CHIPS vs FRIES

The quality of fries is more consistent but chips can be and often are much much better than fries. Voting chips.

Well done for not including the disgusting savagery that is potato wedges on this poll.

That photo doesn't do chips justice.

Those things in the first photo look like fries to me.

feel free to provide yr own visual examples

fries are so wimpy and a sad unfulfilling accompaniment to a fat greasy burger.

I was under the impression these were the exact same thing.

This is gonna be confusing for Americans because we don't distinguish between the two really so picture a = thick cut fries (sometimes called steak fries according to a friend) and picture b = thin shoestring fries but we'd consider both of those fries.

steak fries - idk they're the right kinda size but they ain't no chip, or i've just been served bad oven-cooked or reheated ones.

CHIPS with shallow depth of field

http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk/assets/Recipes/_resampled/croppedimage280280-tray-of-chipsLOSQUARE.jpg

^exactly.

what ENBB said

Also, chips from a chip shop in England have a very distinct taste which makes it even more confusing if you've never had them because they sort of are a thing all on their own. IDK. Voted chips cause they're awesome and I miss them.

i think there is going to be some transatlantic trouble any minute and part of the trouble is going to stem from the non-american chips being shot in a bad light that makes them look pasty and snaggletoothed.

lol

The trouble is gonna happen because we just don't distinguish between the two because we don't have chip shops! They're all fries to us regardless of what light they're shot in.

i agree fries would win always a beauty contest hands-down.

Chips why bc GRAVY <3

http://watchoutfor.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hot-chip.jpg

Chips win this cos who ever has a fries butty?

sorry, wrong hot chip

http://www.figandcherry.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Grilld-Burger_Chips.jpg

some really ugly but delicious CHIPS

http://myzerowaste.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/chips.jpg

Hot Chips being shot in a bad light that makes them look pasty and snaggletoothed. xp

NickB is very right, i voted chips for chip butty reasons.

c'mon. It's chips.

Since I sure as hell didn't know what a chip butty was before I lived in England I'm just gonna post this cause there will be others who wonder:

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/stargatechris/stargatechris1101/stargatechris110100094/8687997-traditional-english-chip-butty-isolated-on-white.jpg

does a butty get a sauce or anything? looks a little dry

Gotta be sliced bread + ketchup or you end up with lots of cold dry bun.

butter crucial imo. ketchup optional.

Also wholemeal bread for health reasons.

lol

yeah most of the pics on GIS seemed to have ketchup but I've mainly seen them with butter

i think sliced bread, and there should be so much butter and ketchup that they melt from the heat of the chips and drip onto your plate.

This is making me hungry and but it's only 10 am and all I have is stupid oatmeal. :(

having considered the matter i think i must allow thick cut or steak FRIES to be an acceptable stand-in for CHIPS.

I think we can all agree that fried potatoes are a pretty goddamn good thing all around, whatever you call them. Hash browns, bratkartofflen, etc.

def

here is a man whose location on a particular side of the atlantic i couldn't possibly guess just by glancing at him and his chip butty:

http://www.croquetworld.com/images/croquetvideo5.jpg

lol

whose location on a particular side of the atlantic watford gap i couldn't possibly guess just by glancing at him and his chip butty

voted fries mainly because of the consistency thing matt mentioned

consistently unsatisfying.

truffle chip butty

chip butty looks pretty unsatisfying next to a

http://fattyfriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/primanti_42.jpg

also for reference

favorite french fry cut

chip butty looks pretty unsatisfying next to a

http://fattyfriday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/primanti_42.jpg

― i think drake distracts (dayo), Wednesday, 13 April 2011 14:12 (5 minutes ago)

Dude it's just taken close-up. Looks kinda revolting if you ask me.

"Steak fries" make me think of the ones which are 2cm wide and only 2mm tall, which are a sad travesty of a chip, because to get the outside to look delicious and chip-like inevitably turns the inside into horrible overcooked powder

(and therefore all the steak fries you ever eat are horrible overcooked powder, because who wants to eat a sad white soggy-looking chip? so I don't even know if it is possible to cook a steak fry right)

i love really good fries, like the sort of bendy french styled ones. possibly even more than chips if the fries are REALLY REALLY GOOD. but i dunno, chips are v different, a good bag of chips if heartier and more wintry.

x-post make me think of the ones which are 2cm wide and only 2mm tall, which are a sad travesty of a chip, because to get the outside to look delicious and chip-like inevitably turns the inside into horrible overcooked powder

OVEN CHIPS

the continuum as i see it:

chips <<<<<<<<<<<<< fries << oven fries <<<<<<<<<<<<<< oven chips

of course i mean

chips >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> fries >> oven fries >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> oven chips

Oven wedges are the worst of all possible potato configurations imo.

half a squashed chip stuck to your shoe is worse than any oven wedge.

when I order fries and get anything chip-esque I am seriously disappointed. I mean this is basically just a math problem: more overall surface area to be fried and salted = more deliciousness.

Fries

xp Nah it can't be all crispy surface, you might as well just eat crisps. Chips have a decent hearty feelgood fluffy potato centre.

I'm not a big fan of the enormous thick-cut chips some of yer poncier pubs are doing these days, the ones that are so big they're served in a Jenga tower.

my favorite fry is the one that's crisp on both ends but has the slightly soggy middle. you don't get that with chips, do you

oh no they really make me sad. if i'm getting fries i at least want them crispy.

10mm^2 is ideal cross sectional dimension of chip.

i actually like fries better cuz the best thing about chips/fries is the fried crunchiness - if i want potatoey softness i'll just have actual roast potatoes thanks

the burnt fries at the bottom of the pan <3

i actually kinda think the best examples of both are too different to be compared...

Yes it's apples and oranges. Or rather, potatoes and potatoes.

I really REALLY want to go to the chip shop at the end of the street and eat a big bag of chips. Proper chip shop chips are one of the best things in the world.

Fries. I hate chip shop chips, all soggy and mushy and greasy.

I think the divide here is between who want the 'hearty feelgood fluffy potato centre' and those who want it primarily crunchy - a proper double fried French 'frite'.

As an American francophile, it's not surprising that for me the normative version is the one we mostly have here and the first time I ate chips in England, I burned my palate on the fluffy potato center.

best chips imo:

fresh chips straight out of the fryer into the fish & chips wrapper, SO hot that you can hardly hold onto them and you tear a little hole in the top of the wrapped up parcel and eat them on a cold day <3

or

chips at the bottom of the bag of chips & gravy, soggy and full of gravy love <3

oh chips how I miss you

eating a chip is like cramming 5 fries into your mouth at the same time
fries
(but tbf i have never had chips that were anything but soggy and overwhelmingly greasy/heartburn inducing)

I don't find fries as comforting as chips

I really REALLY want to go to the chip shop at the end of the street and eat a big bag of chips. Proper chip shop chips are one of the best things in the world.

