I often eat bread & dip without the bacon inside

I assume you've not tried a balti pie?

I sampled one of these for the first time last week.

The local delicacy in Carlisle appears to be patties which are large battered balls of meat or cheese. I've been here 6 years and haven't plucked up the courage to try one.

Likewise.

Hull has a long and proud tradition of making patties, the women employed in their production are called patty-slappers. A chip shop patty is a flattened ball of potato, seasoned with sage and onion, battered and deep fried. Anything else is just so wrong

Nor have I ever tried a chicken egg foo yung pie. If I want a balti I'll either make one or visit one of a very small number of restaurants and then let them cook one for me. I'll then use chapatti or naan to scoop up my balti, the last thing I'd ever do is put the balti in a pastry case, especially if that case was puff pastry insteaf of shortcrust.

They sound rank but the taste better than they sound







Depends where in the North you are, to me a patty is two slices of potato with some fish in between battered and deep fried.

Rightly or wrongly, we used to call that a scallop when I was a lad.

They're called scallops in Hull too. I've seen them variously described as fritters or "fish specials", although there's buggerall special about the fish inside them. Usually it's just a way of using belly-flaps that would simply get chucked otherwise and the reason you don't see them so much now is because most chippies couldn't fillet a fish for their lives

I tried a chicken one at an away game at Griffin Park.

It was oblong and a bit wobbly.

I bit off the corner and drank the contents.

Bloody awful ... but needs must when you're absolutely ravenous.

I'm aware of that but it is no recommendation or excuse.

It merely serves to reinforce the view that, apart from Rugby League, there is no reason to visit Leigh unless you really, really have to.