Karen, that Oceanic Gem, thought I meant to say "French" fries. Definitely not. I do like French fries, especially with a good steak, but what I wanted yesterday were not French fries. No, I wanted good, old-fashioned British fish-and-chips (without the fish) and smothered in salt and vinegar.
So, to bridge the cultural divide, please pay close attention. Below, you can see French fries...
...and now, these are "fat" fries, or "chips" as we Brits call them...
As I said, ditch the fish... but I just couldn't find a good picture without the fish accompaniment!And while I'm on the subject of food and all things American, Happy Thanksgiving to y'all !
UPDATE: No, no, no... the chips below are definitely NOT the same as the fries above. The chips below are squishy and soft, and fluffy on the inside, almost to the point of being "soggy"! Fries, on the other hand, are crispy, crunchy (and hopefully slightly fluffy on the inside!)
They look the same to me. And as for taste--outside of vinegar (ewww) most fries at our restaurants taste like yours. So I think they're the same.
ReplyDeleteThanks, it was a nice day. The weather was brisk and chilly. As it should be. We'd even had some rain and around here that's a good thing. (Those fries WILL still make you fat!!! ;-D (actually, McD's doesn't have many good things on the menu. But their french fries are really good.
ReplyDeleteCan I have that fish you are tossing out? be liberal with the salt and vinegar. I thin that was about the first anglophile tendency I picked up. I got it from H.Salt Fish and Chips when they were here. It took "forever" for the vinegar flavor "chrisps" to show up, but they finally did. Now about that lemon lucozade!!! [Were the hell is it? I saw an Orangina the otehr day and almsot fainted.[
Ok - those just look like French fries to me - just not as perfectly cut as the McDonalds monstrosities (otherwise known as cardboard) That's the way a French Fry (chip) ought to look!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love fish and "chips" with malt vinegar - lots and lots of vinegar!
The "chips" you are describing are more like what we might call "steak fries" - bigger and thicker. But really, colloquially, at least in every part of the U.S. I've been, they'd pass as "fries" or "French fries" no matter what... :-)
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite Britishism is the term "fizzy drinks". I don't know why it never occurred to us to call them that - it's the perfect moniker! Bother with "soda" and "pop"... :-)
Kasia, "pop" is said by people in "flyover country" "and "soda" by everyone else...except those jerks in New England who call it "tonic." [Then there's the poor southerners, who seem to call everything a "coke" regardless of if it actually is or not, but then "everybody" knows they're just hicks from the sticks, and probably just ran out of moonshine so are reduced to drinking "coke."
ReplyDeleteIt's our own way of having a shorthand way of knowing whom to despise. [And they say the Brits are class and speech concious....]
And fries aren't supposed to be soggy unless they are drowning in vinegar, then it's okay.
Mac, do the fries fry in the same stuff as the fish at the same time in the same basket?
No, Karen, different sections of the deep fat fryer...!
ReplyDeleteMac, you can't explain the subtle and delicate flavours one is subjected to when tucking into English CHIPS hot, doused thoroughly in Sarson's malt vinegar, sprinkled liberally with salt and served in newspaper!!!! American's will never understand the difference between their 'Fries' and our superior 'Chips' until they come over and visit some of London's fish'n'chip shops or sample chips in any of our seaside resorts.
ReplyDeleteNow English chips is chips with a capital C!
Add a good chunk of fresh battered deep fried cod and I'm in heaven!!! (of the earthly culinary kind of course!)MMMMMMmmmmmmmm - see you, I'm off to Jimmy's Plaice!
PS - I do love the 'Crab House' in the States though - fantastic seafood!