Fish finger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fishsticks or fish fingers are a processed food made using a white fish such as cod which have been battered and/or breaded. They are commonly available in the frozen food section of Western supermarkets, and on children's menus in family-oriented restaurants.
Varieties include different types of fish, such as haddock or sole; flavouring in the breading, such as peppercorn, garlic or lemon; and special shapes appealing to children. Premium fishsticks are also available, made from cuts of fish filet instead of reconstituted fish.
Prominent brands in the U.S. include Gorton's of Gloucester and Van de Kamp's. Birds Eye is a prominent brand in the United Kingdom which claims to have produced the first fish fingers.
Fishsticks are popular with children and their parents as an easy-to-prepare finger food that is somewhat healthy for kids, as fish contains many nutrients including Omega-3 fatty acids, and small amounts of fried foods are not incompatible with an over-all healthy diet.
Fishsticks are often eaten with Tartar Sauce, Cocktail sauce or Ketchup.
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[edit] History
Fishsticks first came about as a result of Clarence Birdseye's invention of the plate froster in 1929, the first quick freezer. To ensure rapid freezing, food needed to be in slim rectangular slabs. A suitable candidate for this freezing method was fishsticks, slivers cut from large fish then dipped in bread crumbs for frying. However, it was Gordon's who introduced the snack initially.
In Britain in the 1950's, most of the herring catch was pickled and exported to other North European countries. In an attempt to make herring more appealing on the home market, companies tried to present it in a new way, creating herring fishsticks called “herring savouries” and were tested on the market against a bland control product of cod sticks, sold as “fish fingers.” Shoppers in Southampton and South Wales, where the test was conducted, confounded expectations by showing an overwhelming preference for the cod. Cod fishsticks were first produced in Great Yarmouth and introduced in Britain on 26 September 1955. They became immensely popular after television advertising began in 1958.
[edit] Production
On modern production lines, headless fish are processed through a machine that removes a fillet from each side of the backbone. The fillets then pass over a wheel and a blade that separates the skin from the flesh. Machine filleting leaves a few pin-like bones in the fillet, so the flesh containing the bones is cut out.
Fillets are formed in to frozen blocks and stored at very low temperatures (-4° to -13°F/-20° to -25°C). Before they can be sawn into ‘blanks’, they have to be warmed back up to 18°F/-8°C; anything colder would blunt the blade too quickly. Each block yields up to 500 blanks.
A conveyor sends the blanks through batter and breadcrumbs, doubling the thickness of the fishstick. Then each is passed through a hot vegetable oil bath for about one minute to seal the coating and allow the fishstick to be grilled or fried. Then the fishstick is frozen again, with the center reaching -4°F/-20°C in less than 20 minutes. After packaging, it is stored at -18°F/-28°C, ready for distribution.
[edit] Trivia
- "Ah Fishsticks!" is often used in place of a swear word for the character Butters on the cartoon 'South Park.'
- The Rocko's Modern Life character Filburt is a big fan of Fishsticks.
[edit] Sources
- Readers Digest. (1990). "Fish fingers: coated cod fillets ready for frying." How in the World? Pleasantville, NY: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. ISBN 0-89577-353-8
