BS: Fish Fingers

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 11:01 AM

This has reminded me of one of my favourite meals: minced beef and onion with chips! Lots of lovely gravy. Carrots and peas on the side. My turn to cook on Saturday so I'll be off to the butcher's to get some minced steak tomorrow.

Those scallops sound delicious, gnu, hope you didn't overdo it!

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 11:12 AM

I'm with you, Pete. The hard part is the gravy. Finding good commercial gravy is hard. (Never have found any.) St Hubert BBQ used to have some, but they have gone very commercial and I think the recipe is different.
By chips I take it you mean french fries?

When I don't have good gravy I tend toward HP Sauce instead. Sounds like a great meal.

#################

The key to good scallops (or cod cheeks for that matter) is not to overcook them.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 12:39 PM

Onion gravy. Fry onions till they are transparent, and start to go brown at the edges. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoonful of plain flour over them, then stir and fry off till the flour is "cooked off". Add water, and stir, till the correct consistency is achieved. The browner the onions, the browner the gravy.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 01:02 PM

Yep, french fries. We call 'em chips. Gravy made from the juices of the mince and onions (to which I add a beef stock cube and seasoning when cooking), reduced to desired thickness. Simple.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 01:12 PM

Second try at this post.

1) Thank you both for the gravy ideas. They each sound good.

2) Pete: I take it you use very lean meat?

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: gnu
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 03:28 PM

Pete... the scallops were good last night and today. Mum ate almost half of her scoff (I had it from fryer to plate in 5 minutes due to excellent timing for Deluxe and traffic.)... me, well it's a few times a year that I just decide to make myself sick by eating every last bit on the plate. We ate at nearly noon... it's 4:25and I am still expelling gas and uncomfortably full even after errands and a 3km walk. I am now trying to settle my swollen tummy with ale.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Stanron
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 03:48 PM

What's all this about French fries! That's just someone wanting to make chips sound sophisticated. Chips aren't sophisticated, chips are tasty.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 04:19 PM

This is french fries.

This is chips, buffalo to be exact.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Ed T
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 04:34 PM

Fresh scallops, rolled in flour drizzled with lots of pepper and pan fried in butter (or butter-olive oil mix if you wish) - simple but it enhances the natural scallop flavour rather than masking it over.

I often wonder why one would want to dillute the excellent nartural and sharp flavour of a fresh scallop, by battering it and deep frying it, or rolling it in disgusting bacon or other flavour robbing materials?


No need for any additional condiments - just enjoy the tasty shell muscle:)

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Stanron
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 04:52 PM

Well GUEST 999 I wouldn't be surprised if your chips taste better than your French fries. Mind you they get called French fries here in the UK too. Chips on the other hand are large long slices of real potato, par boiled before controlled deep frying and served, as often as not with salt and vinegar. In 1860 one of the first chip shops opened in London. You can bet that they didn't serve French fries.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Ed T
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 05:03 PM

I believe it is best to avoid eating lots of scallops, with saturated fats, as noted below:


Scallops and cholesterol

I once ate a pound of Digny (NS) scallops, that I dipped in flour and fried in butter. It was a big mistake - it felt like there was a brick in my stomach for a few hours.


IMO, Calico scallops (they are smaller and cheaper) are best to avoid. A friend of mine showed me a few under a microscope, they had many many microscopi, and hard to see transluucent worms in the meat - gross. I never ate them again.

Calico scallops

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 05:19 PM

I'm with you, Stanron. I eat fries about twice a year. I had English chips as a youngster cooked by a friend's mom. She spoke with a Cockney accent.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: frogprince
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 07:20 PM

999, I showed J your link, and she never wants to see you agin...

Doesn't that fool know that those aren't really good unless you bake 'em in a pie? The same recipe as moose turd pie works fine.
(Not sure if you guys up there are familiar with the Utah Phillips/Art Thieme moose turd pie legend).

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 07:27 PM

I'm sure there's lots to that I don't know. Heard it done way way back by Utah I think in Montreal or maybe Edmonton.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: frogprince
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 07:29 PM

As for scallops, the sea scallops I had in St.Martin in December were somethin' else. No breading or nothin', just scallops sitting there. Big, tender as butter, rich as cheesecake and almost as sweet.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 08:22 PM

Very nice, John, but I reckon your onion gravy needs a bit of salt and freshly-ground black pepper. And perhaps a tiny dash of red wine. Or Marsala. Or Worcestershire sauce...