― ailsa, Wednesday, 13 April 2011 16:32 (1 hour ago)

just had fish and chips, thanks to this very thread, though i might well have got some anyway i guess

chips and fries can both be pretty great, given the choice will always order the former cuz fries can be those shitty reconstituted potato things

chips from crap chip shops can be pretty bad too

bad chips are definitely the worst...(shudder)

Potato product sandwich idea so disgusting. Put some rice on there while you're at it.

then wrap it in a tortilla to hold it together

Yeah.

Good chips >>> fries >>>>>>>>>>>>>> bad chips.

Chip butty is tremendous! Rice butty just wouldn't work rilly.

tremendously gross, maybe

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wb7gmBhM3z4/TK7o-sn7YvI/AAAAAAAADWc/blmi0YMT6zw/s1600/chips.jpg

I was going to experiment with a ravioli butty but I'm glad I didn't.

I think I've only actually ever had one chip butty (maybe 2) but iirc it was AMAZING. Then again in my mind all that carb on carb action could only yield positive results. SO DELICIOUS.

eating a chip is like cramming 5 fries into your mouth at the same time

^^^ this is one reason why chips are so awesome.

Proper chip butty you need either thick bread or a breadcake (roll, bap, stottie, whatever), proper butter on the bread, shitloads of salt and vinegar, ketchup.

Different cuts/textures required depending on what they're going with. Frites with moules, crinkle cuts with a burger, chips with fish; not going to say one is best. I think crinkle cuts (or that approximate size) are the best of both worlds.

Not sure if this is a challop or not, but I really like the new fries at Wendy's.

also, fries don't work with mushy peas imo

That's because mushy peas don't work with anything.

mushy peas and chips are amazing. i like to have them with faggots, even though mash is probably more common there.

marrowfat peas are one of my favourite things.

good mushy peas is food of the gods. i'm starving btw

yeah mushy peas, chips and faggots = hell yeah altho today's faggots are wildly inconsistent

so many starch-on-starch violations

mac and cheese pizza
chip butty
spaghetti burrito

roll and pie.
macaroni pie.
piece and pizza (a slice of pizza in between two bits of buttered bread)

I'm getting very fed up with semi-upscale eateries serving a Jenga-style cross-stacked block of enormo-chips. Even if the exterior is crunchy, the interior is too firm. And the size of the chips prevents a satisfactory chip-condiment ratio on the tastebuds, because there's too much potato in every bite.

Order of fried potato preference
1/ Properly good, posh triple-fried chips; flaky and golden on the outside, soft and yielding inside. Served only with salt.
2/ Soggy chip shop chips, swimming in salt and vinegar, eaten from paper.
3/ Thin-cut fries. Served with salt and mayo.
4/ Jenga chips. Yet to work out a condiment combination that really works. Probably ketchup here, to add moistness to the interior.

mushy peas and chips are amazing. i like to have them with faggots,

3 Reasons I'm more of a francophile than britophile. Overcooked peas make me want to cry.

The "put some rice on it" line is actually stolen from mw, who suggested that course of action w/r/t lasagna pizza that has actual pasta on it.

Just feel like something is categorically wrong with the starch-on-starch. For the love of god add some protein and a vegetable or two.

thing is this whole starch on starch thing is a Platonic law that doesn't allow for exceptions, like of course most of those things don't work but a chip butty does as long as you are prepared to believe in it.

Traditional Hull chip shop meal = patty and chips, where the patty is basically mashed, seasoned potato dipped in batter and deep fried. That does weird me out a bit tbh.

Fishcake and chips is a CLASSIC starch-on-starch violation given how often the fishcake is just fish flavoured mash.

So it's like a breaded, deep-fried hash brown, sort of, served with...french fries? This isn't even remotely appealing-sounding. xp

xpost Mushy peas aren't overcooked peas. They are dried peas rehydrated into a thick pea-flavoured slop. They are very distinct from "garden" peas.

a fried battered potato patty and some fried potatoes?

that just sounds like the sort of food people eat after the apocalypse, when there is nothing growing but there are still some potatoes left.

I know, I wouldn't eat one with chips either. The inside is a lot fluffier than a hash brown and it's usually flavoured with parsley and thyme or occasionally a little fish (though that's called a fish patty usually). Thing is, I will eat a patty sandwich tho. \o/

this is comfort food btw guys, not our staple diet. even losers who eat nothing but take out food have a bad pizza every now and then.

i just want something more nutritious for the good people of Hull

Of all the British foods in the world, mushy peas is the one I most want to try. They sound fucking amazing!

Mushy peas are amazing but the one thing that bothers me about them, at least the canned variety you can get here, is the color. The add food coloring so that they're an unnatural shade of green. I still get them every now and then but try not to think too hard about the coloring thing.

weirdly tho the coloured tinned ones are often better than some of the overstewed ones you get in chippies.

my one exception to starch on starch violations are potato pierogi.

there is a place in my life for starch-on-starch action. I've only had a couple of chip butties in my life but they were AWESOME

also: did someone say macaroni pie?????? :D

Oh while I'm pro chip butty I will tell you one thing that was just too much, a scallop batch. First of all I thought it was going to be like a friend scallop (the shellfish) sandwich so that was confusing. I thought it would be amazing but it was just too much potato. Also, way too greasy.

Man, I want a chip butty so badly, but dinner is already sorted, and is way healthier than a chip butty. Am totally going to the chip shop for my lunch tomorrow though.

Macaroni pies are vile.

x-post - I had a mac and cheese pie in Scotland because, well, I had to really. It was divine.

my one exception to starch on starch violations are potato pierogi.

― housedress? maxidress! (La Lechera), Wednesday, April 13, 2011 1:27 PM

samosas? knishes??

xpost At the annual Goose Fair in Nottingham - a centuries old tradition that is Europe's largest fun fair - there is stall after stall after stall selling mushy peas, each boasting that theirs are more mushy and more authentic than anyone else's. It must be the world's greatest concentration of mushy peas.

oh god good knishes are the best

I would go to that fair.

oh E i miss scallops/scollops so much, they're a Midland thing and they don't do them round here, when somebody tries they fuck them up.

scallops, fried roe and peas with crusty buttered bread = taste of my nan's house when i was 10

and if you're in NY and want a good knish - this place is great: http://knishery.com/

NV - I only tried the scallop batch once so maybe I got a bad one? \o/

scallops can be greasy cos of the batter it's true. u wouldn't wanna live off them. well i might.

hahahaha

we're having chilli and brown rice for tea btw, we are not monsters.

http://www.cookipedia.co.uk/wiki/images/thumb/9/91/Macaroni_pies.jpg/300px-Macaroni_pies.jpg

I want one

Yeah I was just thinking that this thread makes it sound like all I eat is starch. I mean in my dream world that might be the case but I just had a salad (totally unsatisfying in light of this discussion) for lunch tho I'm not contemplating picking up some mushy peas on my way home.

