Fish & Chips at Bonefish Grill

Today we went to the Bonefish Grill with some friends. We are technically flush with the Obama mandated money from Social Security that is a bribe for my non-citizen wife to vote for him, but that is another story. My friends got things such as a pad thai dish, lobster tails, scallops and shrimps (my wife's), and a sirloin. Overall the place actually did fairly poorly on the meal. The waiter was decent, but the food was eh.

Mine was a rather good Sir Will's Fish & Chips. Three pieces of fish and an adequate number of fries for $10. The good thing was that once I asked for Malt Vinegar twice I got a full bottle that was liberally applied. I probably used three ounces for my meal astounding my friends, and revolting those that could not stand the Malty goodness.

The reason for the CASTLE FALKENSTEIN tag is that I put a decent amount of work into the food that I use for the game especially during banquets and other fancy meals. One thing I have not done is put much work into street food. Fish and chips took of with the working class of London during the middle 18th century. Joseph Malin opened the first opened an official Fish and Chips Shop in 1860 that was a version of fast food. This is quite a ways before the start of most Castle Falkenstein games so should fit well. The first higher class restaurant, meaning they had carpet, was opened in 1896 at the tail of the Castle Falkenstein era.

There is the claim that the chipped potatoes were given away with the fish since they used them to maintain the frying oil at a good temperature. I find this unlikely as the price of the chips would have been included in the overhead cost of maintaining the shop. Anything else would have been taken directly out of profit and cause the shop to go under. But economics is not studied by even collage students now a days with communists being more important than capitalists. And capitalits will actually help people such as in the Victorian era.

Edinburgh is considered the location for a the increased popularity of Malt Vinegar!!! This is perhaps the greatest thing of fish and chips, and I would just drink the Malt Vinegar but people look at me weird. I probably go through two to three ounces of Malt Vinegar in a single F&C meal. It will make sense that Malt Vinegar is used quite heavily there as Malt Whiskey is also popular. The malt not used in the distilling process would of course be perfectly good for making a vinegar.

Edinburgh's preferred condiment for the meal is a chippy sauce made from a fruity brown sauce, salt, and Malt Vinegar. In 1896 the HP Foods company started to produce the HP Sauce that is used throughout the country. It is now owned by Heinz and their UK website does not even mention the sauce. At the very same time as HP Foods, the "Fish Restaurant" was introduced by Samuel Isaacs in London. His "Fish Restaurant" changed the ways many of the middle class looked at the extravagant ellegance of eating out.

This was a very nice restaurant that was several steps up from a C.M.O.T. Dibbler style street vendor and even had waited service, table clothes, flowers, china, and cutlery. This made a take the wife and kids out on Friday a possibility that was previously only available to the rich upper class of England. It was the Applebee's of the time (only good) allowing the working class to experience a higher class of eating without a massive increase in price beyond their station.I have been looking for possibilities of "Fast Food" to use in Falkenstein, but have only found Sushi and Fish and Chips as official fast food. Others I found here at Fast Food in Victorian London.


And for those who wish to try making it yourself:
Chippy Sauce:

First you make something called an HP Brown Sauce:

Ingredients

Apples - 1.8 kg (4 lb), peeled, cored and sliced
Prunes - 450g (1 lb) stoned and sliced
Onions - 2 large, peeled and diced
Malt vinegar - 1.7 litres (3 pints)
Ground ginger - 2 tsp
Grated nutmeg - 1 tsp
Ground allspice - 1 tsp
Cayenne pepper - 1 tsp
Salt - 8 tbsp
Sugar - 900g (2 lb)
Preparation:

Put the fruit and onions into a large pan and cover with water.
Cook until tender. Liquidise or sieve into a large saucepan.
Add the malt vinegar, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cayenne pepper, salt, and sugar. Cook on a low heat until reduced and thick.
To make “chippie” sauce - add about a third of the total volume of white vinegar. (after cooking - add to existing stock)
This sauce can be filled into sterilised jars or kept in fridge indefinitely.