Chip, chip hooray! Battered pigs in blankets are back
FOOT-LONG SPECIALS SURE TO BRING SOME CHRISTMAS CHEER AFTER TOUGH YEAR
YOU know it’s getting close to Christmas when festive adverts appear on the telly, the towering fir tree is being decked with colourful lights in Old Market Square... and Nottingham chippies launch their yuletide specials.
Mouths are already watering in anticipation as Bestwood Fisheries and the Jolly Fryer in Kirkby-in-ashfield announced a launch date for their foot-long battered pigs in blankets.
The sausages are wrapped in three rashers of smoked bacon, then dipped in batter and deep fried.
And if that’s not epic enough regulars can step it up a level with the
colossal Crimbo banger inside a giant Yorkshire pudding, with chips and gravy.
Sunday is launch day – and brothers Antoni and Theo Tsiolas, who run the chippies in Arnold Road and
Low Moor Road, are expecting locals to be in even greater need of some Christmas cheer this year.
Last year the two chippies sold more than 3,200 of them which, if laid end to end, would stretch more than half a mile.
Theo said: “I’m hoping they are going to brighten the mood up a bit. We are a lively bunch. It’s been a very bad year and we were closed for five weeks.
“We’ll be doing our best to make it cheerful, wearing Christmas ties and T-shirts.”
The Yorkshire pig in blanket will be £6.95 – and as well as lashings of gravy Antoni recommends a dollop of mint sauce.
Those not brave enough to tackle the foot-long can choose a dainty six-inch version.
Both chippies will be opening on Sundays throughout December.
Antoni, who mans the fryers at Bestwood with cousin George Keliris, said: “As this lockdown comes to an end and the uncertainty of what’s next, we thought it was important to bring these back.
“People love them and you could tell this year people really wanted them since they’ve been asking since early October.
“Bringing them back will hopefully make everything start to feel like Christmas again.”
Customers have to pre-order by telephone or online – and this year for the first time the two chip shops are offering a delivery service.
Festive specials have also gone on sale at the Cod’s Scallops chip shops in Carrington, Wollaton and Long Eaton. As well as battered pigs in blankets, there are battered brussels sprouts on the menu between now and Christmas Eve.
We are a lively bunch... We’ll be doing our best to make it cheerful, wearing Christmas ties and T-shirts Theo Tsiolas