And for those of you suffering from trypophobia...

http://assets.mydish.co.uk/interface/members/234798/200711718441431-878332-263318-208230.jpg

x-post meant "I'm NOW contemplating" not "not contemplating"

i've always said there's nothing that can't be improved by making it into a pie but i think we've found something

Wait I was doing pretty well with the terminology here until we got to faggot???????

one's diet could easily be misconstrued from this thread.

Should be retitled 'CHIPS VS FRIES' (BUT WE EAT VEGGIES TOO!)

x-post

they're meatballs - sort of

Hmmmm. I am going to have to look into this further.

http://artiewayne.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/faggots.jpg

I still can't even handle it.

I am speechless. . .

I know.

Roll and pie:

http://www.bitsofbobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/rollandpie.jpg

Really, we Scots are kings of redundant carbohydrates.

omg lol

wait

now THAT is obscene

a pie inside a roll?!

my god

is there a sandwich sandwich?

I mean, I have to admire the ballsiness of it but...man that is hysterical

But is it a potato pie?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2020/2189707962_758b35abde.jpg

Served with brown sauce.

Roll and pie

If you covered that in batter and deep fried it...

it's a rice pie

Btw, quincie and ENBB, faggot as derogatory term for a gay man is an Americanism though there is a prior use as a term of derision for old women.

I know, I know but when you grow up knowing the word in a certain context it's still pretty insane to see it used otherwise esp in things like "4 faggots in a rich country sauce".

First of all I thought it was going to be like a friend scallop
I just spent a few minutes finding your friend scallop and since I spent that time finding him, I figured I would post him too
http://i54.tinypic.com/2ag84gh.jpg

hahahahah <3

Authentic fat chips fried in beef tallow are available less than 200 metres from my house, but nothing beats perfect pommes frites dipped in aioli or mayo. I am spoiled.

For the poncey Jenga chips, I generally mix mayonnaise with either ketchup or sweet Thai chili sauce for dipping. Chip-shop chips get ketchup only.

I make mushy peas all the time because it's super-easy. Melted butter, cooked peas, a few mint leaves, salt, pepper. Maybe a few leaves of parsley if there's no mint in. Blend. This is also really good with ham, not just fish and chips.

Those aren't mushy peas - they're puréed peas.

Mushy peas must be made with dried marrowfat peas, not fresh peas.

For those who dream of mushy peas that have, by some miracle, been deep fried … the pea fritter!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/2945337564_ce3f573879.jpg

I was aware of "faggot" being used for a piece of firewood and (derogatorily) for a gay man, but not for a *meatball*.

!!!!!

Peas, in general, are one of my favorite foods. Sometimes I eat a bowl of reg ones just as a snack. Would try a pea fritter.

Quincie, a faggot isn't orginally a piece of firewood but a bundle of sticks. It is thought to derive from fasces, just like the word fascist.

Mushy peas are the worst, but then I hate peas with a vengence. Can only really enjoy them as mange tout, but otherwise I'd rather not.

While we're on the subject of starch-on-starch foods, I think the chip butty's poor cousin -the crisp sandwich- needs a shout out. Completely terrible but totally my number one guilty secret food.

http://www.thedailyspud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Crisp-sandwich.jpg

I've had pea fritters, they weren't all that

So ashamed btw.

And while we're on the firtters:

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0PDoX8L5qVN0S4AKcqjzbkF/SIG=14e356rfv/EXP=1302746763/**http%3a//1.bp.blogspot.com/_cxZklUorbes/TFMYwQ_CrsI/AAAAAAAAAP4/1O3vVP7SqE8/s1600/fried%2bzucchini%2bflower%2bopensource.jpg

Zucchini flower fritters

I used to work with a few people from Wigan (north west England and nationally famous for its pies) and alongside the pie and roll combo upthread ("pie barm") they would also insist upon the following whenever they visited a chip-shop:

"pey wet" - or "pea wet" ie. the watery liquor of mushy peas, usually slopped all over whatever else had been bought.
"babby's yead" - literally "baby's head", a steak pudding whose shape vaguely echoes one.

One of the things I love about England is that this lot lived about 15 miles away from me but I could barely understand them at times, such was the local dialect.

And yeah, CHIPS all the way.

Crisp sandwiches! Man, I love this thread. THat second roll and pie is the real deal, that abomination with the ashet pie is just all kinds of wrong. Scotch pie ftw.

what is scotch pie

A spiced mutton pie in a water crust pastry - much favoured half-time snack of football fans before they started having McDonald's and shit in stadiums.

Add me to the chorus of admiration for the roll and pie. Would also say that a point in favor of chips is being able to douse them in malt vinegar.

I've seen someone have a deep fried battered pizza (colloquially known as a pizza crunchy) on a roll.

There are also amazing spicy pea fritters... in Malta.

Clockwise from top-left: chips, yer other national drink, pizza crunchies
http://pugwash.cat5.org/articles/pizza/deep-fried-pizza-9.jpg

Just out of shot: hardened arteries.

oh my god

that looks amazing

how is everyone in Scotland not morbidly obese?!

british ppl and food again *shakes head lovingly*

We have our fair share of heavyweight and a terrible record for heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure & everything else you'd associate with that photo.

One of my favourite meals used to be spam fritters, Heinz spaghetti with cheese melted into it, and chips.

You guys really like tan/beige foods, huh?

and orange!

If you think about it, it's positively colourful compared to our grey country.

your country is bright green!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Faggots

re. faggots. when i was a kid there were commercials for that brand and it wasn't the word faggots that was weird about it (that americanism wasn't used much in the uk then), but the fact they were BRAINS faggots. check out the advert on youtube.

Brains Faggots

how is everyone in Scotland not morbidly obese?!

Scotland is second in the world for obesity.

xp Timothy Dalton (James Bond #whatever) on voiceover duty

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd...

Only America has a higher percentage of overweight adults

As Frankie Boyle said, just think what we'd be like if it wasn't for all the heroin.

xxp

Family of faggot fans fly the flag
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ah63153bXx0/TPcsKOI2m_I/AAAAAAAAEgU/eov5x8C_KY0/s1600/Faggot-Family.jpg

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hanging%20brain

i like to think of this discussion as a parallel of Tastiest of America's Most Fattiest Foods

most of these starch-on-starch concoctions are as mind-boggling for me as for the americans btw, we don't do like that in the south at all

apart from the faggots

starch-on-starch concoctions

They shouldn't boggle Americans as much as they do, in a country where we love our biscuits and gravy. The gravy is really just another biscuit in liquid form.

