You can take the girl out of the Black Country but can never take the Black Country out of the girl. Especially when it comes to food.
And although my children were born and raised southerners some of them seem to have inherited a love of Midlands fare - a couple of my brood love mushy peas which make my husband gag, and my eldest like me is addicted to one particular local delicacy, Klondikes (or scallops depending where in the Black Country you are!)
None of them like faggots (a type of meatball) though which is a shame so I have to eat them alone as a guilty lunchtime treat every now and again. With mushy peas and gravy and white bread with loads of butter. Yum.
On a recent trip to Sedgley to see my Gran with my eldest son we both agreed that while we were there we had to fit in a fix of our favourite snack Klondikes which are fundamentally battered, deep fried slices of potato.
Most but not all chip shops in the Black Country sell them and on the way back to the motorway we stopped at a chip shop we had never been too before, walked in nervously hoping it wasn't going to let us down but Hurrah! a small pile of hot scallops was nestled in the corner of the display thingy just waiting for us to arrive. We did get some funny looks when we expressed our delight maybe a little too enthusiastically!
Scallops are best eaten after they have sat in the warming display cupboard of the chip shop then doused in salt and vinegar and washed down with a can of something fizzy. Or a cup of sweet tea with sterilised milk in. Some people put them in bread rolls but I'm a scallop purist. I was even disappointed they served mine in a polystyrene tray - they are obviously better in paper!
As DS#1 and I devoured the hot greasy treat we wondered why they were called scallops in some areas. Klondikes is easy to figure out - nuggets of gold. But scallops? If anyone knows why they are sometimes called that I'd love to hear from you.
And although my children were born and raised southerners some of them seem to have inherited a love of Midlands fare - a couple of my brood love mushy peas which make my husband gag, and my eldest like me is addicted to one particular local delicacy, Klondikes (or scallops depending where in the Black Country you are!)
None of them like faggots (a type of meatball) though which is a shame so I have to eat them alone as a guilty lunchtime treat every now and again. With mushy peas and gravy and white bread with loads of butter. Yum.
On a recent trip to Sedgley to see my Gran with my eldest son we both agreed that while we were there we had to fit in a fix of our favourite snack Klondikes which are fundamentally battered, deep fried slices of potato.
Most but not all chip shops in the Black Country sell them and on the way back to the motorway we stopped at a chip shop we had never been too before, walked in nervously hoping it wasn't going to let us down but Hurrah! a small pile of hot scallops was nestled in the corner of the display thingy just waiting for us to arrive. We did get some funny looks when we expressed our delight maybe a little too enthusiastically!
Scallops are best eaten after they have sat in the warming display cupboard of the chip shop then doused in salt and vinegar and washed down with a can of something fizzy. Or a cup of sweet tea with sterilised milk in. Some people put them in bread rolls but I'm a scallop purist. I was even disappointed they served mine in a polystyrene tray - they are obviously better in paper!
As DS#1 and I devoured the hot greasy treat we wondered why they were called scallops in some areas. Klondikes is easy to figure out - nuggets of gold. But scallops? If anyone knows why they are sometimes called that I'd love to hear from you.