Rick Stein cooks his fish and chips in beef dripping and is proud of it. Not so long ago, beef dripping fish and chips would have scared customers off. We have come a long way. Fat is OK now. Everyone roasts their potatoes in goose fat, and there is even a fat cookbook. A mini gastronomic revolution seems to be happening: out with calorie-counting and in with a sensible balanced diet.
The beef dripping makes the fish batter really crispy, as we discovered at Rick's new takeaway joint near the harbour front in Falmouth. But it also makes it a bit greasy. What better remedy, then, than straight-out-of-the-sea Cornwall oysters, perched on a nest of ice in a takeaway box, showered in lemon juice and popped down the hatch in quick succession.
Dinner in Mevagissey, a fishing village on the south coast near St Austell, was also fish. It seemed rude not to, we thought as we sat in the warmth of a quay-side pub watching the boats unload the day's catch. Jude's Restaurant on the quay dished up seared scallops followed by warming fish stew.
