Topic: Ex-pat trying to recreate some Great 'British' food

[Curry Hotter]

Hi all,

I've been a member of this site a few months now and have browsed a few months more. I'm an ex-pat trying to recreate some Great 'British' food that I love and miss.

Favourites I've already worked on are Italian style thin crust pizza, pub / Pukka steak and ale pie, original recipe pressure fried chicken and I'm currently working on curry! Not sure I'll ever master all the Indian food I'd like to but the next food to try will be fish and chips.

Thanks for all the great recipes and tips.

Curry Hotter

[Stephen Lindsay]

Hi Curry Hotter, I'm sure some members will be very interested in your non-curry experiments. Recipes to follow?

[chewytikka]

Welcome hotter
Just keep reading, good info for BIR on here.

As for UK FISH & CHIPS, the secret is fresh ingredients and great batter.

But the obvious problem for all expats trying to do BIR, is theres nothing to compere their efforts to,
just usually a vague memory of what they ate when they were here in the UK.

If your starved from the comfort of a favourite UK curry, whatever you make
with recipes and methods from here are going to taste fantastic. ;D

Curry On
ChewyTikka

[Ghoulie]

Harry Ramsdens chip 'secret' I believe is in the fat used for 'frying' - reputed to be Beef Dripping.

Quite a few years ago in the Salford Harry Ramsdens when it was by the Manchester Ship Canal, they had a small internal 'shop' and they sold their own branded Beef Dripping.  My mate who  is more of a foodie than me bought some & used it to good effect.

When he went back there a few months later to eat in  & buy some more HR Beef Dripping - it wasn't in the 'shop' and more intriguingly they claimed never to have sold it or heard of it !  Methinks it was a corporate ploy to hide the 'trade secret' to the taste of their chips which they had unwittingly let go for a period and then sought to play down / hide.

If you are ever in the  Blackpool area - on the outskirts is a brilliant chippy called the Cottage - a lot of the stars / VIPs use it.  Try it - you won't be disappointed.

I notice darn sarf where my daughters live, the takeaway chippies provide the fish separately in a box - gets away from the soggy battered fish effect so often encountered.

[madpower]

I asked my neighbour who works in a chippy what fat do they use,she said vegetable that comes in big blocks like lard,she had a word with the owner and he let me buy a box of him for a tenner but they tasted the same as when i use veg oil,so i asked my neighbour the secret she said,if i had a fryer as big as theres and used as much fat as they do,cooked as many chips together as they do,on the same temperature as they do then anyone could make chippy chips,there chips are so good i go there often and checked they are ok for a veggie because i take some home for one so you can forget the beef fat idea.

[Curry Hotter]

Hi Curry Hotter, I'm sure some members will be very interested in your non-curry experiments. Recipes to follow?

Sure Stephen. I'd have to type up some of the techniques and there's probably more eloquently worded recipes already online, but the pizza is ridiculously simple once you get the hang of it and the fried chicken breading tastes so good it actually made vegan Seitan taste great!

I'm currently doing a vegan / juice detox, so maybe I should start with the recipe for the vegan sugar free, wheat free pancakes I made. They sound like something a hemp wearing hippy might eat but tasted like something a polyester wearing yuppie eat.

[Curry Hotter]

Welcome hotter
Just keep reading, good info for BIR on here.

As for UK FISH & CHIPS, the secret is fresh ingredients and great batter.

But the obvious problem for all expats trying to do BIR, is theres nothing to compere their efforts to,
just usually a vague memory of what they ate when they were here in the UK.

If your starved from the comfort of a favourite UK curry, whatever you make
with recipes and methods from here are going to taste fantastic. ;D

Thanks for the welcome! I actually just followed your Tarka Dal recipe. Used green lentils. Result was fantastic.

It's funny you talk about trying to cook to a memory of BIR as the last time I came back to Britain I visited an Indian restaurant I'd been to many times before and a newly built KFC to try to determine what other flavours / spices were missing from my cooking and was un / pleasantly surprised to find my efforts had already surpassed what they were offering! Not sure if I'm competing with an unattainable nostalgic memory or food has gone downhill in the UK. Whatever, I know I still want to make improvements to my BIR.

I remember reading that one of the secrets of cooking chip shop style chips was how quick the oil can return to temperature after adding the chips. Haven't tried for a while but recall that most the batter recipes I tried to follow were nice tasting but too fancy. I want just a simple batter like they'd use at the local chip shop.

I've recently been following Julian Voigt's curry book but it costs a lot to import the Rajah Mild Madras curry powder he recommends. I've got the ingredients list but no idea of quantities. Any recommendations for curry powders I can make myself?

Thanks again,
Curry Hotter

[Curry Hotter]

Hi Curry Hotter, I'm sure some members will be very interested in your non-curry experiments. Recipes to follow?

I've just found that the original recipe for KFC that I use has already been posted here:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,3447.msg81088.html#msg81088

Actually it looks like a whole load of great non-curry recipes are in other boards on this site, I just need to do some digging, or know what to search for.

I pressure fry my chicken so perhaps I could post a review of the pressure fryer (not pressure cooker) I use.