"Chip Shop Brain Trust"????

[J.D. Raaz]

Tim Knowles recently used this phrase in a Whitehaven News Letter to the Editor. Can someone please tell me what this means? I've never heard the phrase before. Is it a reference to what we would call "blue collar workers" here in the States?

[beermatt42]

I am like you Mrs Raaz, I am totally non plussed at this phrase, it's certainly not some sort of British saying at all, perhaps the fellow was drunk when he said it, it wouldn't surprise me.

I certainly wouldn't go in any chip shop that serves up Brains Mrs Raaz, and neither should you.  I do have an old Spanish cook book from the seventies however that includes recipes for Frittered Brains in tomato ketchup and Brains in Béchamel sauce, delicious.
There is some lively conversations when I show the recipes to my guests on a dark evening LOL, but seriously it must have been part of the Spanish diet in the seventies, they would have included it as offal or lights, and served it up for breakfast LOL.

Nothing worse than liver for me thanks.

[J.D. Raaz]

beermatt42:

A fellow forum member kindly explained the situation to me in private messaging. I had thought I had missed out on a local phrase whilst in Cumbria and could make no sense of what it meant.

I am not a fan of brains though I will disagree with you regarding liver. One of the things I miss about the U.K. is the pate' everywhere. Here I more often than not must make my own.

Offal and sweetbreads aren't used as much here in the States, especially as we don't have the proper butchers available to many. Given what we feed to our cattle here its probably for the best. I have a wonderful cookbook featuring offal and recipes produced in the 1980's. Perhaps I should experiment with a few for Halloween. Perhaps a lovely recipe of "Pigs Ears with Yellow Peas" or "Baked Stuffed Veal Spleen?? 

[beermatt42]

Perhaps I could pass on my Frittered brains in tomato ketchup recipe Mrs Raaz,  Of course, you will need to be a dab hand at cleaning and preparing them first, then you will just need one and a half calves brains, a commodity no kitchen cupboard should be without, or three lambs brains will do if there is a shortage, sunflower oil for deep frying, one quantity of batter, one quantity of classic tomato ketchup, and some sprigs of parsley to garnish.

Serve that up at Halloween and the little blighters will never come back again 

[cran.cran]

Chip shop brains trust is a variation on "chip shop anectodets" which basically means it's the type of twadle on a serious subject one would hear in a chip shop queue, it's very degrogatory, a USA version would be something like "that's trailor trash opinion" Tim knowles is probably the one guy who ruined WRLFC and the stadium, I think he has a lot to answer.

[J.D. Raaz]

beermatt:

 "....one and a half calves brains, a commodity no kitchen cupboard should be without". This will have me smiling for an hour or two

Though I will pass on handing out that treat to the wee ones. I will admit to Halloween being one of my favorite holidays here in the States. Every child, regardless of their economic or social condition, is equal in the opportunity for enjoyment. One of our neighbors here complained to me this year that people were driving their children to our neighborhood from out of the area. My response was "Oh for heaven's sake...bring on the wee ones." I want to see as many young faces as possible (..and if I remember correctly this last year we had close to 300, not as large as what we saw in our Carlsbad home before leaving for the U.K. but still a nice number).  I felt the same about Guy Fawkes...and still miss that celebration.

cran.cran:

Thank you for that explanation...though if accurate its surprising to hear that from a public servant. I would not be shocked to hear that sort of crude comment from a member of our radical  "Tea Party" here in the States....but in Cumbria?? I always expect more respectful disagreement from the U.K..

As for Mr. Knowles involvement in Haven....the record (and my cheque book) tells the story. But we can't look back at losses and must look forward to progress.

...and now I'm off to find those "essential" calves brains in my refrigerator. 

..and beermatt, I just found a recipe titled "To Roast a Bullock's Heart". How inspiring!!! lol

[cran.cran]

You did say Bullocks didn't you mrs Raaz!

[cran.cran]

Oh the reason he brought in the Chip Shop thing, is that there is very loose group of people [non politically aligned] that want Whitehaven to have a town council of its own and the borough should have an elected mayor, one of the ladies in that group has a chip shop so his remark is also a double edged insult against that lady herself. He fails to tell that one of the councillors stormed into her shop and made a right prat of himself demanding to know who is in the group and how he can join etc etc all very childish and indeed churlish from an elected politician but as you say it is Cumbria.

[forty twenty]

good old teflon tim.

[ca28]

How the hell did he get such power ? Another case of Teflon Tim strikes again. Then again you could dress a monkey in a red jacket in Copeland and the yokels would still vote for it!

[cran.cran]

Anyone heard the story of Amy Jones?

[rockerlad]

How the hell did he get such power ? Another case of Teflon Tim strikes again. Then again you could dress a monkey in a red jacket in Copeland and the yokels would still vote for it!

Like a heard of sheep. People turn into zombies when it comes to election time.

[cran.cran]

Very coincidental he/they bankrupt the club waste £1.5m on the stadium fiasco lose the transport hub etc etc etc and then oh so quietly resign from local politics as quickly as possible after the event - or seeing as it's Christmas day am I being a tad cynical?

[ca28]

Anyone heard the story of Amy Jones?

Dear Cran Cran please do tell, I could do with a good Christmas horror story.

[cran.cran]

Well seemingly our great leader Ms.Woodburn has an alter ego called Amy Jones, she then proceeded to 'bull up' CBC over her wage rise. However she then went a bit further and lambasted some poor chap in Egremont, perhaps he was an ex councillor - not sure. Then she was reported to the standards thingummybob at CBC who produced a reprt [ten lines I think] saying she was entitled to a private life and that the two were thus unconnected. However it seems that no one disagrees that she is entitled to a private 'Amy Jones' personna but when she is using her alter ego to push the political line she really is way out of order. her colleagues really should have asked her to stand down but hey ho it's Christmas. The matter is far from finished. I have seen the scrutiny report and I will try and get 'a link' and post it so you can all view what is in reality a totally pathetic piece of politicking. It shows only to well why we are where are as a town.