ul][li]Cheese [/li][li]Canned tuna salad [/li][li]Mayonnaise [/li][li]Stringed and pressed crab meat (sorry, I don’t know the real term for it) [/li][li]Strawberry jam[/ul][/li] > In case you were wondering, yes, more than a couple of the students did put all of those items on their “peanut butter and banana” sandwich. > > My proudest moment from today? I did not puke. Actually, just typing this anecdote is making me a bit queasy. And my mother wonders why I’m staying vegetarian while I’m in Korea. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/65 "2015-04-05T14:05:46Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > … Well, apart from one which referenced ‘American cheese spread’, and I’m pretty sure that’s low in the old authenticity quota. > > So - educate the ignorant - what DO you make nachos with? For many Americans, the polyester orange goo called “American cheese spread” is exactly what you make nachos with. It’s a very thick liquid at room temperature and a thinner oozy liquid when hot. Horrors. For other folks, it’s properly made with what most folks call “Mexican cheese”, which is a mixture of white and orange very mild cheddars finely shredded. These are sprinkled heavily over the top of the pile and the whole thing is briefly put under the broiler to soften the cheese into a gooey, clingy, stringy, tasty mess. The cheese serves to attach all the other chunky stuff to the chips so you can plausibly eat the combination with your fingers, not a fork. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/66 "2015-04-05T14:27:57Z")
In Mexico… least, the parts of Mexico where I have eaten nachos… they are made by shredding medium or sharp cheddar and sprinkling said shredded cheese over deep fried tortilla quarters, usually corn tortillas, what an American would call corn chips. The cheese isn’t TOO thick, but the idea is to liberally cover the chips, and shake some of the cheese down into the pile. It is also worth noting that the idea here is to spread the chips in a single or double layer – however big the pile is, it should not be too deep. Then the whole thing is put under a broiler or in an oven to melt the cheese. The chips should acquire a slightly toasty golden brown look, and the cheese should melt and fuse. The whole thing should then be served hot. Sure, it’ll cool, and you’ll have to tear the chips loose eventually, but in Mexico, it is assumed that there will be enough people at the table and they’ll be eating quick enough that the chips will be gone in short order. LSLGuy’s note about “Mexican cheese” is correct, to my knowledge; often a blend of cheeses is used. Often, the pile of chips will also be topped with refried beans and cooked ground beef, diced tomato, onions, and sliced jalapenos, to make it more of a dish and less of an appetizer. This is how it was done in Mexico and south Texas in the days of my youth. Lots of other places, though, just dump Cheez Whiz and a cuppa salsa together, microwave for a minute and a half, and dump it on a bowl of Doritos. Usually in America; I have not had the pleasure of nachos, British style. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/67 "2015-04-05T14:52:04Z")
This thread is drifting a little away from fish, but I have to comment on the nachos. There are two kinds of nachos I’ve encountered here in the U.S.: the kind described by **LSLGuy** and **Master Wang-Ka** , and the ‘polyester orange goo’. They’re both good. The ‘orange goo’ variety is actually the kind I first encountered – this, in spite of living in San Diego until I was 15, and having a Mexican maid who cleaned and cooked for us occasionally. The gooey nachos are offered by convenience stores, sporting venues, fairs, movie theatres, and fast-food places. In my experience they’re usually fairly plain; chips and cheese, optional jalapeños and salsa. Dine-in restaurants tend to sell the more authentic variety. Usually they offer so many toppings, it can almost be considered a taco salad! At home, nachos are a lazy dish. Tortilla chips (_not_ Doritos!), shredded medium cheddar, salsa. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/68 "2015-04-05T14:56:59Z")
When I was in high school, I worked at an Alfie’s Fish and Chips. We served batter dipped Icelandic Cod and fried potatoes. There seems to be a couple of locations still open (after 44 years!) and the menu has expanded quite a lot from what we served. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/69 "2015-04-05T14:59:36Z")
I was not a great fan of the fish and chips. Of course we were allowed to eat free when working. There was a great hamburger place down the street, and a Pizza place nearby, and we would often work out trades for the staff meals. I did devleop a taste for malt vinegar on my fries rather than ketchup though. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/70 "2015-04-05T16:01:01Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > On the same trip, I found myself in southern Michigan, where they seem to have a similar attitude about “barbecue.” That is to say, they might have heard of it, and sometimes they have a grip on the theory, but they haven’t a clue about the execution. > > … > > If it was a con to save money, it was a good one. It was the worst barbecue I’ve ever had. sounds like you were in southwest or southern central Michigan, where they’ve really only _heard_ of black people. You can get a lot better BBQ in SE Michigan; Slow’s BBQ on Michigan Ave. in Detroit is quite good. > [@Macca26](#): > > I once ordered a “philly cheese steak” in a new york tavern. > > I did get a cheese steak. Technically. Perhaps I should have noticed that the wording was separated like that. > > But it was literally a slab of