Tag: Oliver Twist

FISH ‘N CHIPS

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Probably the most identifiable dish in all of Great Britain is ‘fish ‘n chips’.  There are “fish shops” or “chippies” on every corner in every village, city and town.  Originally, just a ‘take away’ dish, the “National Association of Fish Friers” says there are now over 10,000 fish shops around the U.K.  Imagine, though, that at the height of their popularity, there were over 35,000.  And whether you go to the “chippie” or you go out for “cod ‘n chips”, you’ll probably get some of the best fried fish you’ve ever had.  Cod, of course, is the most popular, with haddock running a close second.

Always served with a shower of salt and a generous splash of malt vinegar, fish ‘n chips is usually accompanied by mushy peas, and a variety of sauces.  I must say ‘mushy peas” has always left me a bit wanting … and wondering why they exist.  But, let’s put that on hold for the moment.


How and why did fried fish served with fried potatoes get to be Britain’s national comfort food?  Well, it seems that this staple of the working class may have come from Portuguese Jews living in Spain and Portugal in the 16th century.   As with many other foods, coating their fish in flour and then frying it in oil was something they did quite regularly.  But when the religious environment for these people became too hostile, they fled Portugal and Spain and emigrated to the U.K. … where they continued to ‘fry their fish’.

This style of preparing and serving fish became an instant hit.  President Thomas Jefferson, after a visit to London in the late 1700s, wrote about eating “fried fish in the Jewish fashion”.  And in 1837, Charles Dickens refers to a “fried fish warehouse” in his novel Oliver Twist.  Alex Soyer in his 1845 cookbook, “A Shilling Cookery for the People”, includes a recipe for “Fried fish, Jewish fashion”.

Original Recipe from Soyer’s Book 1845

Ok, but what about the ‘chips’?  Well, in the 1860’s in the East End of London lived the Malin family, Jewish rug weavers by trade, who barely eked out a living.  Their young son, Joseph, convinced his family to sell fried potatoes as a way of augmenting their income.  Potatoes were commonplace by that time, having been introduced to Europe from South America.  (This anti-famine crop actually became a catalyst for famine when blight struck Ireland in the mid-1800s.)

As people realized the nutritional value of potatoes and the ease with which to grow them, potatoes quickly became the food for the workers of the Industrial Revolution.  A valuable source of protein, fiber, iron and vitamins, It is said that fish and chips actually kept the working class from starvation.  Again, Charles Dickens, a reporter at heart, who always included the current social environment in his novels, mentions “husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil” in his 1859 book, A Tale of Two Cities.

So it seems that ‘fried fish’ and ‘fried potatoes’ were introduced into the British diet separately, but at about the same time.  Joseph eventually convinced his family to include fried fish along with their fried potatoes, opening the very first fish and chip shop in 1860, where it continued for over a century. The success of this family-run business was passed down from Joseph to Albert, who worked there until he was close to 100 years old, and then to Dennis.  Sadly, Malin’s closed in the 70’s, but their legacy lives on.

July 1952 crowds flocked to celebrate the 21st birthday of the original Harry Ramsden’s.

Harry Ramsden opened his first fish ‘n chip shop in 1928 in West Yorkshire.  In 1952, Harry’s shop earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records by serving over 10,000 portions of fish and chips in one day!

During the First and Second World Wars, fish and chips was one of the few foods in the U.K. not rationed by the British Government.  The Territorial Army prepared for battle by eating fish and chips provided for them at training camps in the 1930’s.  Winston Churchill called fish and chips “good companions” and claimed that this dish actually helped the British defeat the Nazis during WWII.

Now, of course, there is the The National Fish & Chip Award which selects the best fish ‘n chip shop in Great Britain through a very thorough checklist for quality, authenticity, menu development, and staff training, as well as a sustainable sourcing policy.  This highly coveted annual award is announced at The National Fish & Chip Awards’ ceremony in London each January.  Who knew there was such formality around fish ‘n chips?

