Fish and chips

Fish and chips or fish 'n' chips (also in Scotland, Wales, the North of England and Northern Ireland: a fish supper), a popular take-away food, consists of deep-fried fish in batter or breadcrumbs with deep-fried potatoes, traditionally sold wrapped in newspaper^[1]. For decades fish and chips dominated the take-away food sector in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Fish and chips also has considerable popularity in Canada, Ireland and South Africa. Denmark and some coastal towns in Norway serve fiskefiletter ("fish fillets"). In The Netherlands, the popular deep-fried, battered fish-fillet dish called lekkerbek sometimes appears served with chips.

Naming and terminology

People from Britain, Ireland and many Commonwealth countries refer to fried potatoes as "chips", whereas most people from United States of America and Canada call them "french fries". The British usually serve thicker chips than the 'french fry' popularised by certain major American hamburger-chains. Despite the difference in terminology, the combination still has the name "fish and chips" in most American restaurants which serve the dish. The food that Americans term "potato chips" equates to "crisps" in the UK, and a few American restaurants will offer "crisps" instead of "fries" when a consumer orders "fish and chips". ^{[2] [3]}

History

Fish and chips in Britain became a cheap food popular among the working classes with the rapid development of trawl fishing in the North Sea in the second half of the nineteenth century. Before this, fishermen had used long lines to target only large, high-quality demersal (bottom-dwelling) fish, especially valuable sole. Trawlers, on the other hand, landed a mixed catch of high-quality "prime" and cheaper "offal" fish, most of which fishermen initially threw back into the water due to the lack of a market. However, as railway charges fell, it became viable to transport this cheaper fish inland, and demersal fish became a mass-market commodity rather than a costly luxury.^{[citation needed]}

The modern fish-and-chip shop ("chippy" in modern British slang ^[4] ) originated in the UK, although outlets selling fried food occurred commonly throughout Europe. Early fish and chip shops had only very basic facilities. Usually these consisted principally of a large cauldron of fat, heated by a coal fire. Unsanitary by modern standards, such establishments also emitted a smell associated with frying, which led to the authorities classifying fish-and-chips supply as an "offensive trade"^{[citation needed]}, a stigma retained until between the wars. The industry overcame this reputation because during World War II fish and chips remained one of the few foods in the UK not subject to rationing. ^[5]

England

Deep-fried fish and deep-fried chips have appeared separately on menus for many years — though potatoes did not reach Europe until the 17th century. The originally Sephardi dish pescado frito, or deep-fried fish, came to the Netherlands and England with the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in the 17th and 18th centuries. (The Portuguese gain credit for taking the dish to Japan: see tempura).

The dish became popular in wider circles in London and the south-east in the middle of the 19th century (Charles Dickens mentions a "fried fish warehouse" in Oliver Twist - first published in 1838) whilst in the north of England a trade in deep-fried "chipped" potatoes developed. One (sometimes disputed) claim says the first chip shop was on the present site of Oldham's Tommyfield Market. It remains unclear exactly when and where these two trades combined to become the fish and chip shop industry we know today. Joseph Malin opened the first recorded combined fish and chip shop in London in 1860, while a 'Mr. Lees' pioneered the concept in the North of England in Mossley, Lancashire in 1863. ^[6]

Scotland

See Scottish cuisine

In common with the rest of the United Kingdom, Scotland experienced a wave of immigration from Italy toward the end of the nineteenth century. Many of the new Scots Italians set up friggitoria or gelateria businesses, catering for their own communities as well as for the native population. Originally in Scotland the Italians would hawk their wares from carts selling mostly ice-cream, but with the abundance and wide availability of seafood in Scotland, fish and chip shops soon became common. Brattisani's in Edinburgh's Newington district promotes itself as the oldest operational chip shop in Scotland, having traded since 1889.

Originally situated only in the larger cities and ports, fish and chip shops have proliferated in Scotland. Many Scottish chip shops remain Italian-owned, with names such as Crolla's, L'Alba d'Oro, and L'Aquila Bianca.

