OT: The Menu Part 5 Gritty's Kitchen and Lou's Tavern edition

[Captain Dave Poulin]

Alright, I've seen enough of British baking to be skeptical whenever you people say any of your cities/towns/regions are "great" at anything.

Do these pastries include sugar, or do you sub that out in lieu of pork blood?

A lot of these are kidney pies. They still eat offal (and eel) as if they were on war rations.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

I hardly ever eat any "crap" food that is bad for you... because there are so many alternatives that taste great+are good for you. (though ofc love a Pizza or a Kebab every now and again!)

But was back in the UK for Christmas and brought back a load of frozen Holland's pies to Denmark with me... I mean, kilo's worth, took up like a quarter of my suitcase.

Best mass produced pies on earth for me. One thing Lancashire is exceptional at (aside from sport!) is pastry. I always struggled to get a half decent pie in the UK as soon as I got south of ~Stoke and Nottingham. Northern pies=Just amazing.

There's a traditional meat pie joint in South Philadelphia of all places that's just tremendous. In talking to the owner, he's from Norwich. You're telling me I need to find a Northerner and they're even better?!

 

[Beef Invictus]

A lot of these are kidney pies. They still eat offal (and eel) as if they were on war rations.

It is absolutely not shocking to me in the slightest that the ancient Roman condiment of Garum was resurrected in the West into modern times as Worcestersharshire sauce. "I put the fish guts in a container and then drink the juice months later? That sounds great!"





To be fair Worceshtshahshirieiririerre sauce is incredible though so kudos on the fish juice.

 

[Appleyard]

Alright, I've seen enough of British baking to be skeptical whenever you people say any of your cities/towns/regions are "great" at anything.

Do these pastries include sugar, or do you sub that out in lieu of pork blood?

Oh, the pastry from the south is tripe... they dont know what they are doing. Cannot even manage a decent sausage roll. And puff pastry+pies is a joke.

And yeh, sugar is used in shortcrust pie pastry.

For their meat and potato...

Water, Fortified Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Potato (19%), Beef (8%), Shortening [Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil), Emulsifier (Mono and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids)], Margarine [Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil), Water, Salt, Emulsifier (Mono and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids)], Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Onion, Flour Treatment Agent [WheatFlour, Firming Agent (Calcium Sulphate), Treatment Agent (L-Cysteine Hydrochloride)], Yeast Extract [Yeast, Salt], Salt Substitute (Potassium Chloride), Onion Powder, Glaze [Milk Proteins, Maltodextrin, Dextrose, Maize Starch, Sugar, Colour (Carotenes)], Sugar, White Pepper, Colour (Ammonia Caramel).

Like I said, not good for you with a lot of crap... but f*** does it taste great.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Oh, the pastry from the south is tripe... they dont know what they are doing. Cannot even manage a decent sausage roll. And puff pastry+pies is a joke.

And yeh, sugar is used in shortcrust pie pastry.

For their meat and potato...

Water, Fortified Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Potato (19%), Beef (8%), Shortening [Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil), Emulsifier (Mono and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids)], Margarine [Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil), Water, Salt, Emulsifier (Mono and Di-Glycerides of Fatty Acids)], Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Onion, Flour Treatment Agent [WheatFlour, Firming Agent (Calcium Sulphate), Treatment Agent (L-Cysteine Hydrochloride)], Yeast Extract [Yeast, Salt], Salt Substitute (Potassium Chloride), Onion Powder, Glaze [Milk Proteins, Maltodextrin, Dextrose, Maize Starch, Sugar, Colour (Carotenes)], Sugar, White Pepper, Colour (Ammonia Caramel).

Like I said, not good for you with a lot of crap... but **** does it taste great.

Typically the former clause is needed to make the latter clause possible.

 

[Appleyard]

There's a traditional meat pie joint in South Philadelphia of all places that's just tremendous. In talking to the owner, he's from Norwich. You're telling me I need to find a Northerner and they're even better?!

Haha, yeh, I would say so.

As for Norwich... cannot say much bad about the place because my best friend is from near there and it is "ok"... but I would also say that if he is from Norwich he probably runs the shop with his wife who is also his sister. (though I cannot justify that type of crass stereotype, it is not fair on those lovely, friendly folk from Norfolk! Genuinely some of the nicest people you will meet are from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cornwall and Devon... the south of England's "backwaters"!)

Find a guy from Wigan or Accrington or Bolton or Burnley or Oldham... I would say they are stereo typically the fives place that come to mind when we Lancastrian's think Pies.

(funnily enough all of them you also think stereo-typically are full of drunk middle aged men watching football, trying to fight people, with silly accents, who play cricket on the weekends and fear flat-caps and may own a whippet, probably be a dodgy builder, for their job or a drug dealer if they are a bit savvy, whose sons all have criminal records and bad tribal tattoos.) But damn can they make a pie even if you would not want to spend 5 minutes in any of those places.

Btw, this culinary treat made its way to Canada a few years ago! Wonder if they are still in business?

Oldham pies in heart of Canada

 

[Striiker]

Wait a minute, didn't you balk at the process of blending tomatoes, adding some seasoning and meat, and simmering it for a few hours?

I don't think so.

I think I said I tried making sauce and meatballs before and I wasn't happy with it. It wasn't bad, but when I'm trying to get something in a very specific way, and it doesn't turn out exactly right, I consider it a complete failure. I'm extremely hard on myself. And when I say the "right" way, I'm trying to make it exactly how my grandmother made it (without the recipe available to me, so I'm guessing) because that’s the best I’ve had.