CHIPS
(are not steak cut fries or anything I have found in the US).

yeah otm. chips are a funny shape as apparently the vegetable you use to make them is all roundy.

knew someone would post a primanti's pic on this thread

The best chip butties need to be artfully arranged with bits of oven-cooked fishfinger and individual peas painstakingly placed in any gaps between chips, and an even layer of ketchup on sliced white Hovis. Preferably while watching Noel's House Party or some such shit.

In my mind chip butties and fish finger sandwiches are two separate things.

And the fish fingers have to be cooked under the grill. They dry out in the oven.

oh yeah, that's what I meant. When I was a kid Saturday tea was chippy chips and fishfingers & peas which I would combine into one almighty sandwich. Nowadays that would require way too much effort and I'd need my brother round to go round the chippy.

In my mind chip butties and fish finger sandwiches are two separate things.

patently.

my favorite are these
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfainkYGzg1qgvpo5o1_500.jpg

Those can be good but are prone to sticking together into a big mass and coming out underdone. (/fat connoiseur)

don't mind the sticking together but yeah I've had curly fries underdone a few times.

I love curly fries cause they've fun and you can make them go sproing!

I like to dip curly fires in a mix Louisiana Hot sauce(the brand) with ketchup.

Does England have an equivalent to Louisiana hot sauce?

idk but I feel like hot sauce is a pretty american thing

Yeah, I think curly fries are my fav type of fry.

we don't really have any home grown hot sauces, we have to import.

i like to mix ketchup with english mustard for a hot chip dip

waffle fries are kind of fun too tho

I like to mix greek yoghurt and harissa

can't find the button for waffle fries = poll is broken

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iYu-Q0jwPKM/TTr_jdqK2tI/AAAAAAAAAFc/3s_siJmUZCQ/s1600/ChickFilA_WaffleFries2.jpg

I'll take mine drenched in vinegar & sprinkled modestly w/ strong blue cheese plz

& plz make sure the salt shaker is FULL

hey i just went and checked the cupboard cos we've got this hot sauce from the Indian store which I assumed was from that neck of the woods but apparently it's from Louisana! It's called Crystal and it must be for export cos there's lots of Urdu-looking text on the label.

Good waffle fries are great.

Right? They have to be good ones though.

Man, I never realized I had so many opinions about fried potatoes.

see the sad thing is I realized I have

I've had Crystal. This one, right?

http://www.baumerfoods.org/images/crystal_label.gif

fried potatoes are a complex & important subject

hahaha

Yes well, it is pretty serious business.

I forgot about Waffle fries!!! I think the only place I ever have waffle fries is Chick-Fil-A.

then you have not had waffle fries, son

x-post We don't have those here but you don't really see waffle fries that often.

My dad had them in his restaurant for a while and they were so good because he used to season them perfectly.

Yeah Michael that's the one, the label on mine is a little different but obv the same product. It's alright, not a lot different to regular Tabasco tbh.

Encona, from Jamaica I think, is fantastic and fierce.

Point in the the right direction, anywhere in the south at least?

actually last time we went to Beverley there was a market stall selling home made pepper sauces and I meant to get some and forgot. will rectify.

i think if every chip i've eaten in my life was gathered together in a pile it would form a giant chips mountain.

― estela, Tuesday, September 7, 2010 9:29 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark

pubs & divey/greasy burger joints are your best bet for seeking out good waffle fries. dunno about the south, but this place in Ann Arbor, MI specializes in them (and does a very good job of it): http://www.ashleys.com/pubbites.html

xp to JS

waffle fries and curly fries often have some kind of weird breaded seasoning on them that makes them taste kind of yuk. imo.

Curly fries in texas are also called cajun fries and have spices on them. There are gas stations with grills in the corner that serve them and they are grease heaven.

Heinz spaghetti

?????

i'm convinced that waffle fries do not retain their heat long enough to enjoy them which is my main beef

They feel too "novelty" for me to give them any serious consideration

This is interesting. I was completely under the impression that "chips" was just the term for "fries" in the UK.

fries=cookies in the uk

fries = crumpets in Australia

I want a hamburger and some Frenchmens' Testicles.

NickB is very right, i voted chips for chip butty reasons.

otm - the chip butty is the highest expression of cuisine, all other food is ass compared to the mighty chip butty

once again aerosmith stands on the side of right.

i don't want to sound critical of posters i love and admire and enjoy but it's a venal sin in my book to describe the components or entireties of chip butties as 'carbs' or 'starch' or 'carbs on carbs' or 'starch on starch'. i also don't describe my loved ones as 'protein' or 'cells on cells'.

truth bomb

Nicely said!

SOGGY FRIES* FOREVER. Crispy ones are OK-ish, but soggy = perfection.

*not distinguishing between chips and fries or any other form of fried potato.

I usually refer to them as "floppy" rather than "soggy."

Heinz spaghetti

?????

― dayo, Thursday, 14 April 2011 01:11 (18 hours ago)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/231/509732304_3bf739eb62.jpg
Also, spaghetti hoops...
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Lifeandhealth/Pix/pictures/2006/10/26/9DavidLevene1.jpg
...which are best eaten threaded onto the tines of a fork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSq_Fhcckvo
^^^ can be cooked in the toaster </studentcookerytip>

The packaging says not to but I always do

(not sure why - because the frost around one might melt and short the toaster? this seems kind of improbable so maybe there is a better explanation)

Heinz whatever.

Franco American all the way!

http://popsop.ru/wp-content/uploads/dba_heinz_with_balls_preview.jpg

are u 4 yrs old

@ the spaghetti-o's post

It's entirely practical. They tend to fall off the fork otherwise.

Have you never heard of a spoon?

red hot faggot balls

I love the idea that there are definable levels of sophistication re. ways of eating spaghetti hoops.

As long as one never, never eats them with a knife.

http://www.farmway.co.uk/pet-1/wild-bird-7/wild-bird-food-20/superior-wild-bird-fat-5564-2689_zoom.jpg

can't really see any convincing argument as to why baked beans are OK for adults to eat and spaghetti hoops aren't, tbh

http://www.gardencentre.co.uk/images/large/3900.jpg

http://cx29.justhost.com/~ashwood4/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/50-fat-balls.jpg

why baked beans are OK for adults to eat and spaghetti hoops aren't

Both too sweet, actually

Shit, now I really want to go to a pet store and ask if they have fabulous fat balls.

Baked beans are fine, but spaghetti hoops are way too sweet. Also tinned ravioli, bleurgh.

I still haven't had that chip butty yet. Lunchtime tomorrow, definitely.

designed to attract a variety of wild birds

Mystery's secret revealed!

thing is, beans are beans. tinned spaghetti is a horrible version of real pasta tho. tinned ravioli used to be a guilty pleasure if I was giving the kids some tho.

i really wish there was a jpeg of the original "Fat Balls for Wild Birds" that Mrs V and Joel found in a pet shop.

