What are 'traditional' British Fish and Chips ?

basejumper

TK Veteran
I went to look at and buy a fish and chip shop in a large seaside town. Outside was a hand painted board with 'TraditionaI' British fish and chips and the sign above said the same. I was surprised at how cheap fish and chips were. I talked to the proprietor who was about to open up for the day.

I said - How come they are 70p cheaper than my hometown - are you selling small portions?
Proprietor - no the
fish I sell is Panga.
Me - what is Panga?
Proprietor - Pangasius are river catfish from Vietnam.
Me - how can you say that is traditional?.
Traditional British fish is cod or haddock!
Proprietor - No fish is fish which is fit for human consumption but I also sell cod and haddock as well, I'll show you.

His cabinet was now stocked with fish which when battered all looked similar - though the panga were bigger. Cod were on the left panga were in the middle and haddock were to the right. Anyone who came into the shop and asked for fish and chips were served panga. Only those that asked for cod or haddock were served them and charged a substantially higher price.

This is perfectly legal and happening in a town near you - any thoughts?

 
Traditional fish and chips as we know it is cod/haddock and supposed to cooked in lard same with chips to me truly traditional fish and chips is on coast where fisherman have been out that morning to catch lol
 
I've loved my fish suppers for years and round where I live its been traditional to sell Haddock. I found a nice wee chip shop in a village where I live doing good fish suppers for years, then all of a sudden the fish was rubbish, the difference in flavour was obvious, but it did say Haddock on the menu. I reckoned they had started to use some other fish like Pollock. I just stopped going, but I also noticed there was a huge drop in their customers. This was a chippy where customers once queued up out the door for chips. I've since went back to my favourite chippy they've recovered selling Haddock now, but inbetween that time of not going there, I tried other chippys and noticed just what you've pointed out.... they state "Fish" on the menu and not "Haddock", meaning they can give you any fish, and yes, everytime I tried them, it was rubbish fish.

I wonder if you're proprieter stated "Haddock" on the menu or I expect hoped wveryone would say "Fish", because there will be more of a profit margin using the inferior fish..

Same problem with Birds Eye fish fingers..take a look at their packaging and you'll have a hard job telling the difference between Cod fish fingers and flavourless Pollock (usually labeled Omega lol)
 
So having worked in Chip shops myself for years back in the 2000's I believe a Traditional Fish and chips are normally Cooked in Lard or beef dripping and the Cod or Haddock are cooked in Batter.
 
When he opened his fish shop was very busy and I only saw customers buying Panga and making their way to the beach so I went back another day. He was very open to me about what he was doing (but not to the customers) and said all his customers were day trippers, that he would never see them again so they were not repeat customers and he was selling them what they wanted and asked for - cheap fish and chips by the seaside. :LOL:
 
I love fish and chips one of my favourite British foods.

Love the ones from Harry Ramsden.

But my favourite is from a shop which takes a bit of time to get to as all local fish and chip shops are crap near me.

The shop I go to sells 100% cod and they give huge portions a massive fish which is beautifully battered not very oily and quite alot of chips, can barely finish it all when I do have it.

As an asian we love our spices lol. They do special cod fish called "masala fish" which is damn delicious. I love both the normal cod fish and the masala fish.
 
Is it only me who can’t see OP’s post as it’s in white writing?

Fish and chips is one of our greatest assets when done correctly.
 
If you can't get proper fresh fish cooked in front of you then recommend frozen fish from marks and spencers

Get it from there at least twice a month just in case have nothing made at home and really nice tbh. Chunky fillets. Like with chunky oven chips and peas cooked in onions and tomatoes and bit of spices.
 
I rarely eat anything from chip shops anymore, over here in Belfast chip shops have went downhill big time, it got to the stage that every time we got something, usually we tried different chippies to try and find a good one, it was always the same, uneatable, fish not cooked properly, chips just not tasting the way they used to, figured its because they must be using new types of frying methods, I go over to Scotland quite a bit and its far better over there, I always make sure I get a fish supper at some point while I am there and its always perfect, but back home we never bother with chip shops or any other type of takeaways, the only thing we would do is get a bit of salmon from a fresh fish fan down the road from us on a Friday, maybe every 2 weeks.
 
@grahamer67 feel for you mate.

In England there is alot of crap chip shops also but there are some really good ones who cook the fish perfectly. But I also like the chips to be crispy and chip shop I go to always cooks both to perfection.

Harry Ramsden is a chain of shops I believe and that is also really nice tbh.
 
@grahamer67 feel for you mate.

In England there is alot of crap chip shops also but there are some really good ones who cook the fish perfectly. But I also like the chips to be crispy and chip shop I go to always cooks both to perfection.

Harry Ramsden is a chain of shops I believe and that is also really nice tbh.
They have a restaurant just off parkway at Sheffield supposed to be nice but imo best chippies are on the coast and expensive lol
 
I live in west yorkshire and our local fish shops have haddock, I work in south yorkshire Barnsley and everthing around there is cod. Personally I think there is a big difference.
 
Speaking of yorkshire when was staying with relatives few years back. Me and my cousin used to pop down to the chippy in Huddersfield

Used to be jam packed with queues outside. But man the fish and chips the gave were some of the best I have ever tasted even to this day.

Knew the guy quite well he used to get fresh cod every day for his chippy and batter was thin as anything as well which he applied. Was pipping hot as well which made it even more delicious.

Shame place shut as he said wasnt worth it for him due to how expensive cod became no joking there was stupid prices for cod now.

Man I am starving now lol.
 
The talk of fish and chips made me hungry so I ordered some large haddock and chips but I think they have given me a baby shark lol

20200309_165134.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top