How do you eat fish ‘n chips?  Up until recently, fish ‘n chips would be served to you wrapped in newspaper or butcher paper, maybe with a simple wooden fork, and you were expected to sit outside, perhaps on a park bench, or while you were walking along, enjoying this salty, satisfying meal.


Now, fish and chips is also served in the most upscale, sit-down, trendy restaurants, and at exorbitant prices.  Celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, charges as much as £19.50 for a ‘take-away’ version of this classic dish (which, I must admit, I’d pay.)

Fish and chips is now known and served all over the world.  You’d be hard pressed not to see this dish on every pub restaurant menu in the U.S. from Boston to San Francisco.  As simple a dish as it is, would I ever attempt to make this British classic at home?  Not a chance!  But if you are in Britain and you are feeling a bit ‘peckish’, be sure to pop in to the nearest chippie.  But if you see soul-satisfying, take-away dish served with a wedge of lemon and a side salad, walk away!  I’m not sure where you are, or how you ended up where you did, but this is NOT a traditional chippie or fish shop!  Salt, malt vinegar and mushy peas … full stop!

”Todays headlines, tomorrow’s fish and chips wrappings”

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References:  The Sun, Taste Atlas, Wikipedia, Jewish History, Roman Road, GBM, Foods of England, Historic UK, 

THE MOULD RUNNERS

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I believe most of us have a few cherished heirloom plates, bowls or cups in our cupboard which may have been handed down from loved ones, or which caught our eye in an antique shop, or even a thrift store.  From the shelf they call out to us with their beauty, their intricate design or depth of color.  We turn them over to inspect the maker’s mark.  Who was the potter?  When was it made?  Could it be a highly-desirable collectible?

Admittedly, I have also sold quite a few pieces on EBay, but I also have quite a few pieces with which I will not part.  Do I bring them out when guests come over?  No … but I love to display them, inspect them and wonder what story lies behind their manufacture.  I conjure up images of a romantic industry of rugged, muscular potters, each in their drafty factories, sitting at their wheel throwing  on a rough ball of clay and shaping it until the clay morphs into the symmetrical shape the potter had intended, creating the stunning pieces we have come to revere.

What I’ve never thought about was how could these individual potters produce thousands of pieces of pottery, in the over 300 factories located in the six-town area which made up the “pottery district” of Stoke-on-Trent.  It had to have taken hundreds if not thousands of people, working continuously, to keep up with the demand of the Victorian era.  Who were these people?

Burleigh Ware Factory, Middleport, England 1888

Sadly, the majority of people who worked in the potteries were children.  Some as young as five or six … with most children in the area employed by the age of eight.  Why?  Because children were cheap.  Most of the factory owners saw nothing wrong with children working to run errands, carry raw materials, and provide power for the potters machines.

Of course, adults were employed too by the factories, quite often the children’s parents.  The adults were paid on a ‘piece-meal’ basis, which meant their earnings were dependent on how many saleable pieces they actually produced, but not the children.  The children were the ‘batters’, the ‘jiggers’ and worst of all, ‘mould runners’.

For individual pieces, a typical potter or thrower would need three helpers … one to actually turn the wheel, one to cut the clay into the right-size balls, and another to carry the finished pieces to the stove or kiln where they would be fired.  As the demand grew, more and more pottery was made using molds.  The plate-maker or presser would press the balls of clay into a plaster mold while it was spinning on a ‘jigger’ wheel.  The plate-maker also required three helpers … a ‘jigger’ turner, a ‘batter’ to prepare the clay, and finally a ‘mould runner‘ who would take the plaster molds, each with clay plates on them and then run the molds to the stove buildings.

The young boy would place the molds on the shelves in the oven rooms, and then pick up two dried molds with plates on them and run back.  This would continue for 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week, with Sundays off.

