Scrutable

Cardinal Fang wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:24 pm

I'd eat way more seafood if I could get it. But when your choice is limited to frozen (imported) prawns, and rubbery 3-day old salmon or cod or dyed yellow who-knows-what all in plastic packets in the supermarket, then it's rather unappealing.

CF

So what is the deal? Foreigners like rubbery 3 day old salmon and British tastes are too refined for it? Or are they are getting the best stuff and we get the dregs? The only fish I eat is fish and chips, but I would be happy to eat more of it if it was cheaper.

I'd noticed that the cheddar slices with the big union flag on the packet had vanished from the supermarket shelf here, but they're back.

Various kinds of McVities digestive are even on special offer.

Whenever I'm in the UK I make a point of eating the kind of fish which is the kind that the British fishermen probably can't catch anymore, restricted as they are to UK waters.

The only time I went out socially here last spring/summer, I had fritto misto.

Herainestold wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 10, 2021 4:17 pm

Cardinal Fang wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:24 pm

I'd eat way more seafood if I could get it. But when your choice is limited to frozen (imported) prawns, and rubbery 3-day old salmon or cod or dyed yellow who-knows-what all in plastic packets in the supermarket, then it's rather unappealing.

CF

So what is the deal? Foreigners like rubbery 3 day old salmon and British tastes are too refined for it? Or are they are getting the best stuff and we get the dregs? The only fish I eat is fish and chips, but I would be happy to eat more of it if it was cheaper.

They're getting (or they were getting) British seafood and we were getting EU seafood. I found recent figures for, I think, £1.3bn in exports to the EU and £1.2bn in imports from the EU.

We're unpatriotically eating salmon, cod and tuna from Sweden and Germany instead of feasting on Cornish King Crab. I think we need attack ads on EU fish to turn the tide in our favour. We could start calling them Pink Stinkfish, Morguefish, and Shitflake Fish. I think it would help.

I've also started working on slogans for our Great British Seafood.

Cornish King Crab: it's 'king tasty! [Insert Union Jack here]

https://thefishingdaily.com/featured-ne ... e-in-2019/ has recent EU-UK figures

Imports increased [to] £1,205 million in 2019 ... Exports to the EU from the UK earned £1,343m

The EU countries that import the largest value of seafood into the UK are Germany, Sweden and Denmark and a lot of the same imports come indirectly from Norway. ... The species with the greatest import value from the EU are salmon, tuna, and cod.

France, Spain, and the Ireland remained the EU countries that receive the largest value of seafood exports

The species with the greatest export value are salmon, nephrops and scallops.

This has overall figures https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fish ... -published

The UK is a net importer of fish, with imports exceeding exports. The UK’s trade gap in 2019 for sea fish is 270 thousand tonnes.

In 2019, the UK imported 721 thousand tonnes of sea fish, with a value of £3,457 million. It exported 452 thousand tonnes with a value of £2,004 million.

and a 63-page PDF report https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... ed-002.pdf Ooh, demersal + pelagic 82%, shellfish 18% for both import and export. That's interesting. And China is the largest exporter to the UK, France the largest importer from the UK.

Not all of that info makes sense.

Imports increased [to] £1,205 million in 2019 ... Exports to the EU from the UK earned £1,343m

The UK is a net importer of fish, with imports exceeding exports. The UK’s trade gap in 2019 for sea fish is 270 thousand tonnes.

In 2019, the UK imported 721 thousand tonnes of sea fish, with a value of £3,457 million. It exported 452 thousand tonnes with a value of £2,004 million.

If we consumed all our own seafood, we would only have to import 259 000 tonnes.

Brexit dividend (for Amsterdam): Amsterdam ousts London as Europe’s top share trading hub

What is it that doesn't make sense? (If you're having difficulty reconciling the figures in those two quotes, the first bit is EU-UK figures and the second bit is our overall import/export figures.)

Or are you saying it doesn't make sense that we sell our seafood to Spain & France while buying seafood from Germany and China? Cos that seems to be partly down to the types of seafood in question.

Or did you forget to carry the 1 and get 259,000 instead of 269,000 (which is rounded up to 270,000 in the first sentence of the second quote)?

Okay, thanks , the first one.

Be interested to see what the figures look like now we've stopped exporting. Assume we're still importing as much seafood.

malbui wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:41 pm

nezumi wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:09 pm

I doubt I've eaten 19 kg of seafood in my entire life. Can't abide it.

I could probably get through 19kg a week if I put my mind to it #scallops #filetsdeperche #bacalhau

We have scallop week where all the restaurants feature them. The good chippy does battered scallops and chips and they are utterly sublime.

plodder wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 11, 2021 7:50 am

malbui wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 10, 2021 3:41 pm

nezumi wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:09 pm

I doubt I've eaten 19 kg of seafood in my entire life. Can't abide it.