So, while I can't get those two things EXACTLY how I want them, I'm not too bad at making stuff. I'm just not perfect, which is infuriating to me.

 

[Beef Invictus]

let's all learn how everyone's favorite sandwich meat is made:

 

[Appleyard]

A lot of these are kidney pies. They still eat offal (and eel) as if they were on war rations.

Tripe too... very popular up here as a food, well, for middle aged people and above! Sometimes it is reffered to as "Lancashire calamari"... not joking.

Also this is amazing, but so bad for you:

Rag pudding - Wikipedia

My personal hilarious Lancashire thing though is...

Pie barm... or a "Wigan Kebab". Though that is a very posh one... usually more like:

 

[Striiker]

let's all learn how everyone's favorite sandwich meat is made:

I know some people would be disgusted by that but my philosophy is that as long as it gets to me in edible form, I don't care how gross it looked at the start of the process.

Hot dogs, calamari, whatever. If it tastes good, I'll eat it.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Tripe too... very popular up here as a food, well, for middle aged people and above! Sometimes it is reffered to as "Lancashire calamari"... not joking.

Also this is amazing, but so bad for you:

Rag pudding - Wikipedia

My personal hilarious Lancashire thing though is...

Pie barm... or a "Wigan Kebab". Though that is a very posh one... usually more like:

This is a food invented by a drunk

 

[Beef Invictus]

I know some people would be disgusted by that but my philosophy is that as long as it gets to me in edible form, I don't care how gross it looked at the start of the process.

Hot dogs, calamari, whatever. If it tastes good, I'll eat it.

Correct.

 

[Appleyard]

This is a food invented by a drunk

Almost certainly.

I think probably 90% of "Wigan Kebab's/Pie Barms" are eaten by people who can hardly walk at ~3am tbh.

They do taste good though... especially with curry sauce, gravy and mushy peas.

 

[Striiker]

Correct.

You wanna know how stupid I am? It never occurred to me that chicken/turkey lunchmeat was a larger form of sliced hot dog style formed/pressed meat, although that should have been obvious considering the size of the slices vs the size of a chicken breast.

I guess lunchmeat is just not something I regularly think about

 

[Beef Invictus]

You wanna know how stupid I am? It never occurred to me that chicken/turkey lunchmeat was a larger form of sliced hot dog style formed/pressed meat, although that should have been obvious considering the size of the slices vs the size of a chicken breast.

I guess lunchmeat is just not something I regularly think about

When the chicken chunks slop out of the pipe and into the molds I laugh out of a combination of disgust, fear, and delight.

 

[Striiker]

When the chicken chunks slop out of the pipe and into the molds I laugh out of a combination of disgust, fear, and delight.

Made me hungry...

 

[Appleyard]

Another really nice Northern thing... this time breakfast food.

Lancashire potato cakes/Tattie Scones. Pretty much only the North of England and Scotland have them.

Like if crumpets were better and tastier.

How to make (honestly... have a go):

Lancashire Potato Cakes Recipe with step by step instructions and photos


As for "Lancashire culture"...



Literally a pretty accurate representation of everything in shitty towns around the county. Comedy series from like 10 years ago set in Bolton.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I think Shepard’s Pie & Ham & Cabbage are really the only English/Irish dishes I’ve ever had & liked.

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

I think Shepard’s Pie & Ham & Cabbage are really the only English/Irish dishes I’ve ever had & liked.

It's not the greatest cuisine. Fish and chips count? Lol

I'm Irish, and the food from the Emerald Isle ain't in my weekly meals. Except potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

It's not the greatest cuisine. Fish and chips count? Lol

I'm Irish, and the food from the Emerald Isle ain't in my weekly meals. Except potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes.

It’s not to me. I’m Italian too & there’s really no comparison imo.

I do eat a lot of potatoes too tho.

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

I eat a pretty restrictive diet. At 45, my body runs so much better this way. I'm a massage therapist (in a spa) and have to maintain muscle mass, low body fat and high energy. The best part is I love the foods I eat. No suffering at all.

High protein, very low carbs (except veggies, including potatoes)
Lots of healthy fat and veggies. I also eat a lot of fruit.

No added sugar, processed foods, dairy or alcohol (this is going to scandalize a lot of you )

A diet that's not exactly new at all but works. I do cheat from time to time..my weakness is real ice cream.

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

It’s not to me. I’m Italian too & there’s really no comparison imo.

I do eat a lot of potatoes too tho.

I'm Irish not Italian. Part of me always wanted to be though. One of the best cuisines! Thai being my favourite.

 

[Appleyard]

It's not the greatest cuisine. Fish and chips count? Lol

I'm Irish, and the food from the Emerald Isle ain't in my weekly meals. Except potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes.

Haha, yep, as an Englishman our cuisine sucks for the most part.

My favourite dishes are comprised 90% of:

Italian
North African
Sub-continental
Mexican
Southern American

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

Haha, yep, as an Englishman our cuisine sucks for the most part.

My favourite dishes are comprised 90% of:

Italian
North African
Sub-continental
Mexican
Southern American

Good mixture of cuisines in that list! I do try to keep in mind the climate for English/Irish cooking. Hearty, heavier and satisfying on a cool, damp day.

If they had weather like Italy, that food would have never been invented

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I'm Irish not Italian. Part of me always wanted to be though. One of the best cuisines! Thai being my favourite.

Oh no I meant I’m Irish as well as Italian. I phrased it poorly. I was making the comparison between my experience.