What I don’t understand is how they can be on an island, surrounded by some of the best fish in the world (including the fantastic Scottish salmon) and the only piece of fish you can find in the whole country is freaking cod with four layers of batter applied to it and fried until the only flavor you can perceive is that of mediocre burnt oil.
They make good meat dishes (roasts, meat pies), but then they pair them with the most uninspiring sides… The UK cuisine has a few good things, and they have good ingredients, but more often than not they cook them in boring ways and stop there, calling it “good enough”
That’s pretty sad and true about the fish situation. Even fish and chip shops mostly just do cod and haddock, and I’ve only rarely seen one offer a wide variety of fish that would help avoid overfishing.
We also have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to seafood, but most people don’t even touch it apart from the occasional prawn. The day after Brexit came into effect there were tables of cockles and muscles, clams, scallops etc just sitting going off because they couldn’t get them to France.
They make good meat dishes (roasts, meat pies), but then they pair them with the most uninspiring sides…
I mean… British were always shafted by their nobility. The land wasn’t known for fruits or sweet veggies, the rent in UK paid to the landlord was relatively high, so most peasants ate pickles, chutneys or different mushed veggies as sides.
I once read that a group of Rotterdam Housewives wrote a collective letter to their fishermen husbands, that they would abide no more then 2 days of salmon dinner a week. Maybe having an abundance of it makes it unbearable after decades. I mean, complaining about salmon dinner seams crazy to me, so who knows what you can get fed up with :)
Maybe…
What I don’t understand is how they can be on an island, surrounded by some of the best fish in the world (including the fantastic Scottish salmon) and the only piece of fish you can find in the whole country is freaking cod with four layers of batter applied to it and fried until the only flavor you can perceive is that of mediocre burnt oil.
They make good meat dishes (roasts, meat pies), but then they pair them with the most uninspiring sides… The UK cuisine has a few good things, and they have good ingredients, but more often than not they cook them in boring ways and stop there, calling it “good enough”
That’s pretty sad and true about the fish situation. Even fish and chip shops mostly just do cod and haddock, and I’ve only rarely seen one offer a wide variety of fish that would help avoid overfishing.
We also have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to seafood, but most people don’t even touch it apart from the occasional prawn. The day after Brexit came into effect there were tables of cockles and muscles, clams, scallops etc just sitting going off because they couldn’t get them to France.
I mean… British were always shafted by their nobility. The land wasn’t known for fruits or sweet veggies, the rent in UK paid to the landlord was relatively high, so most peasants ate pickles, chutneys or different mushed veggies as sides.
I once read that a group of Rotterdam Housewives wrote a collective letter to their fishermen husbands, that they would abide no more then 2 days of salmon dinner a week. Maybe having an abundance of it makes it unbearable after decades. I mean, complaining about salmon dinner seams crazy to me, so who knows what you can get fed up with :)
Tbh, british food is mostly just salt-deficient. Add salt to it and a lot of it tastes really good.