Fish fingers (British English) or fish sticks (American English) are a processed food made using a whitefish, such as cod, hake, haddock, or pollock, which has been battered or breaded and formed into a rectangular shape. They are commonly available in the frozen food section of supermarkets. They can be baked in an oven, grilled, shallow fried, or deep-fried.
 Fried fish fingers | |
| Alternative names | Fish sticks |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Main ingredients | Whitefish, battered, or breaded |
History
editThe term "fish finger" is first referenced in a recipe given in a popular British magazine in 1900,[1] and the dish is often considered symbolic of the United Kingdom.[2]
The food restrictions during and after WWII expanded the consumption of fish fingers, but companies struggled to maintain decent quality.[3][4] The commercialization of fish fingers may be traced to 1953 when the American company Gorton-Pew Fisheries, now known as Gorton's, was the first company to introduce a frozen ready-to-cook fish finger; the product, named Gorton's Fish Sticks, won the Parents magazine Seal of Approval in 1956.[5][6] The developer of those fish sticks was Aaron L. Brody.
There was an abundance of herring in the United Kingdom after World War II. Clarence Birdseye test-marketed herring fish fingers, a product he had discovered in the United States,[7][8] under the name "herring savouries". These were tested in Southampton and South Wales against "cod fingers", a comparatively bland product used as a control. Shoppers, however, confounded expectations by showing an overwhelming preference for the cod.[9] The snack was nearly called Battered Cod Pieces, until a poll of Birds Eye workers opted for the snappier Fish Fingers.[10][11]
Varieties
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Minced fish comes in industry standard 7.5 kg frozen blocks for further slicing and battering.[12] These are more commonly used in store brand economy products. They may have either batter or breadcrumbs around the outside as casing, although the coating is normally breadcrumbs.[13]
In addition to white fish, fish fingers are sometimes made with salmon.[14]
During the late 1980's and early 1990's, the Sweden frozen food brand Findus released a fish finger product with a coating of chips in place of breadcrumbs under the name "Crostinos."[15]
See also
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References
edit- ^ "History of Fish Fingers". Foods of England. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
- ^ Cloake, Felicity (2015-09-15). "Fish fingers at 60: how Britain fell for the not-very-fishy frozen sticks". the Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
- ^ Josephson, Paul R. (26 November 2015). Fish sticks, sports bras, and aluminum cans : the politics of everyday technologies. ISBN 978-1421417844. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ Novak, Matt (12 August 2016). "How Fish Sticks Became the Food of the Future That Nobody Asked For". Paleofuture. Gizmodo.
- ^ Pacific Fisherman 54 (1956) p. 55.
- ^ Josephson, Paul (2008). "The Ocean's Hot Dog: The Development of the Fish Stick". Technology and Culture. 49 (1): 41–61. doi:10.1353/tech.2008.0023. ISSN 0040-165X. JSTOR 40061377. S2CID 110903114.
- ^ Cyril Dixon, "The facts of fish fingers", The Independent, 21 August 1994 (online)
- ^ David Hillman and David Gibbs, Century Makers: One hundred clever things we take for granted which have changed our lives over the last one hundred years, London: Weidenfeld, 1998 / New York: Welcome Rain, 1999, ISBN 9781566490009
- ^ "Teatime staple marks half century ", BBC News, 26 September 2005.
- ^ "Fish fingers 'surprisingly sustainable'". BBC News. 2018-11-02. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
- ^ Clayton, Hugh: "Constancy of fish fingers a symbol of calm in a trade of frequent change" in The Times, 9 May 1980, p 17.
- ^ "7.5kg fish block production" (PDF). May 2009.
- ^ "STANDARD FOR QUICK FROZEN FISH STICKS (FISH FINGERS) - CODEX STAN 166–1989" (PDF). Codex Alimentarius. WHO. 2017.
- ^ "10 fish sticks zalm" Archived 2014-07-27 at the Wayback Machine, IGLO 27 Juli 2014.
- ^ FINDUS Suisse (2013-11-26). FINDUS 1987 - Crostinos. Retrieved 2024-10-22 – via YouTube.
Bibliography
edit- "How in the World? A Fascinating Journey Through the World of Human Ingenuity", Reader's Digest, 1990, ISBN 978-0-89577-353-1
External links
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Media related to Fish fingers at Wikimedia Commons