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 08:50 PM

FISH FINGERS

C------------C7
Long ago, in a place that I know,
----D---------------D7
In a house on a hill, it may be there still,
-------G----------------------G7
Lived a boy named Sam, and his old Grandmammy,
---------C--------------F----C
They was happy as happy could be.
C---------------------------C7
Now Sam would play, and his Granny would say:
----D----------------D7
"Be careful, Sam, you don't give a damn.
----G-----------------G7
You just don't care; you play anywhere;
---------C--------G7-------C
You'll be sorry one day, you'll see!"
----G7
But Sam never listened to his Granny's words,
-----C
He'd play anywhere just as free as a bird;
-----G--------------------G7
He'd play by the river, he'd play in the lane,
-----C
He'd play in the sunshine, he'd play in the rain,
---F
Till one fine day, down by the river,
--C----E7---A7
Di-saster came along;
-------D7
When a big fat fish jumped out of the river,
----G----------------G7
And started to sing this song:

--C
"I work for the firm that makes fish fingers,
---G7---------------C
It's very hard work we do;
C
For everyone knows fish have no fingers,
------G7----------------C
So we catch little boys like you;
---F
We bite the fingers from off of their hands
----C--------E7----A7
And stick them on our fins;
----------D7
And when we get caught, you understand,
------G---------G7
It's to pay for our terrible sins.
---C
But don't be sorry, don't be sad,
-------G7--------------C
It's the only thing we can do;
C
For that big Bird's-Eye is always a-watching,
--------G7-----------------C
And I'm only gonna bite off a few."
------F
So he bit off three of Sam's little fingers
----C--------E7-------A7
And swum off licking his lips,
----D7
And Sam got his fingers back -
G7-----------------C—F/C
Served with peas and chips!

Notes:

Fish Fingers – This song composed in the 1960's by John Williams (UK) was learned from a long-time British friend Chez Watts who used to work with Williams at a state orphanage. I always have a fondness for warped songs and this one helps define what "warped" can mean.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: gnu
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 07:26 AM

There you have it... a Herring Choker and a Bluenoser and even a Froggy say plain old unadulterated scallops are the way to go.

Tonight, fish cakes! I don't even add onions. I don't even flour them. I just fry em in marg reeeeal slow so they are flame hot and just past golden brown.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 08:06 AM

I do wish you wouldn't fry things in margarine g. It's disgusting stuff, full of additives. I tried it once, and there's obviously some water, or similar, in it, it spits like heck.
Olive oil with added butter is my preference, unless it's an omelette, which requires just the butter.
I had a tub of Utterly Butterly in my fridge, which I was forced to buy at a camp site, where nothing else was available. After some months I opened it, to find a tub full of mouldy gunge. That was in a fridge, and it still went rotten! WTF is in that stuff? Butter would still have been usable!

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 08:10 AM

I could have typed that post meself, John.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 11:53 AM

Hey, 999, it's not only lean beef it's actually braising steak. Local butcher knows us well by now and before mincing it he removes all excess fat, so that any that remains (and it's not a lot) liquidises during the initial cooking of the mince. I just whack it into a saucepan and brown it off before adding onions and sweating them down. Add red wine and water, beef stock cube, salt and pepper to taste and Bob's yer uncle. Let it simmer for a couple of hours then remove most of the excess liquid, which is reduced to make the gravy. Yum, yum.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 12:07 PM

Funny about beef stock cubes, many people use them, and like them. Personally I can't stand them, and the only "ready made" item of that ilk that is in my store cupboard, is Marigold, which is a Swiss vegetable bouillon powder. I use this sometimes when I make soups, but as I start off all soups with fried onions, then we're back to my onion gravy. Which I season with salt and pepper to taste, in case you were wondering ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 12:21 PM

This? I might just try it.

And isn't it Marco Pierre White who recommends Knorr vegetable stock cubes?

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 12:37 PM

Yep, that's the stuff, I recommend it highly.
Apropos of Marco, remeber that David Niven, once advertised Nescafé!

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Musket
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 12:39 PM

Fish fingers as a kid, fishy fingers as a young man, fishy opinions as an old codger.

Oh Findus, thou art my darling!
Though art my joy! both night and morning.

Mind you, you're all wrong. James May told us how to eat them on the telly last year. He went to school down the road from me and lost to us at rugby everry time, but I digress. He, like me, was brought up on fish finger sandwiches and knows what sauce to use. You make your own up. Heinz Sandwich Spread mixed with Heinz Salad Cream, 50/50. Four fish fingers, comprising of three across and one at 90 deg. to ensure the footprint of thick sliced Mother's Pride is covered.

On a serious note, I haven't had the buggers for years. When my responsible adult goes off next weekend to see her mother, it looks like a trip down to Tesco...

