F. Cooke is one of the oldest fast food restaurants in London. They’ve been serving handmade pies and mash with traditional jellied eels since 1862, and not much has changed since then.
“This is the oldest traditional meal in the East End of London. This is it,” owner Joe Cooke told Business Insider. “It hasn’t altered, and as far as I’m concerned it won’t alter.”
Their pies are made using a divider machine splits that the dough into 36 perfect pieces. Each piece is then rolled and filled with mincemeat mixed with salt, pepper, and caramel.
On a busy day they can make up to 600 pies.
Pies are served with potato mash and a sauce called liquor made from parsley and the juice of cooked eels.
“It was my great-grandfather who put the eel sauce, the parsley sauce which is predominantly a fish sauce with the meat pie,” said Cooke. “Thank God it worked. That was it.”
F. Cooke has stayed at traditional as possible. They still sprinkle sawdust on the floor.
As per pie etiquette, knives here are banned, and pies are to be eaten with fork and spoon only. The same can be said for gravy. “You mention the G word and you’re gone. It does not come with gravy. It might do up north or wherever it is, but here the traditional meal is pie and mash and parsley sauce liquor. That’s it.”
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38 Comments
No wonder everyone there looks dreadful and depressed
The guy hated them eels😂
Pie and mash jellied ells not my cup of tea. The first bite is with the eyes, and the food looks disgusting.
there's no chance I'd eat them eels there horrible creatures
Dm
Everyday I wake up and I'm glad I don't have to eat British food
I once tried the Jellied Eels in Brighton I nearly threw up never again YUCK. Acquired taste they said what a load of bullocks its just plain disgusting LOL
I think this place has closed
This video is 7 years old, tge store is prob a halal place or mosque now
They’re reusing footage from a channel called munchies like not even the whole video, but most of it like munchies at least interviewed them and did stuff like that but they’re not even doing any. They’re just footage from them.
Was in there today. Top drawer grub. Joe's a great man
It’s probably pretty good, but the electric green parsley sauce looks a tad off putting
Looks fine to me. I love parsley, so no problem there. The eels, I've only had them the Japanese way, so I'd have to try them. At least the pie and mash look good.
There are no really good old-fashioned pie'n'mash shops left. I was born in East London and grew up eating the real thing, and believe me, even the "oldest" and "original" pie'n'mash isn't authentic because the original production methods just don't happen anymore. You'll find people who claim their pies are made the traditional way and have been since nineteen hundred and frozen to death, but they aren't. Their pie'n'mash may be perfectly pleasant, but original, it IS NOT. Oh, and there's nothing wrong with gravy. At least two of the old East End Eel and Pie shops served you gravy if you wanted it.
That pie and mash looks good
Какая гадость эти ваши заливные угри!
Id take a cheap and nasty steak and cheese pie over that any day. Wtf is wrong with the uk?
But do they sell food?
Scottish food looks like a dare. English food looks like a punishment.
I might have tried it as if i had known about this was in London in 2017 (I'm Aussie) but on the other hand… did I really miss out?
Kicking people out of the restaurant just for ASKING about gravy is a bit harsh. That parsley pot liquor is probably better than gravy, anyway. I am keen to eat at this place and to try jellied eels.
Should be protected heritage cuisine
So satisfying to watch
Top pie and mash shop in eastend next is Kelly's down the roman road
I love traditional foods. If I ever go back to london, Im going to this place straight away.
Just added this to my grocery list
"Jellied eels" 🫣
Uh… keep the eels. But the beef pie and mashed potatoes sounds good, it's like pasties from the UP here in Michigan, just with less ingredients.
This will be perfect for the weekend
Soft hands baby, lets go
Why oh why do Brits add water to their food? Water is the enemy of flavor. You cook to get rid of water. Now it makes more sense as to why Jamie Oliver wants to add water to his Egg fried rice.
wars been over for 80 years guys
The beauty of their women and the taste of their food made the British the best sailors in the world
Go to Norway and try there food
This will be perfect for the weekend
Why have you not mentioned the chilli vinegar thats another key component to pie and mash????
If I were English in th 1800s, I would want to be a sailor too and keep away from such cuisine and women.
Whenever I'm starving, the first thing that comes to my mind is some cold jellied eels with some well watered pies.