Scotland made the transition to polystyrene containers late. In some rural areas one can still obtain the food with its traditional wrapping of newspaper. ^[7]

Around Central Scotland — and specifically Edinburgh — a combination of spirit vinegar and brown sauce, known either simply as "sauce", or more specifically as "chippie sauce", has great popularity. ^[8] Many Scottish comedians have made capital out of the difference in condiment choice between Glasgow and Edinburgh, with Glaswegians generally preferring salt and vinegar, and Edinburghers preferring salt and sauce.

• See also Anstruther Fish Bar

Ireland

See Irish cuisine

Similarly to the UK and Scotland, Ireland experienced a wave of immigration from Italy. However, this occurred not at the end of the nineteenth century, but rather 40 years later, into post-1945 Ireland. Many of the new Irish Italians set up friggitoria or gelateria establishments; however, the gelaterie mostly wound up during the 1960s and converted to an increased market-share of Italian "chippers". Many Italian families from the areas around Rome and Naples came to Ireland to set up shop — hence many of the chippers have "Roma" as part of their name ('the Roma Grill', Roma Takeaway, etc.) or Napoli. Some famous Italian-Irish families include the Borza family, the Macari family and the Mizzoni family.

Most establishments in Ireland continue to serve fish and chips in paper-bags with greaseproof inner-lining bags. As in the UK, the Irish eat their chips normally with salt and vinegar. Since many of the Italian families didn't have a high standard of English when they first arrived in Ireland, it has become popular to order a "one and one" (originating from pointing at a menu and asking for "one of those and one of those"), meaning "a fish fillet and chips". A "single and chips", often ordered in Dublin, or a "fish supper" in Belfast, means the same.

Folkways

The long-standing Roman Catholic tradition of not eating meat on Fridays (and of substituting fish for meat on that day) continues to influence habits even in semi-secular and in secular societies. Friday night remains a traditional occasion for patronising fish-and-chip shops, and many cafeterias and similar establishments, while varying their menus on other days of the week, habitually offer fish and chips every Friday. ^[9]

Chips may have become associated with meals of fried fish because the fat used for frying the fish often became too hot for good frying. To return the fat to an optimal temperature, chefs dropped cut-up potatoes into the fat. Legend has it that shops initially gave the resultant 'chips' away free with the fish.^{[citation needed]}

Culinary variations

Regional differences exist in the UK for preparing the fish before battering. Some outlets, particularly those in the south of England, leave the skin on one or both sides of the fish, while others (mainly in the north of England, in Scotland and in Northern Ireland) fry a fillet with no skin at all.

The operation of frying

Traditional frying uses beef dripping or lard; however, vegetable oils, such as groundnut oil (used due to its relatively high smoke point) now predominate. A minority of vendors in the north of England and Scotland still use dripping or lard, as it imparts a different flavour to the dish, but it has the side-effect of making the fried chips unsuitable for vegetarians, for the health-conscious, and for adherents of certain faiths such as observant Hindus (strictly vegetarian diet), Jews (who won't eat any non-kosher meat-products), and Muslims (who regard lard as haraam). Lard continues in use in some other cases in the UK, especially in Living Industrial History Museums, such as the Black Country Living Museum.

The "chips" component of "Fish and chips"

American-style "french fries" typically have a slimmer shape than their British counterpart "chips"; thicker "fries" sometimes appear on US menus as "steak fries". These still do not have the thickness of British "chips", which typically measure ⅜ to ½ inches square in cross-section.^{[citation needed]}

Some maintain that Lincolnshire Whites or Maris Piper potatoes produce the best chips, although the Belgians and Swedes tend to use the Bintje variety.

Most traditional fish and chip shops in Britain make their own chips from fresh potatoes. Most Australian chips (or "hot chips") undergo pre-frying, then freezing before their final cooking.

Batter and its variants

The covering of the fish may also vary, with bread-crumbs or matzo-meal available alongside the traditional flour-based batter. In Australia, fish and chip shops in northern New South Wales and Queensland serve fish in bread-crumbs by default^{[citation needed]}, with batter available upon request. In the UK batter comes as the standard coating, with breadcrumb-coated fish unavailable in many outlets.