(Or to be lazy, any excuse to see my new Granddaughter. My lad still knows how to make them. He is allowed to have fish fingers, I'm obviously not!)

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 12:51 PM

When she comes back, and discovers what you've done, she'll fire you!

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 06:24 PM

My missus is off for the weekend. She is disdainful of my love of fish fingers, but I have at least 40 concealed at the back of certain drawers in the freezer. They are camouflaged by a layer of frost masking their true identity and I have deliberately stacked a bag or two of Birdseye peas on top of them. I'm going to be feasting on them all weekend. In fact, I may well eat little else. At least I'm cheap.

I too have a tub of Marigold in the cupboard but I find it too salty to use in sufficient amounts to add much flavour. I make chicken stock from the carcasses of roast chickens. I don't salt the stock at all but I always add one cube of Kallo organic chicken stock. It adds all the salt I need for about three pints of stock and it just adds something nice to the overall flavour. I make my stock with a large carrot, a couple of onions, a stick or two of celery, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, freshly-ground black pepper and a bay leaf and some thyme from me veg plot. I'm famous for my soups. In fact, I've just remembered that I have good stocks of several in the freezer. So that's my weekend sorted: soup for lunch, fish fingers for tea. Yeah.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Ed T
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 06:58 PM

How do you make your fish cakes, gnu? With salt cod,haddock, or hake (soaked-boiled in water to remove the salt) or fresh groundfish? I find the taste quite a bit different. Some folks use canned Chicken Haddies, aka Finnin Haddies, (fish). They (boil and mash potatoes, add diced onion and canned Chicken Haddie and mash it all together and pan fry it - or make fish cakes.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 07:43 PM

I make fishcakes from tinned wild red salmon and mashed spuds, 50-50 by weight. I think that's got to be the proportion. Golden rule: leave the fish in nice chunks, not mashed to smithereens. Put fish and cold mashed spuds in a big bowl (I dunno, maybe 300 grams of each), add a good grating of parmesan and a good dash of paprika, season. Add one beaten egg. Mix gently and form into fishcake-sized patties. Now here's the trick. Open-freeze your fishcakes then stuff them all into a freezer bag.

When you want fishcakes for tea, don't thaw them out! Here's what you do. You need a little bowl of flour, a bowl of beaten egg and some breadcrumbs. Get your frying pan on with some oil in it and heat. Turn on your oven to very low indeed (110C is plenty). Dredge each frozen fishcake in flour, then egg, then crumbs and place in frying pan. Still frozen. After two minutes per side they will still be rock-hard but will have a nice golden-brown crust. Put into oven spread out on a baking tray lined with kitchen towel (yeah, really!)

You can leave them in the low oven for an hour or more. An hour and a half will allow you to go off for a good shag, watch EastEnders omnibus and have a nice post-coital glass of dry white each. Just before you're ready to eat, cook veg of your choice. Frozen peas are good as is purple sprouting broccoli, and a supermarket jar of tartar sauce or hollandaise (warmed up) would be good. Serve up on warmed plates and wash down with rest of bottle of white. Shamelessly lifted (more or less) from Nigella's How To Eat. I tell you, you'll eat at least three and you'll want more. Your body telling you that you need Omega 3 innit.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 09 Mar 13 - 06:33 AM

I don't remember any of Nigella's recipes saying anything about a good shag! Still, I have to admire your creativity...

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Mar 13 - 06:52 AM

Nigella says, beat it till it gets stiff, and forms peaks.
That's enough for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Ed T
Date: 09 Mar 13 - 10:47 AM

I tried the Steve Shaw style fish cake recipe - It was a great.
I took a short cut though.
I cut out making the fish cakes.
:)

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 09 Mar 13 - 12:49 PM

LOL, Ed.

Okay, the mince 'n' onions is now simmering away on the hob. I tried a variation and used John Mac's idea of frying the onions first, rather than sweating them down with the mince.

Oooh, the smell of fried onions!

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Mar 13 - 01:21 PM

Heheh. But you just get hungry and end up eating more fishcakes if you do it in the wrong order.

Subject: RE: BS: Fish Fingers
From: gnu
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 12:25 AM

Ed.... SALT COD! Otherwise, they ain't fish cakes. Okay... there are other fish cakes in the world, as noted. Even I have done strange stuff when I was young and wild. But, to answer your question, Ed... salt freshened TWO nights (yes, TWO) and at one pound cod, 2 cups spuds less a tad if the spuds are winter. (Or if you forget they are on the stove while typing a reci