The Lemon Fool

We're on holiday in Cornwall at the moment and have been eating out fairly frequently but can someone please explain why, when there is loads of beautiful fresh fish about all the pubs can offer is fish 'n chips with batter coated fish and frozen chips. We've found one pub, The Fire Engine in Marazion, that actually knows how to serve up delicious fish dishes. Luckily we've been pointed in the direction of an excellent fishmonger so are able to indulge in beautiful fresh fish but why don't catering establishments employ chefs who know how to cook.

R6

Rhyd6 wrote:.....about all the pubs can offer is fish 'n chips with batter coated fish and frozen chips....

I think it's going to come down to being a pub:
- the number of meals/covers per day is going to vary (which makes fresh/seasonal fish tricky or risky to order)
- people going in are probably going to expect something standard/traditional (pub meals being for many pubs a way to keep people inside drinking)

Glad you've found somewhere that can do it well!

Enjoy your holiday
- sd

What to do with that fish in the pub kitchen? Let's see. Bake it, poach it, grill it, steam it lightly? Naaah, grab it out of the freezer, quick defrost, bung it into last night's batter, a minute or two in the deep fat fryer, and the punters won't even notice that it's coley, not cod. And not very fresh coley at that. Give 'em a big scoop of salty chips and a shred of lettuce, and they'll be happy.

If I were a seaside pub landlord, that's probably what I'd do - especially if my chef was a bit limited, or maybe just overworked. (Okay, maybe not the dodgy batter. ) As sd says, it's really hard for pubs to guess the forward volumes, so the risk doesn't really stack up. Of course, a certain Mr Stein in Padstow doesn't do it that way, but that's because he's charging fifty quid a plate. (Less if you visit the bistro, which is more fun anyway.)

Best fish I ever tasted was a plaice which I'd caught about two hours earlier. Somehow I don't think that was a coincidence.

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:Best fish I ever tasted was a plaice which I'd caught about two hours earlier. Somehow I don't think that was a coincidence

It was a trevally fillet for me.
Shallow fried in a light dusting of flour a couple of hours after we'd fitted an electric outboard motor to hold the brother-in-law's sea kayak against the current (bringing up half a dozen in 20min)

Worst was in Zeehan in western Tassie while on holiday
- we arrived after the town had been evacuated because of a bushfire scare (which explained the "big dark cloud" as we went there)
- and got offered a selection of shoe insoles (one might have been flake?) from the place that was serving the firemen
The guy behind the counter literally held them out to us like a hand of cards as he'd lifted them out of the freezer (like a frozen version of picking your lobster)
Chewy - and not unlike deepfried pizza
-sd

You've been going to the wrong pubs. Mussel yourself in to the right plaice and all the defishencies of your sole will be remedied. Cod knows, there's so much to be haddock, and the county is your oyster.

UncleEbenezer wrote:You've been going to the wrong pubs. Mussel yourself in to the right plaice and all the defishencies of your sole will be remedied. Cod knows, there's so much to be haddock, and the county is your oyster.

....and that ladies and gentlemen is how you fish for recs

UncleEbenezer wrote:You've been going to the wrong pubs. Mussel yourself in to the right plaice and all the defishencies of your sole will be remedied. Cod knows, there's so much to be haddock, and the county is your oyster.

and you must go out with that porpoise in mind(Ok it's not a fish but couldn't help myself)

pje16 wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:You've been going to the wrong pubs. Mussel yourself in to the right plaice and all the defishencies of your sole will be remedied. Cod knows, there's so much to be haddock, and the county is your oyster.

and you must go out with that porpoise in mind(Ok it's not a fish but couldn't help myself)

You're just floundering around now.

bluedonkey wrote:

pje16 wrote:

UncleEbenezer wrote:You've been going to the wrong pubs. Mussel yourself in to the right plaice and all the defishencies of your sole will be remedied. Cod knows, there's so much to be haddock, and the county is your oyster.

and you must go out with that porpoise in mind(Ok it's not a fish but couldn't help myself)

You're just floundering around now.

Oh, come on!
This is bitter lemons, not joker's corner, would you please just reel it in!

servodude wrote:It was a trevally fillet for me.
Shallow fried in a light dusting of flour a couple of hours after we'd fitted an electric outboard motor to hold the brother-in-law's sea kayak against the current (bringing up half a dozen in 20min)

With the currently fashionable filling, I trust? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4pxLHG0Wzs
(Although I'm not sure what arctic terns would have been doing around Oz? Or indeed, around South Africa, which was where the sequence was shot?)

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:

servodude wrote:It was a trevally fillet for me.
Shallow fried in a light dusting of flour a couple of hours after we'd fitted an electric outboard motor to hold the brother-in-law's sea kayak against the current (bringing up half a dozen in 20min)

With the currently fashionable filling, I trust? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4pxLHG0Wzs
(Although I'm not sure what arctic terns would have been doing around Oz? Or indeed, around South Africa, which was where the sequence was shot?)

BJ

Interesting stuffing... but i suppose it is the sea bird the Germans use for sausages (or did I misunderstand 'taking a tern for the wurst?")