Have you never heard of a spoon?

― Periblepsis occasioned by homoeoteleuton (Michael White),

How am I going to eat spaghetti hoops on toast with a knife and spoon?

I'll eat cannelini from a can but baked beans, eugh. I don't know but I do suspect that the sauce on your canned ravioli is probably too sweet like it always is here in the States. Overly sweet tomato sauce covered in gross Kraft parmesan always made me want to hurl as a child.

But UK baked beans are different from US baked beans. They're in a tomato sauce for starters and aren't sweet like ours.

this whole conversation is making me want to hurl
adults eat spaghettios?

How am I going to eat spaghetti hoops on toast with a knife and spoon?

― grill 'em bake 'em fry 'em beat 'em 'n' eat 'em (snoball), Thursday, April 14, 2011 4:03 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Oh man snoball you have no idea how ridiculous this sounds to someone unfamiliar with the practice. The first time I saw RS do this I was like "REally? You're going to put Spaghetti Os on toast and eat it with cutlery? But . . . but . . .WAHT?!

How am I going to eat spaghetti hoops on toast with a knife and spoon?

I don't see how it would be any harder than with a fork. Though, if it has to be a fork, I'd just cut up my toast into bite-sized morsels rather than trying to thread spaghetti-os onto the tines of my fork.

what sauce are US baked beans in then? iirc haricot beans were orig served in some kind of sweet treacly sauce by Victorian Britishes

I love spaghettios but eat them like twice a year. That said, they were my go to in college even more so than ramen. Also, I like them cold.

It's not like I'm eating alphabetti-spaghetti.

Or cut my toast into lovely toast points and dip them in the spaghetti-os. I'm sure that's how Emily Post did it.

I mean, credit me with some class, people...

In the United States, Boston baked beans use a sauce made from pork and molasses, and are so popular the city has been nicknamed "Beantown."

do not hate on alphagetti ;_;

Your username is making me crave potato waffles now :-(

xposts

^^ should have been in quotes

you can get vegetarian ones but they're still sweetened with molasses (or prob corn syrup now) and they're gross

heinz beans are much much better

also not to gross out the thread entirely but there's a nightmarish episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike visits a couple who makes 'fat ball'-like bird foot (rendered fat, maggots, insects)
Soooooooooooooooooooooooo gross.
DNW Fat Balls.

bird foot = bird food

GISing 'dirty jobs fat balls' is not a good idea, btw.

I have baked beans with b'fast in Engaland and I wasn't much of a fan.

En-ger-land

Actually, there was a time when it was called Englaland

now I want a jacket with cheesy beans for dinner

fuck this thread

:(

I have been trying to work out if Heinz made Spaghetti Hoops sauce 100x sweeter around ten years ago or if that was just the magical sudden onset of adulthood

sorry that might have been too harsh

it's just making hungry and wishing that stuffed baked potatoes were a thing you could get as commonly here as over there

also the couple who made the fat balls reminded me of the Will Ferrell hot tub guy and his wife from SNL.

I need to go back to think about butties and heinz spaghetti

apropos of not exactly anything, toasted heinz spaghetti sandwiches with cheese are AMAZING (also like mouth napalm when hot)

stuffed baked potatoes are a thing that I miss v much

apropos of not exactly anything, toasted heinz spaghetti sandwiches with cheese are AMAZING (also like mouth napalm when hot)

Baked bean and cheese toasties are the best toasted sandwiches ever, bar none.

Right? As a vegetarian they were awesome and something I knew I could rely on when eating out. That said, eating out as a veg was almost easier in the UK. More options across the board and most of the menus were labeled. You wouldn't think that it would be but it really was.

x-post

whenever they had a flea-market type thing growing up, there would be the man with his mobile oven cooking baked potatoes as big as ostrich eggs, stuffed with fresh coleslaw, cheese, lemon pepper, sour cream, the whole thing, even meat sauce if you were that way inclined

best lunch EVER

;_;

Boston's love of baked beans with molasses is a double edged spoon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

I've read about that. What a way to die!

There's a big deli chain down here, McAlister's, that has a lot of stuffed baked potatoes on their menu. They use huge potatoes, too, two-pounders generally.

Where you at? I'm coming to visit, k?

Yeah the molasses disaster thing is nuts.

(runs to car) where you at WmC????

i voted for fries assuming that "chips" = potato chips, because duh. should have known they would be britishes chips.

so uk chips = potato wedges???

The event has entered local folklore, and residents claim that on hot summer days, the area still smells of molasses.

Nobody says this. Just fyi.

xpost more like steak fries but not exactly

VegGrrrl, it's McAlister's Deli -- they started near here in Oxford, MS, and have gotten huge since they started franchising in the mid 90s.

Oh so she's invited but I'm not. Thanks a lot! ;p

no I'm coming to pick you up E! We are carpooling to McAllisters for some serious baked potato lovin'

;p

Sorry Erica, spuds for you too! Missed your post. Their locations page is surprising; I didn't realize they'd spread out to so many states. I used to eat there when they were nervous about opening their 4th and 5th locations.

deadly serious, E!

I'll be there in...hmm...okay this could take some time

SPUD MAX™ • 7.29
Ham, turkey, bacon, cheddar-jack cheese,
green onions and black olives with sour
cream on the side.

SPUD OLÉ™ • 6.29
Covered with chili (or veggie chili), cheddar-jack cheese and
sliced jalapeños.

THE BIG NASTY® SPUD • 6.99
Roast beef smothered in gravy and topped with cheddar-jack cheese.

VEGGIE SPUD • 5.49
Red onions, bell peppers, diced tomatoes, black olives and mozzarella.

BACON SPUD • 6.49
Loaded with bacon and cheddar-jack
cheese.

GRILLED CHICKEN SPUD • 6.89
Sliced grilled chicken, mozzarella, diced tomatoes and green onions.

CHEESE SPUD • 5.99
Loaded with melted cheddar-jack cheese.

JUSTASPUD® • 4.99
Served with a side of sour cream.

Add Gravy, Ro-Tel® cheese sauce, Chili or Veggie Chili • 1.00 each

Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing • .50 each

Ro-Tel Cheese Sauce!!!!! <3

I usually have the Olé and make time in my schedule for a brief coma.

Oh. God.

PS: Bacon cheddar and scallions plsplsplsplsthx

Have to make sure to get that vegetable in there.

I think I'd be down with the Ole, with extra Rotel Cheese sauce because omg I really want to try that

or just a spud with rotel cheese sauce: potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, chilis. All the food groups!

Roast beef in a baked potato? The big nasty is more English than the English really are! Bit like a snail omlette for the French!

I voted chips. I think fries are a bit posh. I only ever have them in trendy restaurants who don't want to sell the common chip. It's all about the way you cut them right?