sirloin steak on a hamburger bun with a slice of cheese on top. The steak was a solid inch and a half thick piece of meat. I had a sandwich like that last fall; few of us from work went on a motorcycle ride to end the season. We stopped in the (unincorporated) town of Gregory, Michigan (Town motto: “We have a post office _and_ a traffic light!”) for lunch at this small bar. You know, the type which looks like it gets pretty rowdy on Friday and Saturday nights. The sandwich was really _really_ good; the roll was soft and didn’t taste of store-bought bread, the steak was medium-rare, the onions were nice and caramelized and the (mozz) cheese was nice and melty. And to top it all off, they had the good sense to call it a “steak sandwich” and left Philly completely out of the picture. * * * to get back to the topic, the only time I’ve run into something that was not what I was expecting was the first time I was in Japan. The guy at our Iwaki office who was “babysitting” us was actually German, on an international assignment. He was so tired of Japanese food that initially he kept dragging us to places like Tony Roma’s in Roppongi. We ended up at this place called “M’s Dining” which was an “American” restaurant. Which was _exactly_ what we were looking for ( :rolleyes: ) resigned to my fate, I think I ordered their “steak dinner” which was a ground beef patty with brown gravy, corn, and mashed potatoes. All of a quality that suggested they took a Swanson’s Salisbury Steak TV dinner, scooped out all of the stuff and dumped it on a plate. So for all of you who like to go on about how we screw up foreign cuisine, other countries get foreign dishes just as “wrong.” ---
**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:** [April 5, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/71 "2015-04-05T18:34:25Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Nachos. How can anyone screw up nachos? > > Everyone who tries to make it in England, that’s who. > > Bag of tortilla chips from a bag? Check. > > Some sort of guacamole and/or sour cream from a tube? Check. > > Vegetation? They have diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce over there. > > Sliced olives? OK > > Some kind of dubious meat? They have that. > > Cheese? Houston we have a problem. In the UK, all cheese is cheddar. It’s shredded and there’s lots of it. For the first five, maybe six seconds after serving it’s actually pretty nice. But then it sets. You bowl of nachos congeals into a cheesy slab of concrete. If you can wrench out a mouth sized chuck, it’s doesn’t taste too bad, but whatever it is, it sure ain’t nachos! Sorry, what? I will concede we probably do Mexican and Tex-Mex food quite badly in this land; it’s a comparatively late arrival in comparison to many other foreign cuisines that are established here, but WTF do you mean by “In the UK, all cheese is cheddar”? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/72 "2015-04-05T21:22:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > This thread is drifting a little away from fish, but I have to comment on the nachos. … The thread is about all examples of misbegotten food. Fish & chips was just the OP’s contribution to the genre. My contribution: Somebody upthread mentioned eating ethnic when forced to eat out on a holiday. I recall being stuck in a cheap hotel in Queens in NYC one snowy windy Christmas eve. We set out on foot in search of dinner and ended up at the only place open in this predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. It was a kosher Chinese joint staffed by 100% fresh off the boat Chinese folks. And they were packed; we got the last table right by the vestibule-less front door. The menu was a bit odd, with some “interesting” attempts at crossover dishes, and of course the pork section was simply missing from the menu. It did have the \*imprimatur \*of the local Kosher approval authority though. (I forget the correct terminology; you all know what I mean). But damn it was tasty. And hot. And large. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/73 "2015-04-06T17:46:15Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I never would’ve believed that was a real place. After checking it out, though, I see not only that it exists, but that it’s pretty much what you see in South Park. It exists, all right. One of those “remarkable restaurant” shows profiled it along with Safe House in Milwaukee, Supper Club in San Francisco, and a couple others. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/74 "2015-04-06T17:59:42Z")
Where I live in southern Maryland, there is one restaurant that claims to be ‘Korean Japanese Fusion’. I’ve been a fan of authentic Korean food forever, so I finally stopped to try them out. On the menu board was Be Bem Bap, which is what I imagine Korean comfort food to be like, so I ordered that. What I got was a big bucket of rice with a little bit of bulgogi on it and smothered in all sorts of fresh green leafy stuff, essentially making it a salad. No kimchi or any other pickled and fermented delicacies, no fried egg on top, and no red chili paste to be seen. I smiled, said it was good, and I’ve never gone back. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/75 "2015-04-06T18:08:12Z")
I went to a little diner in Somerset, Kentucky a few years back. The special was bacon wrapped tenderloin. Turns out it was a hamburger patty wrapped with bacon. When I mentioned to the cook that it didn’t appear to be a tenderloin he informed me that that is how everyone made it in KY. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/76 "2015-04-06T18:16:10Z")
