Fish fingers ( British English) or fish sticks (

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

) are a

processed food Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily por ...

made using a whitefish, such as

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

, hake, haddock, shark or pollock, which has been battered or breaded. They are commonly available in the

frozen food Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows decompositi ...

section of

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s. They can be baked in an oven, grilled, shallow fried, or deep-fried.

History

The term "fish finger" is first referenced in a recipe given in a popular British magazine in 1900, and the dish is often considered symbolic of the United Kingdom. The food restrictions during and after WWII expanded the consumption of fish fingers, but companies struggled to maintain decent quality. The commercialization of fish fingers may be traced to 1953 when the American company Gorton-Pew Fisheries, now known as

Gorton's Gorton's of Gloucester is a subsidiary of Japanese seafood conglomerate Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., producing fishsticks and other frozen seafood for the retail market in the United States. Gorton's also has a North American food service busines ...

, 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. The developer of those fish sticks was Aaron L. Brody. There was an abundance of

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

in the United Kingdom after World War II.

Clarence Birdseye Clarence Birdseye (December 9, 1886 – October 7, 1956) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist, considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry. He founded the frozen food company Birds Eye. Among his inventions during h ...

test-marketed herring fish fingers, a product he had discovered in the United States,Cyril Dixon, "The facts of fish fingers", '' The Independent'', 21 August 1994
online at Highbeam; subscription required
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."Teatime staple marks half century "
BBC News, 26 September 2005. The snack was nearly called Battered Cod Pieces, until a poll of Birds Eye workers opted for the snappier Fish Fingers. Fish fingers, specifically the pairing of them with

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fro ...

, was featured in the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' episode "The Eleventh Hour".

Varieties

Minced fish comes in industry standard 7.5 kg frozen blocks for further slicing and battering. These are more commonly used in store brand economy products. They may have either

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

or breadcrumbs around the outside as casing, although the coating is normally breadcrumbs. In addition to white fish, fish fingers are sometimes made with salmon."10 fish sticks zalm"
,

IGLO Iglo is a frozen food brand based in the United Kingdom, with products sold across the European continent. It is owned by Nomad Foods Europe, which also owns the rights to the Birds Eye brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Findus across E ...

27 Juli 2014.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fish Finger British cuisine Canadian cuisine Fish dishes Fast food Deep fried foods British seafood dishes Frozen food American seafood dishes

History

Varieties

See also

References

Bibliography

External links