Fish and chips

Fish and chips is a popular take-away food that originated in the United Kingdom in 1858 or 1863. It consists of battered (or sometimes breadcrumbed) fish (traditionally cod or in Australia, flake, but sometimes haddock or plaice), deep-fried and accompanied by deep-fried 'slab-cut' chips.

Popular tradition associates the dish with the United Kingdom and Ireland. The dish remains very popular in the UK and in areas colonised by British people in the mid 19th century, when the dish originated such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The United States has more recently developed it as a staple derived from Canadian and Irish expatriates, but the dish is not considered common outside Lent. It has also been popular in the Faroe Islands since the 1940s, when it was introduced during the British occupation of the Islands during World War II.

Fish and chips became a stock meal among the working classes in Great Britain as a consequence of the rapid development of trawl fishing in the North Sea, and development of railways connecting ports to cities during the second half of the 19th century.

Traditional frying uses beef dripping or lard; however, vegetable oils, such as peanut oil (used due to its relatively high smoke point) now^[update] predominate. A minority of vendors in the north of England and Scotland and the majority of vendors in Northern Ireland 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 and for adherents of certain faiths. British chips are usually significantly thicker than the American-style French fries sold by major multinational fast food chains, resulting in a lower fat content per portion. In their homes or in non-chain restaurants, people in or from the United States may eat a thick type of chip. Cooking fat penetrates a relatively shallow depth into the potato during cooking, thus the surface area reflects the fat content proportionally. Chips have a smaller surface area per unit weight than French fries and thus absorb less oil per weight of potato. Chips also require a somewhat longer cooking time than fries.

The UK chippies traditionally use a simple water and flour batter, adding a little sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and a little vinegar to create lightness, as they create bubbles in the batter. Other recipes may use beer or milk batter, where these liquids are often substitutes for water. The carbon dioxide in the beer lends a lighter texture to the batter. Beer also results in an orange-brown colour.

In Britain and Ireland, cod and haddock 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 ray (particularly popular in Ireland); and huss or rock salmon (a term covering several species of dogfish and similar fish).

(http://en.wikipedia.org)