Many of the children worked much longer hours because they were expected to be in the factories before the adults arrived in order to have the fires lit, the water brought in, and the clay ready for the potters.  Working a 72-hour week for an eight or ten-year old was commonplace.  And many employers saw nothing wrong with this.  Let’s not forget that, at the end of the day, the children then had to walk home, sometimes two to three miles.  Because of the long work days, children could not attend school, most never learning to read or write.  If they did, it was through Sunday school.

Of course, there were  many other dangerous jobs being done by young children in the potteries including carrying 60 lb. baskets of clay up to the workshops … or working in the 100 degree oven rooms … stacking the earthenware to be fired and then bringing it out again when finished … but the most dangerous of all jobs at the factories was dipping the fired pots into the liquid glaze which contained raw lead.  Needless to say, mistakes by tired children happened often.  But these would not be tolerated … the children would be beaten, or not allowed to take their meal breaks.

I’m sure , by now, you’re asking yourself how could the parents allow their children to work under these circumstances.  Because poverty was everywhere and families needed every penny they and their children could earn, regardless of how dirty or dangerous the work.   And ‘pennies’ were just about what they did earn.


During Victorian times, children not only worked in the potteries and factories, they worked in the mines, as chimney sweeps, as ‘ratters’ and even as ‘pickpockets’ as we’ve learned from Charles Dickens novel, OLIVER TWIST.  In 1840 a commission was set up to inquire into the state of employed children.  Adults and children were interviewed by the Commissioner in 1841 as were employers, religious leaders and school teachers.

This is an interview with Robert Hood, age 10:

“I run moulds for father; have been employed three years for Mr. Hood.  I cannot read; I cannot write; never went to day school ; I go to Sunday school. My father is a saucer- maker; he is always in work; don’t know how much he gets a week; but I get 3s.

Have no mother. Have one sister and one brother. My sister stops at home to look after house; she cannot read. My brother goes to school, but he is young yet. I go home to breakfast, and have milk-meat ; and go home to dinner, when I get bacon and tatees.

I like my work very well; would like to work in the warehouse better, cause they are paid there for working till nine, and I am not; I think ours harder: and get so much a day. I am always very tired when I go home at night, get my supper, and be glad enough to go to bed. 

‘Tis very hot in the mould-room, and a good deal hotter in summer; it makes us sweat, and we drink plenty of water. I catch cold very often, but have never been laid up with it. Father flogs me some-times, if I let go a mould or break a saucer ; nobody else. Master is very good to me.”

Reformers like Lord Shaftesbury were very worried about children at work, and he, and other politicians tried to change the laws in the “Factory Acts” so that children under nine were not permitted to work, and that they must have schooling.  But potteries were not classified as factories until the 1860s.  Unfortunately, changes did not happen as quickly as they should have and as recently as WWII children under the age of 16 were still finding work in the potteries.

So, the next time I pick up that Wedgewood, Burleigh Ware or Royal Doulton figurine or plate, I’ll be thinking about the young boy or girl slogging away in the potteries for pennies a week to bring home to their families, for their not having the opportunity to go to school, or even to play with other children.  I won’t romanticize about brawny potters creating magnificent pieces of porcelain, but rather the “mould runners” without whom I wouldn’t be holding that plate.

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References:  Wikipedia, BBC – Staffordshire Potteries, Fun Kids Live, The Potteries,  Victorian Children

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JAM ROLY POLY

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I’ve been hearing the name “JAM ROLY POLY” for years but have never been quite sure what it was.  I thought it might just be a silly name for an English version of a jelly roll cake or a rolled pastry filled with jam.  With a name like that, it definitely has to be a children’s dessert, right?  Well, I was partly right.  What I’ve learned is that, not only was it one of hubby’s favorite school foods which tugs at the heart strings of most Brits, it has a fascinating history.

If you search online, as I did, for JAM ROLY POLY, you’ll find unappetizing names like ‘dead man’s arm‘ or ‘dead man’s leg‘, and ‘shirt sleeve pudding‘  which just didn’t provide much information and only continued to confuse me.  To learn more about this strangely named childhood favorite, I actually had to go all the way back to Great Britain’s Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain around the latter part of the 18th century with the invention of the steam engine.  Up until that time most goods were made by craftsmen and power was created by water or animals.  Now with the advent of the steam engine, machinery and technology became the catalyst for mass production.  Before long,  an increase in global trade created a greater demand for these manufactured goods and factories were built in all the urban areas.