I could probably get through 19kg a week if I put my mind to it #scallops #filetsdeperche #bacalhau

We have scallop week where all the restaurants feature them. The good chippy does battered scallops and chips and they are utterly sublime.

"Battered scallops"!!! Why would you do that to a poor scallop?

IMO the best way of cooking them is lightly drizzled with teriyaki sauce and then flash-fried on a hot pan/BBQ for ~20 seconds a side. You need the scallop to be slightly undercooked to get the best taste/texture. I'm not sure you can leave them undercooked when they are battered and deep-fried.

To the man chip shop with a hammer supply of batter and a deep fat fryer, everything looks like a nail needs battering and deep fat frying.

On the off chance that there is a next time I go anywhere to Hastings, which is the good chippy?

Don't know about Hastings, but if you're ever in Perth, the best chippies are in Fremantle (Cicerellos, Kailis, Joe's Fish Bar, Twin Fin). The very best, Sweetlips, had to close during the pandemic and are not sure if they'll ever re-open.

Back on topic, this ‘we can just eat spider crabs and megrim’ is exactly like all the other ‘we can just’s, from ‘grow our own vegetables’ through ‘revive our own car makers’ to ‘have an empire again’. If people wanted any of them they would already have been happening, so if they weren’t happening then they’re not going to start happening without some sort of adjustment, which is going to involve either the price of what used to happen going up, or some sort of legislative intervention or coercion to stop people doing what they previously chose to do. In other words, someone is not going to like it.

Martin_B wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:50 am

Don't know about Hastings, but if you're ever in Perth, the best chippies are

Thanks.

For your reference, the best one in Didsbury is Anchors, which used to be Fosters but IMHO has got better since becoming Anchors.

Martin_B wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:50 am

Don't know about Hastings, but if you're ever in Perth, the best chippies are in Fremantle (Cicerellos, Kailis, Joe's Fish Bar, Twin Fin). The very best, Sweetlips, had to close during the pandemic and are not sure if they'll ever re-open.

My sister lives in Freo, when we go visiting she drags us out to places along the main strip. Can't remember any names. Some bl..dy good ice cream as well.

bjn wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:13 am

Martin_B wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:50 am

Don't know about Hastings, but if you're ever in Perth, the best chippies are in Fremantle (Cicerellos, Kailis, Joe's Fish Bar, Twin Fin). The very best, Sweetlips, had to close during the pandemic and are not sure if they'll ever re-open.

My sister lives in Freo, when we go visiting she drags us out to places along the main strip. Can't remember any names. Some bl..dy good ice cream as well.

That'll be Cicerellos, Kailis & Joe's Fish Bar. Little Creatures also does good fish and chips, or at least did but I haven't been there for a while.

nekomatic wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 11, 2021 10:43 am

To the man chip shop with a hammer supply of batter and a deep fat fryer, everything looks like a nail needs battering and deep fat frying.

On the off chance that there is a next time I go anywhere to Hastings, which is the good chippy?

Marino's on the High Street in Rye, during scallop week or at any other time. Worth the 20min drive from Hastings.

The Dolphin's pretty rock solid in Hastings, but tbh you're spoiled for choice. Also strongly recommended is the hot smoked trout available in the fishmongers by the black fishing huts.

All this seafood stuff is all very interesting, but we're losing sight of the deeper issues here.


My toaster is stuck in Belgium.

warumich wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 11, 2021 1:48 pm

My toaster is stuck in Belgium.

Have you tried sticking a knife in the top?

I'd need a longer knife

warumich wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 11, 2021 1:48 pm

All this seafood stuff is all very interesting, but we're losing sight of the deeper issues here.


My toaster is stuck in Belgium.

Amazon? Mouscron? I've read that Amazon do some sort of customs clearance there, but that goods aren't necessarily physically there.

That'll teach you to buy fancy foreign toasters instead of decent, patriotic, British toasters built in one of the many domestic toaster manufacturing plants found today in the UK.

Does it have a special waffle attachment or something?

We had a fancy kitchenaid toaster (dont ask me, gf wanted it), which developed some unfortunate will of its own and refused to toast evenly, go "bing" when it's finished (told you its fancy) and just generally looked at me funny. It was barely 6 months old.

So we send it back to the manufacturer for repair (and at that price, a damn apology as well), to be fair they repaired it quickly, mailed it back and now it's stuck in a lorry park in Belgium, until the paperwork is clear, which we were told may take till March.


Meanwhile, no toast for me

The man from kitchenaid said on the phone that we'd have Brexit to blame for this. To which gf replied, dont f.cking look at me I'm f.cking French. So then gf and man from kitchenaid had a brief bonding moment about how stupid British people are

You see? Global Britain is bringing the world together already.