Giulia Pezzot 1^F

Fish and chips is a hot dish of English origin consisting of fried battered fish
and hot chips. It is a common take-away food and an early example of culinary
fusion.

Traditional frying uses beef dripping or lard; however, vegetable olis, such as
peanut oil (used because of its relatively high smoke point) now predominate. A
minority of vendors in the north of England and Scotland and the majority of
vendors in Northern Ireland still use dripping or lard, as it imparts a different
flavour to the dish, but this makes the fried chips unsuitable for vegetarians and
for adherents of certain faiths.

Thickness

English chips are usually thicker than American-style French fries sold by major multinational fast
food chains, resulting in a lower fat content per portion. In their homes or in some restaurants,
people in or from the United States may eat a thick type of chip, more similar to the English variant,
sometimes referred to as steak fries.

Batter
In Britain and Ireland, fish and chip shops traditionally use a simple water and flour batter, adding a
little sodium bicarbonate(baking soda) and a little vinegar to create lightness, as they create bubbles
in the batter. Other recipes may use beer or milk batter, where these liquids are often substitutes for
water. The carbon dioxide in the beer lends a lighter texture to the batter. Beer also results in an
orange-brown colour. A simple beer batter might consist of a 2:3 ratio of flour to beer by volume.
The type of beer makes the batter taste different: some prefer larger whereas others use stout or
bitter.