Your username is making me crave potato waffles now :-(

xposts

― ailsa, Thursday, 14 April 2011 21:10 (Yesterday)

That ad I posted upthread gives me the nearest thing to a Pavlovian reaction, especially the longer version that lists a whole load of food that can be put on the waffles, especially the scrambled eggs

I had no idea that loaded baked potatoes were an uncommon thing in the States! I guess the McAlisters influence is pretty strong in this area. We make them at home fairly often -- a steamed/chopped broccoli crown + rotel cheese dip is a good combo.

What, you can get baked potatoes at Wendy's!

I don't think they're exceedingly rare or anything but I don't see them that often whereas in the UK you can get them at nearly every pub and they're just way way more common.

OK yeah you can get them at Wendy's but I haven't been inside a Wendy's since forever.

Probably like, IHOP, Applebee's, places like that...maybe TGI Fridays. I dunno. I don't eat at those places either, but I think there are hellof ton of options for stuffed baker acquisition stateside.

I don't know about IHOP but def not at the other two.

http://www.applebees.com/Menu_Extras.aspx

"top off your baked or mashed potatoes", Erica. hmmmmm?

I haven't had a baked potato in forever though. Totally gonna do this.

x-post - ok but that's a side dish and not a meal where it comes with salad or something. I'm not saying you can't get them anywhere but it's just done differently! WTH does top off mean anyway.

It means when your baked potato starts getting cold, they throw a warm baked potato on top of it.

Baked-potato bowl full of bacon-cheese-potato soup is going to be the next big thing.

I used to call them fries until I realized that they're best paired with fried sea food of some sort, as it should be. I particularly like crinkle style chips with my fried surf and turf.

Actually i've been meaning to ask if baked potatoes are a regular thing in the US. Couple of lunchtimes I've been downtown in SF and craving a spud with chilli or coleslaw or something and can't think of anywhere I'd get one. In the UK most of the sandwich shops near my office would do (usually MASSIVE) baked potatoes as well as sandwiches, super cheap too.

The idea of a cold salad like coleslaw piled into a hot baked potato grosses me out.

Baked potatoes in the US, when they're at Applebees and places like that are usually twice-baked and full of all kinds of crazy glop that I don't care for.

I'm more for the coleslaw, sour cream cheese kind of single-baked potato that I used to have in Australia

anyway I love that this thread has turned into I Heart Potato

I've never liked the 'jacket potato' - which is what a topped potato entree is called here. There are lots of microwaved and weirdly steamed potatoes out there waiting to annoy and I never fail to be grossed out by the VERY IDEA of tuna salad and sweetcorn on top of one of these horrible things. I am fond of telling British friends that the jacket potato is not a meal, it's an accompaniment for steak.

Oh it's totally weird at first and I was pretty much aghast at the idea of tuna/sweetcorn* thing as a topping until I tried it. They are definitely meals if you don't eat steak.

*Also the idea of this was so weird to me in general. I mean tuna salad with corn in it - waht?! I got over it eventually.

Tuna from a can is the only food 100 percent liable to make me vom, so to add corn and have it actually look like stunt puke...

But I digress.

suzy, even Italian tuna in olive oil?

http://static.flickr.com/63/165791249_f09d91ee88_o.jpg

The idea of a cold salad like coleslaw piled into a hot baked potato grosses me out.

We put it on hot dogs, and its a pretty delicious combo.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Montreal_steamie_hotdog.jpg/220px-Montreal_steamie_hotdog.jpg

Of course our coleslaw is not the creamy variety, that would be gross.

Yeah the coleslaw that went into Aus baked potatoes back home was like thinly shredded cabbage of diff colors, onions, celery and sort of lightly dressed but not at all gloppy or sweet really, more vinegary

That's less gross (and I love vinaigrette-y noncreamy slaws), but I still can't get down with a cold salad in a hot potato.

y do u hate fun

:D

I am still coming for your baked potatoes anyway WmC

:: consults urbandictionary ::

whatever you think it means, that's what I'm coming for

(grin)

wait that got creepy

Nah, creepyness is abolished on Friday afternoons. If you ever visit this part of the country I will take you to McAlisters and the spuds will blow your mind!

that is a euphemism I care for greatly

I guess the coast is clear for me to post something I was gonna post earlier and then didn't:

Anybody else find that potatoes are an aphrodisiac? Bros? What's up.

No.

Well, you should!

o_O

It gets google results. I can't be totally off-base here.

...

I kept that shit to myself til you started talking euphemisms, just sayin.

Never heard of such a thing.

tater boners?

Damn, I'm sorry y'all.

I've heard of such a thing but I can't say they do a lot for me.

http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n12/n61758.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/be/Sex_Lives_of_the_Potato_Men_DVD_cover.jpg/220px-Sex_Lives_of_the_Potato_Men_DVD_cover.jpg

Apparently some people think the alkaloid toxin solanine found in potatoes is an aphrodisiac.

Interestingly, one good way to remove solanine from potatoes is to fry them.

Baked Potatoes are every where in the south. My favorite are ones topped with Chopped BBQ and lots of cheese. In Oklahoma there were bake potato drive throughs.

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/ypzhang/potato-car.jpg

holy...what else did they serve at the baked potato drive through? besidees bakers? did the[ have side dishes to your baker main course or were the bakers acknowledged as like, a destination sidedish and they also served burgers or barbeque or something?

potato handjobs

/jokes

sorry kkvgz

:)

I was gonna say something about "you couldn't give drive-through handies" but then I realized yeah, you probably could.

It was just baked potatoes!! I thought is was weird, but I tried one once and spilled brisket all over my new white v neck T. It's not the most practical idea, driving and trying to eat a huge baked potato packed with bbq sauce and brisket.

hang on, you're not meant to eat any drive-thru food while actually driving...

No?

I would bet fifty dollars that the majority of people who buy drive thru eat it while driving.

http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1029326_eating-or-drinking-while-driving-is-as-dangerous-as-using-a-cellphone

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-07-19/local/17928504_1_drink-and-drive-drivers-study

most drive thru food taste like soggy crap if you wait to eat it until you are home. Usually I would park and eat in my truck, but the smell of the brisket was too tempting.

Baked potatoes definitely a knife and fork kinda food, no way you could eat it while driving...I applaud you for trying though

idk i wouldn't be so keen to applaud what sounds like reckless driving :/

Please do not applaud while driving.

Ha! I was driving very slow on a side street, but I have up since most of the brisket was on my shirt. I'm a very cautious driving though. Promise

let's be careful out there

From just a personal anecdotal perspective, eating and driving is less dangerous than using a cellphone & driving, which itself is leagues less dangerous than drinking and driving.

