chapter IX - the best damn chip shop in the valley

dai's chip shop ....

For whatever reason, my parents decided to buy a fish and chip shop and with it the house next door. It was the best damn chip shop for miles and miles, Not an empty boast either, because I am told people would go out of their way to get their fish supper from dad’s chippie. A frequent visitor was none other than Mr Tom Jones, of course all long before he became famous that is. He lived in the next village, and so I am told would often be chastised by my father for being drunk and causing a nuisance on a Friday or Saturday night. Not that was unusual back then for anyone of the same age, I guess he was just one of many, dad would oust on their ears.

Maybe this is where I got my love of food from, maybe this is where my culinary skills and learning really began. This photo shows the road that we lived in, unfortunately the photo was taken in the wrong direction to show our house and chip shop.

The chip shop was next door to our house on Penrhiwceiber Road and sadly we lost that chip shop, when I lost my father. One Sunday, May morning, a fire broke out. Not only totally gutting the house but taking with it, childhood toys and memories, precious photograph albums, in fact almost everything we owned and cherished, top of that list was of course, my father. Who died trying to save the cash takings from the chip shop. In the middle of the swinging sixties, my poor mother was left a young widow with three children to raise.

chips with everything

At some point when my father owned the chip shop, we were all packed up into our little car; a white Ford Anglia and went on a day trip to the seaside. For some reason I am thinking it was Swansea. Not a usual family day out at the seaside, we did go to the fair all be it my first ever food trade fair. I remember this so distinctly because there were lots of free samples, mainly fish and/or chips. I am presuming they were either promoting oils and fats for frying, maybe batter mixes etc. Whatever it was all about, my memories are of wandering around and consuming copious amounts of free samples of the most tastiest of battered fish ever. All served on small cardboard rectangular plates, and eaten with a small wooden, two pronged fork. 

chips
My own memories of that time are brief, but very strong. I do remember we had no fancy, schmancy machinery, the potatoes for the chips we sold, were hand peeled and hand chipped. My elder sister and I would spend many a long hour with our mother during the holidays or on a Saturday morning, sat by an old, large, oval shaped, tin bath full of water and potatoes, peeling and chipping the potatoes. 

I often wonder who the lady in this photo (with the basket) is, the lady behind the counter being my mother (circa 1965). The chips we sold always tasted extra special. On the weekend, or of a night time, Mum would often bring us in a pile of hot chips all wrapped in newspaper. A practice of course, that has long since stopped, these days they have to be wrapped in hygienic white paper that has been especially produced. Which is strange really given we are always told to recycle products, save the planet and the trees and the rain forests etc. Nothing smells better than that salt and vinegar steam, that comes from fish and chips wrapped in newspaper.

Strangely enough, there are many recipes for chips these days. Double cooked, tripled cook, and so on and so on, etc etc. Basically chefs getting overly trendy. At the risk of sounding like one of those chefs, here is a simple recipe for the home cook. For the home cook that likes home made chips, but is somewhat apprehensive about all that hot fat, placing wet potatoes into it, having it bubble over etc.

This recipe, or to be more precise a method, takes care of this by placing the chips in cold oil. You would think that this would result in greasy, fat laden chips. But in fact they are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. More importantly it prevents you from placing cold wet chipped potatoes in hot oil, and therefore preventing any mishaps. Any moisture that might remain, will be taken care of as the oil warms up, the potato chips start to cook during this time also and it cuts down on wasted energy usage.

recipe - chips, safe frying method
Choose a good floury potato, like a maris piper. king edwards or a desiree work well. Wash and peel (optional) and cut into even sized chips. Place into a colander and rinse thoroughly to remove any starchiness. Drain and tip out onto a clean tea towel and dry thoroughly (important - they must be very dry).

Using a large saucepan, just under half fill with the potatoes and then pour in cold oil straight from the bottle (a good frying vegetable oil such as safflower, soya, sunflower). Using enough oil to just cover the chips (the oil level should still only half fill or just over half fill the pan strange as it may seem)

Place on a medium high heat and allow to heat until oil is bubbling. Cook until the chips are golden brown. Remove, drain and season as required. In place of salt, try using one of the following: cajun spice and salt, garlic salt, onion salt, celery salt.



recipe - chips, peppered low fat
Choose a good floury potato, like a maris piper. king edwards or a desiree work well. Wash and peel (optional) and cut into even sized chips. Place into a saucepan and cover with cold, salted water (optional - take two large cloves of unpeeled garlic, bash with a knife to break open and add to water)

Bring to a boil and gently simmer for 5-7 minutes. Tip into a colander and drain well, allowing steam to escape, shake gently to roughen up the outside (this will help form a crisp outside when cooked)

Place in a single layer onto a large baking or roasting tray, spray with olive and lightly dust with paprika and cracked peppercorns. Bake at 200C until golden brown and crisp (10-15 minutes depending on size of cut). Remove and season as required



mushy peas
There are four other distinct flavour memories from those fish and chip shop era, three quarters of which are cholestrol filled, fat saturated and salt laden, but all typical of that era. Firstly, of course no Welsh chip shop worth its salt (pun, fully intended) would be complete without faggot, chips and mushy peas.

Mushy peas are a staple of any Welsh chip shop, for serving with faggot and chips, or piping hot over chips with plenty of salt, pepper and copious amounts of malt vinegar. Easily and readily available now in tins or frozen, but there is nothing like making your own as my father would. 

That fact, was a great benefit to a six year old boy, because it meant that I never ran out of ammunition for my pea shooter! Those were the days when every boy's pocket held at the very least, a pea shooter, a pocket knife, a length of string and an empty box of matches in their pocket (the empty box was usually for keeping a caterpillar in!)

recipe - mushy peas

250 gm dried marrowfat peas

002 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)#

preparation method

place into a large saucepan and cover with boiling water from the kettle, stir in the baking soda. Leave to soak for a minimum of twelve hours. As they swell, add cold water to keep them covered. After 12 hours, drain and place back into the saucepan, cover with cold water and place on a medium high heat and bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer until the peas soften, turn mushy and the water evaporates. Stir frequently during cooking to prevent the peas sticking and burning on the bottom (more water might need to be added during cooking)

but if you want fat ....
Both of my given recipes for chips are centered around fat or the lack of. The Scottish may have 'invented' deep fried, battered mars bars, but in wales we were battering and deep frying all sorts decades beforehand.

A favourite in our chip shop, as in any other local chip shop were beef burger patties, not neatly grilled and served with lettuce, pickle in a sesame seed bun etc, but the meat patty battered and deep fried. On a recent return to Wales (Oct 2012) my cousins decided we should have fish and chips for tea. I went with my cousin; Dean, to collect them and lo and behold that local chip shop of theirs sold just the very thing still. Needless to say, I had to have one even at the risk of spoiling a wonderful childhood memory. But there it was, a battered, deep fried burger patty, hot, highly salted and dripping with fat when bitten into, but oh so delicious!

meat pies

Also deep fried in dad’s chippy, were the meat pies. Commercially made, individual steak and kidney pies. There were none of the fancy heat cabinets or microwaves we have now, so deep frying them to order was the quickest and easiest way of reheating them. And they were delicious too! I have have not tried one since, but I must get around to it one day.

scrittlings
Known by many names all over the country no doubt. For some reason they seem to be a secret shame these days. people love them, but no one seems to sell them, people love them but are afraid or ashamed to ask for them. Scrittlings are the bits of batter left over after frying the fish etc. As a kid, one would go into a chip shop and ask for a penny bag of scrittlings. For that penny one would get a huge bag of these crispy, deep fried morsels, all salted up and smothered in vinegar.