It's not Belgium - it's Aberdeen

After such a supreme effort, it made sense to take it easy for a while so it was the following Saturday before I cracked into the cooking again. Saturday night to be exact, fish and chip night. This is not to suggest that we eat fish and chips every Saturday of course. We are far more likely to eat them on a Friday when I can’t be bothered cooking and the fish and chip shop is oh so close…

If I’m going to go to the effort of heating up a big pot full of fat then you can be sure that I’m going to get as many deep fried recipes out of the way as practical. So that’s what I did – looking at the menu it is a surprise that the husband and I survived – not that he minded of course…

So the dinner plate was a symphony of golden brown – Fish fried in two kinds of batter, fried oysters and French fries. The two types of batter were Batter and Eggless Batter. I can honestly say I couldn’t really taste a difference. In fact the recipes were the same except – and I hope this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise – one had egg in, and the other didn’t. I know, it’s gripping stuff.

Fried oysters were dredged through the batter and then fried just the same. I thought that perhaps I didn’t actually mind oysters. That was until I opened the pottle of oysters. The smell was just so much stronger than I expected – not fishy but sort of briny and ozony, almost like a cross between the beach after a storm and wet asphalt. They didn’t smell much like food… I did have a bite but let's just say oysters won’t be going on the weekly shopping list.

French fries must be the most accepted food in the world. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone say “no thanks, I just really don’t like chips”. They were pretty good, but then how could they be bad?

I also prepared a little something that didn’t require deep frying, but don’t worry, it wasn’t healthy. Aberdeen sausage. Take mince, sausage meat, bacon and breadcrumbs, mix. Form into a roll. Put in a floured cloth, tie it up and boil for 1.5 hours. Roll in breadcrumbs and eat cold. This is the real 1966 right here people – the days when people mixed up minced meat and then boiled it in a cloth and ate it cold. That’s Authentic.

And do you know what the best bit is? It was really good! Like luncheon sausage (Belgium for those of a southern persuasion) but with less mysterious meat, or like cold meat loaf. We sliced it thinly and ate it for days. The husband had thick wedges of it in his sandwiches all week. So good, so very good.