| Fish fingers | |
| Alternate Name: | Fish sticks |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Main Ingredient: | Whitefish, battered, or breaded |
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.
The 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 that the consumer 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]
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]