Choicest chips

sir – When I was young, shortly after the war, my father was a butcher in Hereford, and we used to render all the beef fat we could obtain from the beef we were processing to make dripping (Letters, May 3). This went into 1lb packets and was sold widely.

In a street at the rear of the premises was a fish and chip shop, and we used to make blocks of dripping for the owner to cook his fish and chips in. There were two separate areas for cooking: one for the chips and one for the fish. The owner bought his potatoes locally and had a machine that peeled them, along with one that made them into chips.

There was always a queue. Every so often the owner would replace the dripping with a fresh batch. Needless to say his fish and chips were wonderful, and I have not tasted the like of them since.

Richard Moxley

Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire