Forgotten Favourites: Fishfingers & Liquorice Allsorts

I've spoken before about foods we love but just never seem to eat very often until a wave of retro cravings and sentimality forces up to satisfy that need. Today, this was fishfingers and liquorice allsorts. Two very different products but both forgotten favourites of mine that deserved to be resucitated.

The fishfingers came about after a conversation about fishfinger baguettes with a friend. For something so simple, this really satisifies on all levels. The crunchy carbohydrate goodness of a crisp, crunchy baguette, the cooling tartare sauce and the soft, warming fishfingers - it's a perfect threesome. What I love about fishfingers is how the breadcrmbs and tender cod all meld into one. The outside isn't crunchy and crisp (that's what the baguette is for) but forms a delicious skin around the melt in the mouth fillet inside that blends seamlessly with it but adds its own flavour.

And liquorice allsorts? Well, this was the result of a buy one get one free offer (damn supermarkets and their sugar peddling!). Alongside some Bassett's Jelly Babies (which frankly, I can't wait to get my teeth into), I purchased some liquorice allsorts. I absolutely adore these - to be frank, they are a strong contender for my favourite sweet.

But I think the reason I never eat them, is that they are an acquired taste. When a family member buys sweets for a Saturday night in or a colleague is getting sweets to share round the office, they never choose the poor liquorice allsrot because not everyone likes them. Instead, you usually end up with some bland rubbish to appease those who don't possess tastebuds. (It's the same with Marks & Spencer mini bites - in an effort to please everyone, we always end up with the dullest choices at work - the brownies and chocolate rolls - why can we never have the absolute ecstacy of the Oatberry Clusters or the sweet clusters of Rocky Road?)

I, for one, love the simple Allsort and its sweet but peppery charms. Even to look at, they're pleasing. All those bright, neon colours so striking in the way they contrast one another. I would much rather have a picture of liqorice allsorts on my wall than a Van Gogh. They're just so tempting looking. And as for taste, something so sweet is inevitably going to be a winner in my book. Combine that with a lovely texture, that is chewy and almost gritty but also soft and yielding and it's sweet nirvana.

 

I probably won't have fishfingers or liquorice allsorts for while now as they'll get lost in the sea of tempting choices I face everyday but though they may be temporarily forgotten, they'll never die out. They're just too good.