But that's neither chips nor fries.

eating chips better than eating fries, cannot eat chips while driving bc omg too goooooood

I disagree. With a cell phone, even cell-phone in hand, you can still, if you're not a total idiot, check your mirrors and watch teh road. When you're eating, at some point, your gaze is distracted from the road and your mirrors to your food.

and watch teh road.

using a cellphone while ILX-ing though, not such a good idea

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ha, looks like fries have had their chips

WOOOO CHIPS! IN YR FACE

wow

What a sad, soggy ending.

If chips are soggy yr doin em rong.

doin em wit gravy baw chikka baw baw

look fries lovers I hope every day's a sunny day in your lives and wherever you go you get served delicious fries that rule and you enjoy them. but this is justice right here. chips just beat the stuffing out of fries every day. chips are the damn truth and that's the truth.

doin em wit gravy baw chikka baw baw

this post ruled in every way btw

your fries have stuffing? have I been doing something wrong

xpost thank you, thank you :D

No, no. Y'all have fun with your little chippies. I'll be over here if you need me.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-z_Sit7PusM/S7_uwO8Y7RI/AAAAAAAACJs/UaN0XE_P0ic/s1600/Curly-Fries-743657.JPG

noted.

which ones would the nutritional nazis despise least.

sweet potato fries

kkvgz keep those curly fries where we can see them, I know all abt ur depravities w potatoes

My potatoes have a distinct curvature.

Alright, I'm out. Ugh.

lol

sweet potato fries

― dayo, Sunday, April 17, 2011 9:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

seconding this (but w/ qualifiers!) - they have to be just the right texture of crispy. Soggy yam fries are not acceptable!

When I move back to the UK it will be in large part due to this thread and the top pic of CHIPS

Had fish + chips + curry sauce for my tea last night. It was epic.

i can't love this curry sauce on your fish and chips business.

I don't even

That makes me v sad

The curry sauce I mean

i think i can speak for the entire southern hemisphere when i say we've never heard the likes.

I find it kind of terrifying tbqh

I understand the practise hasn't quite reached the antipodes yet, but believe me the sauce brings a whole new set of taste sensations. Why does gravy + chips not produce the same negative nancy response?

Chips are great, but the wonderful variety of french fries that exists in America just effortlessly destroys chips in comparison. There are dozens of varieties of fries, which encompasses chips, so chips alone simply cannot compete. I declare these poll results null and void.

xxpost bc gravy is the breath of god that's why

hazel u mad

null and void.

it was probably kfc that broke the chips/ gravy barrier for these parts a long time ago, but i dont even really know what exactly is meant by curry sauce-- it made me think of curried eggs which was a lenten abomination dinner in my childhood (halved boiled eggs cooked in white sauce with curry powder added to it). but i believe i shouldn't be rude to anyone on the chips team so i apologise.

xp to NotEnough

I assume "curry sauce" is something akin to the sauce in a curry such as a butter chicken or a masala type curry - a tomatoey, curry thing.

Or ok ew, maybe estela was closer to the mark

http://www.wiredesign.com/files/417.img.jpg?20110209112855

Curry sauce on chips is something I associate with South London, but as far as food for drunks goes, they are lovely.

how are you supposed to eat those in the car on the way home at 2:30am? you would crash, and not just because you are drunk.

i think you're supposed to eat them in a doorway.

optional ashtray contents

Chip shop curry sauce is (I assume) the curry sauce that is in take-away chinese curries. Not tomatoey at all, but exactly what IS in there I'm not sure. It's meant to be smooth too; I've had curry sauce with bits in, and the texture is not nice at all. The curry sauce gives the chips a bottom-end that wouldn't be there otherwise.

That photo doesn't make it look great tho, not helped by the poor lighting, the sorry-looking chips and the take-away utensils stuck in the top like a flag on the moon.

props to britisher chip lovers...you dudes are hardcore

chips have consistently been the plain but good-hearted girls of this contest.

slutty fries pshaw

fries are more short on brains but a terrific dancer.

Fries can walk in heels but has never read The Hobbit

i think you're supposed to eat them in a doorway.

― estela, Monday, 18 April 2011 17:12 (1 hour ago)

http://twitpic.com/show/thumb/2lyd8k.jpg

chip shop curry sauce is great but tends to have distinct bits of peas and onions and whatever else round here. wouldn't do it on fish tho. ditto gravy - altho mrs v is partial to fish chips and gravy cos she weird. curry sauce + vinegar + chips + breadcake for dipping is mint tho.

If we're talking about curry sauce, then can I just say JELLIED EELS!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Eels_1385.JPG/220px-Eels_1385.JPG
(are gross)

What

The fuck

It's eels, stewed in a sauce and left to cool so that the sauce solidifies into a jelly.

ohhhhhh no

Never tried jellied eels. I expect them to be all salt and no flavour - true?

MOVING RIGHT ALONG much like the contents of my stomach right now.

Curry sauce for chips is A LOT like the sauce for Japanese katsu curry. I don't think I've ever had any that contained readily identifiable vegetable matter apart from perhaps a bit of onion.

oooh it's like katsu sauce? Okay that sounds like it would be good then
I don't understand it on fish and chips though

think i've been seriously remiss in not riding the curry + chips bandwagon. also, i haven't even eaten a single chip since i started this poll, wtf.

do people in the uk have the "three in one" in bad chinese takeaways? i never see it here but it's basically fried rice, chips, and curry sauce. it is one of the most amazing drunk foods ever, just so fucking stodgy.

if i saw curry sauce offered in a chinese takeaway i would be raising an eyebrow.

what? all chinese takeaways do curry sauce. all chinese takeaways ever do curry sauce.

*raises an eyebrow*

Chip shop or Chinese takeaway "curry sauce" is a bright yellow sludge which is flavoured with curry powder and nothing like anything you can get in an Indian restaurant. Similar to Currywurst sauce in Germany, if that helps any non-Britishers.

Our Chinese out in the provinces definitely does it, either as a "curry dish" or a tub on its own, and the chip shop will serve it with chips, but I don't think either will do it with chips and rice. Not as one item, anyway.

A takeaway box with half rice, half chips is a typical Chinese takeaway thing in Northern Ireland (where it's called a "half and half", and yes, you can have curry sauce on it) but I've never seen it here in the south of England. Someone told me they do it up north though.

what? all chinese takeaways do curry sauce. all chinese takeaways ever do curry sauce.

― Will.Have.Known (Local Garda), Monday, April 18, 2011 5:10 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark

poll!

IME Ronan otm. Chinese place curry sauce is awesome btw and is sort of similar to Katsu VG.

VG, re. this snack the curry sauce is never, ever served with fish and chips. Just with chips.

