Fish and Chips
During the Second World War, fish and chips stayed off the ration, because the government feared a nation without them might lose heart.
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Quick Facts
- What it is
- Battered, deep-fried white fish with thick-cut chips
- Fish of choice
- Cod and haddock, with plaice, pollock and others on the menu
- Birthplace claims
- Joseph Malin in London's East End (about 1860) and John Lees in Mossley, Lancashire (1863)
- Early ingredient
- Fried fish brought by Jewish immigrants; Dickens mentions a 'fried fish warehouse' in Oliver Twist (1838)
- Wartime status
- Never rationed in either world war
- Famous chippy
- Harry Ramsden's, begun in a hut at White Cross, Guiseley, near Leeds in 1928
- Classic sides
- Mushy peas, curry sauce, gravy, pickled onions, scraps
- Scottish and Northern Irish twist
- Ordered as a 'fish supper'; in Northern Ireland the pastie supper is a rival
The meal that was never rationed
In both world wars, the British government made sure fish and chips stayed available. Ministers saw the chippy as a boost to morale, and the Minister of Food, Lord Woolton, kept supplies flowing. Even when much else was scarce, there was a hot supper to be had on the way home. Fish was often short, and chips sometimes had to do the heavy lifting. But the shop stayed open, and the habit became part of the national character.
Two towns, one big argument
Nobody can say for certain who first put fish and chips in the same paper. The two best-known claims are Joseph Malin, who is said to have opened a shop in Cleveland Street in London's East End around 1860, and John Lees, who sold the pairing from a market stall in Mossley, Lancashire, in 1863 before opening a shop. The parts had arrived separately. Fried fish was brought by Jewish immigrants, and Dickens mentions a 'fried fish warehouse' in Oliver Twist in 1838. Fried potatoes were a cheap staple for the growing industrial towns. Somebody, somewhere, simply put them together, and the factory workforce did the rest. By the 1920s there were tens of thousands of chip shops across Britain. Trawlers, railways and steam power meant fish could now reach the inland towns fresh, and that made the chippy a national institution.
How a proper one is made
The fish is dipped in batter and fried in hot fat, which sets the outside into a crisp golden shell while the flesh inside steams to flaky whiteness. Chips are cut thick and fried until soft inside and crisp outside. The old northern way was beef dripping, which gives a savoury, meaty depth. Today most shops use vegetable oil, though a few traditional ones still fry in dripping. The seasoning is salt and malt vinegar, shaken on at the counter. For years the whole lot came wrapped in newspaper, until hygiene rules put an end to it. Many shops now serve in paper-lined trays or boxes, but plenty still use plain wrapping paper that nods back to the old way.
Cod or haddock? Peas or curry sauce?
The great fish argument runs north to south. Haddock is the favourite in Scotland and much of Yorkshire, while cod is the classic in the south. Plaice, rock and skate turn up depending on the coast. The sides divide opinion too. In Lancashire and Yorkshire, mushy peas are almost compulsory, and a fishcake or a patty might join the order. Gravy and curry sauce over chips are northern and Midlands staples. Free 'scraps' are the loose bits of crispy batter shaken from the fryer, and in some places they are handed out by the scoop. In Scotland you ask for a fish supper, and the Scottish chippy is also known for a deep-fried Mars bar, which is said to have first appeared in Stonehaven. In Northern Ireland the rival to the fish supper is the pastie supper: a spiced meat-and-potato patty, battered and fried, served with chips. It has nothing to do with a Cornish pasty.
The queen of the chippies
Harry Ramsden's began in 1928 as a wooden hut at White Cross, Guiseley, near Leeds. Ramsden sold fish and chips to working people, and the business grew so fast that it became a grand restaurant, with chandeliers, waitresses and a queue out of the door. At one point it was said to be the biggest fish and chip shop in the world. Its success showed that the humble chippy could be a destination in its own right. Seaside towns such as Whitby built reputations on the same idea, and a plate of fish and chips with a view of the harbour is now as much part of a British day out as the sea itself. The number of shops has fallen from its peak, but the supper has not lost its place. In the UK there are still around ten thousand chip shops, and the Friday-night order remains one of the most reliable rituals in British life.
Notable people
- Joseph Malin
- John Lees
- Harry Ramsden
- Charles Dickens
- Lord Woolton
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