The original Tex-Mex nachos, as first served in the 1940s by [Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacio_Anaya), were lightly fried corn tortillas cut into triangles, then individually dressed with shredded sharp cheddar and a jalapeno slice before being finished under a broiler. I’m told that some of the older Mexican restaurants in Texas still serve them this way, though I cannot personally verify that. Having grown up in southern CA, I can attest that the processed cheese sauce version and the loaded version are both widely available there. When I make nachos at home, I’ll lay out a layer of chips on an oven-safe plate, top it with seasoned shredded taco meat out of the slow cooker, a few scoops of refried beans, and a generous portion of shredded sharp cheddar, stick it in the oven for a few minutes to let the cheese melt, and then garnish it with pico de gallo, a generous handful of jalapeno slices, sour cream, and guacamole. (If you’re worried about the cheese congealing, you could always go the modernist route and make your own cheese sauce by pre-melting the cheese in a saucepan with some beer and sodium citrate.) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/77 "2015-04-06T18:24:50Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > Where I live in southern Maryland, there is one restaurant that claims to be ‘Korean Japanese Fusion’. _\_ Have you tried the Vietnamese place in Leonardtown? I have no idea how authentic it is, but it would have been nice to have a fact sheet included with the menu so we knew how we were supposed to eat it - like what sauces were used where. Neither of us know anything about Vietnamese food. Of course, that building is cursed, so I don’t expect the place to still be open this time next year. In my memory, it’s been a Perkins, a pizza place, a pseudo-Cajun place, a Japanese place, and now Vietnamese. What next?? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/78 "2015-04-06T18:28:27Z")
We have the weirdest situation here. There is a really good seafood dive about 22 miles away, near the water. Used to be called Moby Dougs, and it is the best smelling place in the county. Moderately expensive, and quite good – I even found a half-nacred proto-pearl in a fried oyster one time. Then they got bought out by someone else, but their quality remains right up there. The guy that bought them already had a skate-service classic drive-in a couple miles from here with his name on it as well, but the fish they serve out here is large flat fillets (AYCE on Mondays) with sub-par breading that slips and peels off and has no notable flavor. It is just disorienting to have two places with the same name, not very far apart, one very very good, the other pretty meh (at least on the fish). But the best story comes from Lafayette Louisiana. We ate at the rather fancy place in town, then my wife ordered her favorite dessert, the crême brûlée (I had a cheesecake thing that took way too long but was a very interesting combination of airy, flaky crust and cream cheese filling). The waiter comes out with the crême brûlée “presentation”: the pudding in an oval boat dish, along with a propane torch that looks like he borrowed it from the auto repair shop down the street, with which he strokes the flame back and forth over the surface for about a minute or two. This was a sub-black-tie place, the shop torch just looked so wrong, and we sat there too slack-jawed to muster the appropriate cataclysm of mirth. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/79 "2015-04-06T18:36:39Z")
I got chips and salsa at a carnival in northern England once. The chips were something like you’d get if you ordered nachos at 7-11. The salsa… as far as Mr. Neville and I could tell, it was ketchup-based. I have had decent salsas that had some sweetness to them. This wasn’t one of them. This was ketchup with maybe a little bit of red chili flakes in it. > [@cwthree](#): > > That’s even less authentic than the stuff my folks called “barbeque” when I was a kid - cooked ground meat mixed up with tomato sauce and seasoned with mustard. Hi, sis! I didn’t know you were a Doper! Or, horrors, is my mom not the only one to call Sloppy Joes “barbecue”? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719/80 "2015-04-06T18:38:55Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Have you tried the Vietnamese place in Leonardtown? I have no idea how authentic it is, but it would have been nice to have a fact sheet included with the menu so we knew how we were supposed to eat it - like what sauces were used where. Neither of us know anything about Vietnamese food. If it’s anything like the dime-a-dozen Vietnamese restaurants we have up here in the Puget Sound area, the main dishes are going to be phở and bánh mì - both, themselves, localized versions of French peasant fare owing to Vietnam’s colonial history. Phở (pronounced like it rhymes with “huh” or “duh”) is noodle soup, usually made with rice noodles in an oxtail beef broth. You’ll have your choice of several different cuts of meat and/or organ meats to have with it, but the most traditional kind is raw beef brisket sliced paper-thin so that the heat from the broth cooks it. It should come served with an assortment of raw vegetables, herbs, and sauces, which you can more or less mix into the soup as you please. Bánh mì is basically a Vietnamese hoagie - it’s served on a type of baguette, with hot seasoned meat (chicken, beef, and pork are all popular) with various vegetable garnishes, which may be either already on the sandwich or served on the side - carrot sticks, cucumbers, cilantro, and sliced peppers are common, along with more traditional western sandwich veggies and dressings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-fish-and-chips-hilariously-wrong/716719.md?page=5)