Inventors were creating more and more machinery to push productivity.  Coal now became a major player to fuel the engines.  The critical element necessary for success to operate all of this machinery was, of course, people.  Three quarters of Britain’s population, at that time, were craftsmen and farmers who lived in the countryside.  But with these rural cottage industries closing, they had no choice but to pack up and move to the cities in search of jobs.

Although British productivity soared, the overwhelming competition for jobs kept the wages low. Some individuals became very wealthy.  Too many people, however, lived in overcrowded slums with little or no food or comforts.  With so little income, parents had no choice but to send their children to work in the factories as well.  Children were welcomed by the factory owners and managers, not only because they were cheap labor, but because their small statures and nimble fingers made them suitable for many work situations.

Prior to this time, education was not free.  Poor children eked out whatever education they could.  In 1833, the government passed the Factory Act, the first of many legislative attempts to improve conditions for children working in factories. In addition to limiting the hours a child could work, this Act made mandatory two hours of education a day.  This did not, however, ensure that these rules would be followed.  Children were wage earners and to have them attend school and not work placed a huge financial burden on the family.  Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy captured the brutality of this era in the storytelling of David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.

In 1844, the Ragged Schools Union was set up to provide free education to poor working class children.  The success of these “ragged schools” demonstrated that there was a demand for education among the poor and in 1870 public funding began to be provided for free elementary education.  Although Britain’s economy was flourishing, the health of its people was not.  One third of its children were malnourished.  Infant mortality was on the rise.  Men were deemed not fit to serve in the Armed Services.  But it wasn’t until 1889 when a report was published which indicated that over 50,000 pupils in London alone were attending school without having eaten anything at all which prompted two school board members to take action. Margaret McMillan and Fred Jowett persuaded Parliament to introduce legislation which would encourage free school meals for children.

Mrs. Macmillan was passionate about improving the welfare and education of children and encouraged others to see children as the future of the nation.  Her belief was that children couldn’t concentrate on their lessons because they were starving.  Although charities had been feeding the hungry for years, a formal program was now put in place to feed schoolchildren.

Breakfasts for the school children consisted of bread with jam and milk.  Lunch (or dinner as it is called in Britain) consisted of a porridge or stew, pudding, bread and butter and milk. Puddings have been an integral part of the British diet since the middle ages.  They began as a savory item made with suet to bind all the ingredients together and then steamed in muslin cloth (hence, the reference to ‘shirt sleeve pudding’ or ‘dead man’s arm’).

A typical school lunch program from the early 1900’s:

Monday: brown vegetable soup, jam roly-poly pudding, sauce;
Tuesday: savoury batter, beans, gravy, semolina pudding;
Wednesday: potato and onion soup, ginger pudding, sweet sauce;
Thursday: stewed beef and gravy, mashed potatoes, baked jam roll;
Friday: fish and potato pie, parsley sauce, peas, sago pudding.

As you can see, meals had to be inexpensive, filling and something the children would eat.  To get them to eat the more nutritious porridge or stew, a sweet “pudding” was always served.  The one they liked the most … JAM ROLY POLY!

A roly-poly is a pudding made with a suet dough, which is then spread with raspberry or strawberry jam, rolled up, tied in a muslin bag and boiled or steamed.  First published in 1861, Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management included a recipe called jam roly-poly pudding and so began the British love affair with this sweet, stodgy pudding served with lashings of hot custard.

Now that we’ve uncovered the origins of the JAM ROLY POLY, do we really want to make one?  Maybe … maybe not!

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References:  Health.co.uk, Wikipedia, BBC, National Archives, Intriguing History, British Food History, the Nosey Chef, Food Timeline, Economic History Association

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