Curry sauce is always on the back page of the British Chinese menu with other 'extra' condiments like pancakes and additional tubs of sweet and sour sauce. It is also where you find the short list of English dishes for the food-insular. Plus the chips, which everyone eats. Without disparaging The Provinces or The Suburbs, the Chinese takeaway I associate with this menu is inevitably strip-lit and linoleum-floored and features foul versions of Cantonese food trends form the 1960s.

BTW an Irish coworker of mine in NYC in the '80s said that the Chinese takeaways in Dublin - the worst Chinese food she had ever eaten - found a way to include cabbage, carrots, peas and potatoes in ALL the dishes, regardless of aptness for the dish in question.

i will swear that there is no Chinese takeaway in the entire UK that doesn't do curry and chips. Chinese takeaway chips are usually pretty excellent as well, I assume because they have hotter fat than many regular chippies.

i will investigate my local.

yeah exactly...aren't you uk ledge? to me questioning there being curry sauce in a chinese takeaway is like doubting that they serve rice.

xxp my favourite local chippy is a place that's owned and run by a Chinese family.

curry sauce is never, ever served with fish and chips. Just with chips.

Had fish + chips + curry sauce for my tea last night. It was epic.

http://fuckyeahnouns.com/images/curry+and+chips

yeah exactly...aren't you uk ledge?

yeah but i think my eyes naturally avoid any part of a takeaway menu that doesn't deal in the actual ethnic cuisine of that specific establishment.

Perhaps the Chinese food you eat comes from higher-standard places without the 'English menu', like most places where I order takeaways. I have never ordered chips and curry sauce for delivery because the sauce would clag by the time it was delivered - it's definitely a drunken takeaway 'impulse buy'.

i never order delivery as i can't find any that's any good...

Oh katsu curry sauce of course. that makes a lot of sense. I actually think it'd be quite edible despite my earlier ew comment tbh. I like that generic Keens powder inna tub stuff when you make curried saussies with it. Oldstyle Aussie 70s comfort dinner innit.

Chinese takeaways here are quite their own thing. Standards are fried rice, sweet n sour pork, beef n black bean, mixed veg/tofu. All sitting soggily in bain maries. You'd never get chips or whatnot tho, those belong in burger/fish n chip takeaways.

my drunk food used to be fish+peas+curry sauce. I'm not sure how it started, but it was yummy.

steak sized chips are decent when cooked right. But love fries for the fact i can ram half a dozen in my mouth at a time.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=well+street+hackney&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=45.418852,71.191406&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Well+St,+Hackney,+Greater+London,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.544507,-0.046649&spn=0.008754,0.017381&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.544591,-0.046589&panoid=l10AkZraPg3Wsx5WmG_WkQ&cbp=12,87.77,,1,5.74

is that one good?

Chinese takeaways here are quite their own thing. Standards are fried rice, sweet n sour pork, beef n black bean, mixed veg/tofu. All sitting soggily in bain maries.

plz foreigners don't listen to the filthy lies being spread across ilx by mongxicans today

Ha! I speak purely of shitty chinee takeaways, I know there's better stuff around!

chinee takeaways

That be racist.daguerrotype

xp Ronan, I think Gourmet San delivers and it's one of the best Chinese restaurants in all London. IT IS EVEN ON BETHNAL GREEN ROAD. You may not have ventured there because it is Szechuan and hellaciously spicy, but you could have an amazing not-too-overspiced dinner from there by ordering half a dozen lamb skewers, rice and chilli green beans.

i actually am mad keen to check out gourmet san....just for whatev reason have never done so, i've never booked and it's always busy. i think i knew they delivered as my flatmate had a menu lying around, then i seem to have completely forgotten this.

is that one good?

the link wasn't a recommendation, let's put it that way. check out those houseplants in the window. the inside is the grimmest thing you've ever seen, like stepping into communist poland. there's one counter and five plastic chairs against the wall. two or three sullen people sit in them, clutching carrier bags. they may have been there for years. everything is indescribably dingy. a television can be heard faintly from the back. one of the fluourescent lights has gone out.

Yeah, Tracer, I can't imagine you frequenting that establishment.

The key to getting a table at Gourmet San via the walk-up method is to go at 7pm.

check out those houseplants in the window. the inside is the grimmest thing you've ever seen, like stepping into communist poland. there's one counter and five plastic chairs against the wall. two or three sullen people sit in them, clutching carrier bags. they may have been there for years. everything is indescribably dingy. a television can be heard faintly from the back. one of the fluourescent lights has gone out.

in every small-town Chinese takeaway ever thread coming up

must give that a go. i do have a soft spot for noodle king just a few doors up, not in any way going to challenge gourmet san for authenticity, but when i've been broke or jobless it is unbelievably cheap, 3.50 or so for a gigantic plate of rice or noodles.

x-post the chinese on globe road is the worst i've ever been to.

Noodle King is OK for what it is, but I made an ordering error there once by going off the noodles/rice grid for some seriously knuckly and flavourless 'hot and spicy' spare ribs.

'Houseplants' must be plastic to qualify for pride of place in such takeaways, which are not GANGSTA unless there is plexiglass between you and your server.

the singapore fried rice is the best thing in noodle king probably. the ribs do vary...they can be good but i know what you mean, gaping jaws of fat, shudder.

Speaking of authenticity and Chinese restaurants, even out here in the wilderness of Not London there are restaurants who put all the trad Anglo-Chinese takeaway fare at the front and then the main section of the menu trumpets its ~authenticity~

I have no idea how authentic these menus really are but there is usually some pretty interesting stuff in them

but if you order a chicken/duck dish from the "authentic" section, it's usually been diced with a cleaver while on the bone, leaving chunks and shards of bone in most of the slices, which are pretty hard to identify through the marinade and almost impossible to remove from the meat with chopsticks. So my question is, what is the proper way to eat these? Is there a nicer way than repeatedly picking bits of bone out of your mouth?

But back to fried potatoes, the best kind are called beach fries and you douse them in malt vinegar and they look like this http://blog.streaminggourmet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/P1000133.jpg.

they look great.

yeah they look similar to the ones i had at Coney island

but if you order a chicken/duck dish from the "authentic" section, it's usually been diced with a cleaver while on the bone, leaving chunks and shards of bone in most of the slices, which are pretty hard to identify through the marinade and almost impossible to remove from the meat with chopsticks. So my question is, what is the proper way to eat these? Is there a nicer way than repeatedly picking bits of bone out of your mouth?

― dimension hatris (a passing spacecadet), Monday, April 18, 2011 8:31 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

put the whole chunk in your mouth and spit the bones out on the table as you go (honest to god)

Chinese takeaway chips are usually pretty excellent as well

cosign - my local Chinese takeaway does Salt&Pepper chips which are srsly good; seasoned to within an inch of their thick cut lives and covered in chopped red chilis.

Thanks dayo! Think I'll give the spitting a miss, but at least I know I'm not missing a trick.

those beach fries look mighty good, with a little cajun seasoning.