The fried potatoes are called chips in British and international usage; and while American English calls them french fries, the combination is still called "fish and chips". (Potato chips, an American innovation, are a different potato-derived food, and are known as crisps in the United Kingdom.) The traditional way is to fry in beef fat, though some chips shops use vegetable oil, which imparts a different taste to the dish, but is acceptable to vegetarians. Some maintain that the best types of potatoes to use for chips are 'Lincolnshire Whites' or 'Maris Piper'.
History
Fish and chips have separately been eaten for many years – though the potato was not introduced to 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 dish became popular in more widespread circles 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 were 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 England is cod, but many kinds of fish are used, especially other white fish, such as pollock or haddock; plaice, skate; and rock salmon (dogfish). In northern England and Scotland haddock is the most popular choice.
Accompaniments
In the UK, fish and chips are usually served with free salt and vinegar. This may be malt vinegar or onion vinegar (the vinegar that pickled onions are stored in). Often 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. In the US, malt vinegar (or, in some establishments, red-wine or cider vinegar) is often served with the combination as well. 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. In Australia the use of chicken flavoured salt (known as chicken salt) is quite widespread on chips, that even fast food chains like KFC no longer carry regular salt and use chicken salt by default.
Scraps of batter that fall into the fat and cook (also known as scrumps or bits) are usually included free on request.
Other popular dressings, usually at an extra charge, include:
- Ketchup
Curry sauce
Tartare sauce
Mayonnaise in Europe
brown sauce
Gravy
Burger Sauce
BBQ Sauce
mushy peas
Pickled onions, pickled eggs and gherkins.
Around Edinburgh in Scotland a combination of spirit vinegar and brown sauce, known simply as "sauce", is popular.
Fish and chip shops
In the UK and Australasia, fish and chips are usually sold by independent restaurants and take-aways, colloquially known as chippies or chip shops in the UK, or fish and chips shops in Australia and New Zealand.
Roughly 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 themselves vary enormously in the UK, from little back street affairs to posh "Fish Restaurants", with seating and waitresses. There is one well-known chain based in the north of England called Harry Ramsden's but chains are uncommon in the UK. The company originated in Guiseley near Leeds. UK fish and chip shops sometimes combine with sales of other takeaway food products, such as burgers, chinese food and pizzas, but by far the most common such shop simply sells fish and chips, their traditional accompaniments, and little else, although in fishing towns it is also common for fish and chip shops to sell uncooked fish.
Other dishes
Fish and chip shops typically offer other fast food, which may be eaten 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
Fishcakes - usually fish and potatoes minced together and dipped in bread crumbs
Fish and chip shops sometimes sell other deep-fried foods, anything from chicken to fruit such as banana and pineapple; even Mars bars are served deep-fried, especially in Scotland. In Scotland the choice of alternatives includes haggis, black pudding, red pudding, and white pudding (all served thickly battered).
In Scotland and Northern England a meal of fish and chips is 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.
Fish and chips were traditionally packaged with an inner white paper wrapping and an outer insulating layer of newspaper or blank newsprint, though nowadays the use of newspaper has largely ceased on grounds of hygiene, and food quality wrapping paper is often used instead, occasionally printed on the outside to emulate newspaper.
Purists maintain that it "doesn't taste the same" in polystyrene or cardboard.