Fish-and-chip suppliers in the United Kingdom and the Irish Republic often include scraps of batter that fall into the fat and are fried (also known as batter, scratchins, scrumps, scrobblings, bits, fishbits, crimps, fishcrimps, crispy bits or batters) free on request. In the United States of America, some fish-and-chips aficionados refer to these as "cracklin's" (distinct from fried pork-rind cracklins). Beer batter, made with beer (which lends it an orange colour), has started to become popular in the United Kingdom.

Originally consumers did not actually eat the batter. Instead, it served to encase the fish for steaming before being discarded.^{[citation needed]}

Choice of fish

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In England, haddock and cod appear most commonly as the fish used for fish and chips, but vendors also sell many other kinds of fish, especially other white fish, such as pollock or coley; plaice, skate; and rock salmon (a term covering several species of dogfish and similar fish). In some areas of northern England and Scotland haddock predominates.

The Irish eat mostly cod and plaice today. Dublin has a long tradition of eating fresh ray-wings with chips, with a lesser tradition of rock salmon. In the city of Galway (west of Ireland), chip-shops commonly offer a wide selection of fresh fish with chips, including monkfish, hake, coley, haddock, skate and scampi.

Australians prefer reef-cod (a different variety than that used in the UK) or flake, a type of shark meat, in their fish and chips. Victorians tend to prefer flake, whereas Australians in the northern states generally favour reef fish. Increasing demand and the decline of shark stocks due to overfishing has seen flake become more expensive and — as in the UK — other white fish (such as barramundi) will often replace it. Australian fish-and-chip shops provide a wider range of fish (such as squid) than that commonly available in other countries.

New Zealanders prefer snapper because of its superior taste, but warehou and hoki offer an inexpensive alternative. The use of lemonfish has encouraged the use of the popular local synonym for 'fish and chips' - 'shark 'n' taties'. (Kumara chips, sometimes with sour cream, may supplement potato chips.)

Canadians use a wide variety of fish, including cod, halibut, haddock, pollock and bluefish; with shops usually letting the customer choose the particular fish for their dish. Fresh-water species such as yellow perch, walleye and smelt have also become quite popular in Ontario. In Vancouver, wild Pacific salmon has become a popular choice of fish.

In the United States, white fish occur most commonly by far. Salmon can, however, appear on occasion. Minnesotans often use walleye — not necessarily branded as "fish-and-chips" but as "fried walleye", and involving similar preparation.

South Africans most commonly use hake (Merluccius capensis) for fish and chips. Snoek (Thyrsites atun) has also become popular in Cape coastal areas. Kingklip (Xiphiurus capensis, known as cuskeel internationally) offers a less common and generally more expensive alternative.

In Denmark, deep-fried, breaded plaice fish fillets served with french fries (Danish, pomfritter) probably outsells other cooked fish - just about every restaurant in the country serves this dish. Traditionally, it has an accompaniment of remoulade sauce and lemon wedges.

Accompaniments

In the UK, fish and chips usually have an accompaniment of free salt and vinegar ("salt & vinegar"). Suppliers may use malt vinegar or onion vinegar (the vinegar used for storing pickled onions). A cheaper product called "non-brewed condiment" (actually a solution of acetic acid in water with caramel added for colour) substitutes for genuine malt vinegar in many fish-and-chip shops. Scots tend to prefer white vinegar to malt vinegar.

In Scotland, preference for accompaniments divide the East and West sharply, with Scots in the East (for example in Edinburgh) preferring a brown sauce known as chip-shop sauce (in response to the question "Salt and sauce?") whereas those from the West (for example in Glasgow) would have salt and vinegar. An East-coaster requesting "salt and sauce" in the West would probably end up with tomato ketchup, to their dismay. The vinegar in the sauce and used for the chips commonly comes from jars of pickled onion; pickled onions or pickled eggs serving as common accompaniments. "Chips and cheese" is also a popular Scottish combination.

American diners that offer fish and chips typically provide a side of tartar sauce or vinegar (intended for the fish), with ketchup and mustard usually available on request free of charge (sometimes in bottles already on the table).

Canadians commonly prefer white, cider or malt vinegar on the chips; and squeezed lemon on the fish.

In Australia the use of chicken salt on chips has become quite widespread; so much so that even fast-food chains like KFC no longer carry regular salt and use chicken salt by default. Vendors usually include a small slice of lemon free of charge: the purchaser can squeeze the slice in order to release the juice as dressing.

Other popular dressings include:

• Salt and vinegar
• Barbecue sauce
• Brown sauce
• Burger sauce
• Curry sauce
• Gravy
• Cheese (often with gravy)
• Chili sauce
• Garlic sauce
• Mayonnaise
• Ketchup
• Soy sauce (in Australia)
• Lemon slice (Britain, Canada, Australia)
• Thousand Island Dressing
• Tartare sauce
• Salad Cream

Other accompaniments include:

• Baked beans
• Bread and butter
• Bun/Barmcake/Cob/Muffin/Teacake
• Coleslaw
• Mushy peas
• Pickled onions, pickled eggs and/or gherkins.

In Holyhead in North Wales, all of the six current chip shops serve 'Peas Water' free of charge - water strained from the mushy peas. This practice allegedly occurs only in Holyhead. The inhabitants of the Wigan and St Helens areas refer to this product as "Pea Wet". "Pea Wet and Scraps" comprise a free meal of the pea water and pieces of batter and chip ends rescued from the frier. Wigan residents call meat puddings "Babby's yed" due to the soft pastry.

In Sheffield, chip shops often supply free the locally-produced Henderson's Relish - made of vinegar, sugar, spices etc and resembling Worcestershire sauce.

In Peterborough, and other selected places, chip shops sometimes offer a cajun seasoning as an accompaniment to fish and chips.

In Worcestershire one commonly finds the local Worcester Sauce in chip shops as a dressing for fish and chips.

In Kingston upon Hull and certain other areas of East Yorkshire, chip spice is commonly offered as an accompaniment, although this product is rarely found in other areas of the country.

Around North America's Great Lakes (for example, in Buffalo, New York), the popular tradition of Catholics eating fish on Fridays (especially during Lent) has resulted in a codifying of a particular sort of "Fish Fry", which includes a piece of whitefish (often haddock), a plentiful amount of french fries (generally thicker-cut "steak" fries), potato salad and/or macaroni salad, and coleslaw. This is so ubiquitous that some supermarkets in the area sell it from their seafood departments, and many local bars serve fish fries every week. In Ontario, Canada, a popular variant consists of freshwater perch or pickerel (walleye) - typically sold at lakeside resort towns.

Fish and chip shops

In the UK and in Australia fish-and-chips usually sell through independent restaurants and take-aways, colloquially known as chippies or as chip shops in the UK,^[10] or as fish-and-chip[s] shops in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Occasionally in these countries stores use the term "Fish and Chippery". Outlets range from small affairs to the likes of the famed Doyles at Watsons Bay in Sydney. Fish-and-chip outlets sell roughly 25% of all the white fish consumed in the UK, and 10% of all potatoes.

Fish-and-chip shops themselves vary enormously in the UK: from small back-street affairs to posh "Fish Restaurants" with seating and waiting-staff. The UK has a well-known chain called Harry Ramsden's, which originated in Guiseley near Leeds, and now has 31 chain restaurants throughout the country (the company also opened an ill-fated restaurant in Hong Kong). UK fish-and-chip shops sometimes sell other take-away food products, such as kebabs, pies, burgers, Chinese food and pizzas. In fishing towns fish-and-chip shops also commonly sell uncooked fish. Some fishing-town chip shops also offer to fry customers' own fresh fish, charging a fee dependent on the weight of the fish processed.

US fast-food restaurant chains that sell fish and chips include Long John Silver's, Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips, Captain D's, H. Salt Esquire, and (in the Pacific Northwest) Ivar's and Skipper's. Most of these chains refer to fish and chips as "fish and fries" or as "combo baskets", as opposed to "platters" (which include coleslaw). In the 1990s, the perception within the United States of fish and chips as unhealthy led to a decline in consumption and the financial problems of Long John Silver's and Arthur Treacher's. Other restaurants have acquired these two brands and the current strategy of both of these chains appears to aim at combining fish-and-chips with other brands to create the concept of "fun food". In Canada, Joey's Only Seafood Restaurants dominate prominently in "fish and chips" with over 100 locations.

Fish and chip shops in the UK occur commonly near seaside resorts — where tourists and visitors commonly eat fish and chips as a 'traditional' seaside meal — but also in both rural and urban settings, with most villages and towns having at least one shop, even in the absence of other fast-food establishments.

The existence of numerous competitions and awards for "best fish-and-chip shop" ^{[11] [12]} testifies to the recognised status of this type of outlet in popular culture. ^[13]

Packaging and wrapping

Fish-and-chips shops traditionally wrapped their product in an inner white paper wrapping and an outer insulating and grease-absorbing layer of newspaper or blank newsprint, though nowadays the use of newspaper has largely ceased on grounds of hygiene, and establishments often use food-quality wrapping paper instead - occasionally printed on the outside to emulate newspaper. However, many feel as though newspaper enhanced the mouthwatering smell of fish and chips and that, hygienically, it is perfectly safe to use. A supporting point to this would be that midwives/the emergency services often suggest the use of newspaper when delivering a baby in an emergency if nothing else is available.

The steam that is produced causes the paper wrapping to emit a characteristic smell, and the close wrapping prevents evaporation, giving the food a moist texture which can last for some time if the parcel remains unopened. Polystyrene packing, usual in many other kinds of take-away outlet, sometimes appears. Even when the fish get wrapped in paper, an open polystyrene container often holds the chips. Purists maintain that it "doesn't taste the same" in polystyrene or cardboard, lacking the smell and moist, steamed texture. Britain banned the use of real newspaper in the late 1980s^{[citation needed]}. Australian fish-and-chip shops, faced with a ban on the use of actual newspaper in the 1970s, substituted butcher's paper as the external wrapping, though a few shops continue to wrap their product in newspaper, especially in rural areas.

Chip vans

Mobile fish-and-chip shops serve rural areas in the UK, although they can also occur in urban areas. Van-operators may favour beef dripping rather than oil for frying in that cold dripping forms a solid mass and will not slosh around when on the move.

Other dishes

Fish-and-chip shops typically offer other fast food which customers may eat in place of the traditional battered fish. Typical alternatives offered in most English "chippies" include:

• Pies — in varieties such as steak and kidney, chicken and mushroom, mince and onion, or cheese and onion.
• Sausages — usually pork, deep-fried plain or in batter, or saveloys. Some chip shops use variations or combinations of other British sausages. In South Africa, standard sausages may include a Vienna sausage or simply a vienna (wiener), a frankfurter, a Russian sausage or simply a Russian (spicy pork sausage); all deep-fried plain.
• Hot dog — usually the sausage the shop uses, served in a bun.
• Fishcakes/Fish Fritter/Fish Slice — Fish and potatoes minced together and dipped in batter or bread-crumbs. Also in Yorkshire A fishcake is a thin piece of fish between two large flat slices of potato dipped in batter and fried.
• Fish Pattie - Two slices of potato with a slice of fish (usually cod) in between, always battered. Sometimes also sold as 'Fishcake'.
• Scampi — in bread-crumbs
• Chicken — deep-fried, and sometimes available either plain or 'southern fried' in a flavoured, slightly spicy, batter-like coating
• Chip butty — chips served between two slices of bread, traditionally spread with butter (now more usually with margarine). The bread most commonly takes the form of a bun. Regional names for the bread bun create variations such as "chip cob" in Nottinghamshire and "chip barm" or "chip muffin" in Lancashire and "chip bap" in Staffordshire.^{[citations needed]}
• Pineapple fritter — a slice of pineapple coated in batter before frying
• Kebab/Döner compressed mince meat — normally sliced from a rotating spit of meat held vertically
• Patty/Scallop — mashed potato, deep-fried in batter, usually served with chips ("patty and chips") as a low-cost meal, speciality of Hull, Yorkshire.
• Scraps — leftover batter from the deep fat fryer, scooped into bags and served alone or as an accompaniment to fish and chips
• Spam fritter — a slice of Spam coated in fried batter
• Rissole - similar to a spam fritter, but composed of mince meat, usually coated in breadcrumbs
• Burger — a minced meat (usually beef) patty, available either coated in fried batter or without.
• Wiganburger - a dish available in Wigan and surrounding localities such as Atherton, and consisting of a meat-and-potato pie in a barm.
• Cheese in burger - a dish of a fried burger with melted cheese inside.
• Rag Pudding - minced meat wrapped in suet boiled in a rag
• Scallop/Smack/Slap/Special - a slice of potato, battered and deep-fried.

Scotland

Chippies (in some regions "chippers") in Scotland sometimes sell other deep-fried foods (including fruit), such as banana fritters and pineapple fritters and on a rare occasion even deep-fried mars bars (first developed at the Caron Fish & Chip Shop, Stonehaven). In addition to fruit fritters, potato fritters are fairly common, which consist of roughly 1cm-thick slices of potato battered and fried. In Scotland the choice of alternatives further includes Deep-fried_pizza, smoked sausage (a variant of saveloy) either battered or un-battered, haggis, black pudding, red pudding and white pudding (the latter four served thickly battered in some locales).

In addition, Scottish takeaways offer minced mutton pies (known outside Scotland as "Scotch pies") and as a testament to changing tastes many establishments sell Kebabs and pakoras.

In Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England the inhabitants speak of a meal of fish and chips as a fish supper. Similarly, in Scotland one can order a haggis supper, a steak pie supper, and so on; supper means "with chips", in this context. A "single" order comes without chips. As sausages often sell in pairs, a sausage supper may mean two sausages and chips, while a single sausage can refer to two sausages (without chips).

In Scotland (especially in the West of Scotland) chip shops often have Italian names referring to the Italian family that owns the chip shop. However this doesn't seam as common elsewhere in the UK.

Australia

Australians tend to favour as an accompaniment the potato scallop (called a 'potato cake' in Victoria and a 'potato fritter' in South Australia). Quite distinct from the sea-scallop, it consists of a thick slice of potato, deep-fried in batter. Other common accompaniments in Australia include an Australian version of Chinese dumplings known locally as dim sims; an Australian version of a spring roll called the Chiko Roll, calamari rings (deep-fried rings of squid) and crab sticks (deep-fried imitation crab-meat). An increasing number of stores in Australia may also deal in Döner kebabs. The Döner Kebab has only recently become part of the fish-and-chip shop repertoire. Traditionally, Australians knew such kebabs as souvlaki or gyros, as Greeks loomed large in the fish-and-chip-shop industry, and a döner kebab closely resembles a souvlaki.

New Zealand

New Zealand vendors offer an accompaniment identical to the Australian "potato scallop", but known either as a "fritter", (as in Southern Australia), or as a "flip". This leads to the dish "flips and chips": historically a lower-cost alternative to "fish and chips", but now sold for its own merits, rather than for reasons of economy.

Footnotes

1. ^ BBC News - The chips are downtown
2. ^ Bob Townsend (2005). Neighborhood Nosh. Atlanta Journal. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
3. ^ Whitey's Fish Camp - Restaurant. Menu. Whitey's Fish Camp. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
4. ^ BBC news article
5. ^ Resources for Learning, Scotland: Rationing
6. ^ Tradition Historic UK, Fish and Chips
7. ^ http://www.scotsitalian.com/chippiescafe.htm
8. ^ Federation of Fish Friers (professional body)
9. ^ Icons of England
10. ^ Speakers of British English use the term chippy as a noun meaning a "fish-and-chip shop" or a "carpenter". Speakers of American English may use the word as a pejorative term for a prostitute.
11. ^ The Fish & Chip Shop of the Year Competition. Seafish. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
12. ^ Frier's Quality Award. Seafish. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
13. ^ Couple scoop best chip shop award. BBC News (2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-04.

See also

• Fried fish
• Fish fry
• Tempura

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