-sd

Well if nothing else your replies have given me a laugh. I've also realised that a recommendation on Trip Advisor means that the plaice (sorry couldn't resist) is crap but they pile the plate high with loads of chips so that all the greedy, fat beggars sing their praises.
We have the dog with us so we're rather limited as to where we can go but have high hopes for The Ship in Mawgan so fingers crossed.

R6

servodude wrote:

bungeejumper wrote:

servodude wrote:It was a trevally fillet for me.
Shallow fried in a light dusting of flour a couple of hours after we'd fitted an electric outboard motor to hold the brother-in-law's sea kayak against the current (bringing up half a dozen in 20min)

With the currently fashionable filling, I trust? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4pxLHG0Wzs
(Although I'm not sure what arctic terns would have been doing around Oz? Or indeed, around South Africa, which was where the sequence was shot?)

BJ

Interesting stuffing... but i suppose it is the sea bird the Germans use for sausages (or did I misunderstand 'taking a tern for the wurst?")

-sd

I always thought it was shag with sausage.

John

Gordon Bennett, double entendre music hall jokes are alive and well it seems. The meal last evening at The Ship was great, a light cheese souffle to start followed by a delicious skate wing and topped off with a creme brulee which was divine. Not cheap but having scanned the local estate agents re house prices it would seem you have to be well heeled to eat there regularly.
Sorry not to have anything to moan about but c'est la vie.

R6

My cynical guess?

The vast majority of people dont actually care that much, so fish and chips will do. Or they do care but have been brow beaten into accepting this as a generic state of affairs. And basically its erasy to have someone capable of not posisening the diners that can "cook" pre packed fish and frozen chips.

Ill wager these "fish and chip" dinners in Cornish pubs are mainly Cod and chips... how much cod is landed in Cornwall?

Last week we were on the Lizard peninsula. A cafe owner told me she coundt get crab for crab sandwiches - there just aren't any to buy and cook 9at elast she didnt use tinned!) . An hour later we watched a small vessel pull up in the adjacent harbour and offload three trugs (think big washing baskets) of crabs - brown and spider. The trugs went into a refridgerated van - ironically parked next to the cafe - and driven away. I can only guess that this arrangement where several dozen crabs were landed off a boat less than 150m from her cafe but she couldnt buy any is down to supply contracts and supply lines ... but its another example of how maybe some of these pubs cant actually get hold of what is being landed anyway.

A fisheries guy I then spoke to a few days later confirmed that they weren't catching any carb or lobster hardly off Devon, and were getting their's in, to sell, from north devon ports. There's no mackerel to be spoken of off Devon either - but I read an article this week that the sussex coast is teaming with them. A Devon fisherman I spoke to said its cos of the gulf stream changes and the water is the wrong temperature.

So I'll wrap up by saying its probably a mixture of my cycnical thoughts I started, with allied to supply lines and the actual fish being caught not marrying up.

Rhyd6 wrote:Well if nothing else your replies have given me a laugh. I've also realised that a recommendation on Trip Advisor means that the plaice (sorry couldn't resist) is crap but they pile the plate high with loads of chips so that all the greedy, fat beggars sing their praises.
We have the dog with us so we're rather limited as to where we can go but have high hopes for The Ship in Mawgan so fingers crossed.

R6

Possibly too late now but Logan's Rock Inn, Porthcurno, was knocking out some decent grilled mackerel last week (probably frozen - see my other post!)

didds

didds wrote: Or they do care but have been brow beaten into accepting this as a generic state of affairs. And basically its erasy to have someone capable of not posisening the diners that can "cook" pre packed fish and frozen chips.

Given the state of pub food post lockdown, that seems likely. Now that you all mention it, I haven't been for many pub meals since lockdown. Of those I have, all have been much more limited menus than in the Good Old Days, and only one was what you'd reasonably call Good Food - as opposed to fish&chip-grade food. The good one was, as it happens, in Cornwall, though near the border!

UncleEbenezer wrote:

didds wrote: Or they do care but have been brow beaten into accepting this as a generic state of affairs. And basically its erasy to have someone capable of not posisening the diners that can "cook" pre packed fish and frozen chips.

Given the state of pub food post lockdown, that seems likely. Now that you all mention it, I haven't been for many pub meals since lockdown. Of those I have, all have been much more limited menus than in the Good Old Days, and only one was what you'd reasonably call Good Food - as opposed to fish&chip-grade food. The good one was, as it happens, in Cornwall, though near the border!

Years ago, I had a horrible experience in our favourite pub, when my mum and I ordered a seafood platter to share, followed by scampi. I had spent half my life working abroad and had forgotten how things work in the UK.

Every single thing on the platter, down to the smallest prawn, was coated in breadcrumbs or batter!!! Why??? The thought that I'd ordered scampi just served to prolong the agony.

Fast forward to Malta, and, being a die-hard lover of fish 'n chips, we were told that they only had fresh Lampuko. One of the best meals ever. Delicious fish, without batter, but plenty of chips to keep my Anglo-Saxon side happy.

Steve