Take the humble chip.
It sits there on the brown paper beside its friends, awaiting death. Its golden crispy exterior disguises the soft fluffy potato that lies beneath the surface. The steam from the oil wafts up the nose of the purchaser, making their stomach rumble in appreciation of the heart-stopping snack.
The smell of sauce and the occasional unnecessary thrown into the fryer, attract the unsuspecting customer as they pass the brightly coloured lights of the establishment. They probably aren’t hungry but it’s a smell they just can’t ignore. Rows of unidentifiable battered this and that are paraded under warm glass. But they know exactly what they want.
Regional preferences can cause chatter late into the night when it comes to adorning your meal with condiments. Vinegar. On your chips. Never. Pickled egg or just plain pickles? The list of accessories is endless.
I prefer to hold the small packet of goodness in my hands. It’s usually cold outside so it’s a portable hand warmer for the short journey home. The smell lingers around me as I gather speed, cold chips are not an option. Not on my watch.
Once inside, coat removed, slippers on…only now can I carefully peel back the pages of yesterday’s news. The brown paper is tucked in tight, keeping my chips warm in their bed of sauce. Removing the final layer reveals gold. The chips smile up at me, arranged in their messy lines. Tuck in, they say.
There is one question we all have on our lips when it comes to our local chippy – salt and sauce?
Definitely salt and sauce!
If you’re originally a West Coaster, it’s always salt and vinegar. The one thing I hate is mayonnaise on my chips. I first sampled this in Holland and never again. In Germany it was ketchup or mayonnaise and I always went for the ketchup, just the plain tomato variety. They do curry ketchup and other permutations of flavours, but the simpler the better and straight out of a wee brown poke happit up in newspaper. Braw!
Salt, sauce and a pickle please!
Mmmmm hungry!
It’s the smell of the vinegar that makes my stomach rumble and draws me into the chippy. Vinegar on chips, ABSOLUTELY, then add the salt which now sticks to the chips.Some sauce is nice but it depends what’s going with the chips,if bacon then it must be brown sauce, if an egg then it would be tomato.But, if just chips then vinegar and salt alone.No pickled egg, no pickled onions ( Though I love them, who could stop at one?)
The chips can’t be cold so maybe I’d eat them where I was but as I’m close to home I can make it while they’re still hot and prepare two pieces of bread and butter to make the divine chip butty where the heat of the chips melt the butter.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx.