Fish and chips
Fish and chips is deep-fried fish in batter and deep-fried potatoes, a popular take-away food originally from the United Kingdom, but also very popular in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, and increasingly so in the United States and elsewhere. For decades it was the dominant take-away food in the United Kingdom.
The fried potatoes are called chips in British and international usage; while American English calls them french fries, the combination is nonetheless called fish and chips even in the US. (Potato chips, an American innovation, are an entirely different food, known as crisps in the United Kingdom.)
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2 Choice of fish 3 Accompaniments 4 Fish and chip shops 5 See also 6 Footnote 7 External link |
History
Fish and chips have separately been eaten for many years – though the potato wasn't introduced to Europe until the 17th century.
Eating deep-fried fish became popular in London and the south-east in the middle of the 19th century (Charles Dickens mentions a "fried fish warehouse" in Oliver Twist) whilst in the north of England a trade in deep-fried "chipped" potatoes developed. It is unclear when and where these two trades were merged to become the fish and chip shop industry we know today. The first combined fish and chip shop was probably the one opened in London by Joseph Malin in 1860.
During World War II, fish and chips was one of the few foods that were not rationed in the UK.
Choice of fish
The most common fish used for fish and chips in the UK is cod, but many kinds of fish are used, especially other white fish such as pollock or haddock. Chip shops also sometimes sell other deep-fried foods, anything from chicken to pineapple. In Australia the preferred type of fish is flake, a type of shark meat. Increasing demand and the decline of shark stocks due to overfishing has seen flake become more expensive and, just as in the UK, other white fish is often substituted.
Accompaniments
In the UK, the chips are usually served with malt vinegar or onion vinegar (the vinegar that pickled onions are stored in). (In many cases something called "non-brewed condiment", which is actually a solution of acetic acid in water with caramel added for colour, is used as a substitute for genuine malt vinegar.) They are typically salted but this can usually be varied according to preference. Another popular dressing is ketchup, though many chip shops charge extra for this. Often mushy peas are added.
In the US, malt vinegar (or, in less well-informed establishments, red wine or cider vinegar) is often served with the combination as well.
Tartar sauce is also a common accompaniment. Mayonnaise is popular in Europe, whilst brown sauce or gravy are popular in Scotland and Northern England. A common Canadian preference is for white vinegar on the chips and squeezed lemon on the fish. Scots also tend to prefer white vinegar to malt vinegar.
Fish and chip shops
Fish and chips were traditionally packaged with an inner white paper wrapping and an outer insulating layer of newspaper, though nowadays the use of newspaper has ceased on grounds of hygiene, and food quality wrapping paper is used instead. Polystyrene packing, usual in many other kinds of take-away outlet, is sometimes substituted.
In the UK and Australasia, fish and chips are usually sold by independent restaurants (one of the most famous being the Magpie Cafe in Whitby) and take-aways are colloquially known as chippies in the UK1, or fish shops in Australia and New Zealand. There is one well-known chain based in the north of England called Harry Ramsden's. Roughly about 25% of all the white fish consumed in the UK, and 10% of all potatoes, are sold through fish and chip outlets.
Fish and chip shops typically offer other fast food such as meat pies, sausages and fishcakes, which may be eaten in place of the traditional battered fish. In Scotland the choice of food available as an alternative to fish at a chippie include haggis, white pudding and black pudding (all served battered). Scots usually call a meal of fish and chips a fish supper. Similarly, one can order a haggis supper, a steak pie supper, and so on. A recent innovation hailing from Scotland is the battered Mars bar.
US fast food restaurant chains that sell fish and chips include Long John Silver's, H. Salt Fish and Chips, Arthur Treacher's, and, in the Pacific Northwest, Ivar's. In the 1990s, the perception within the United States that fish and chips were unhealthy led to a decline in consumption and the financial problems of Long John Silver's and Arthur Treacher's. These brands have been acquired by other restaurants and the current strategy of both of these chains appears to be combining fish and chips with other brands to create the concept of fun food.
The pronunciation of fish and chips is a traditional method of distinguishing Australians and New Zealanders (a Shibboleth; see also New Zealand English).
See also
Footnote
External link