Seafood: English Fish & Chips

Ingredients

2 pounds white potatoes

2 pounds firm white-fleshed fish (cod, haddock, flounder, sole)

1 cup flour.

Salt.

1 egg beaten.

One-third cup of milk.

About one-third cup water.

Shortening or vegetable oil for frying.

Malt vinegar (optional)

There are certain foods and dishes that have such significance in certain countries that they cannot be referred to merely as national or favorite fare. Their importance extends to so many aspects of everyday living that they are more comparable to an institution. Such is the case with England’s fish and chips.

”The good companions,” as the late Winston Churchill affectionately called fish and chips, have surpassed roast beef and Yorkshire pudding as the country’s most popular gastronomic duet. Cooking and selling them is a sizable industry involving over 16,000 enterprises that utilize more than 300,000 tons of fish, 1 million tons of potatoes, and 80,000 tons of oils and fats annually.

They are flown to Englishmen living abroad, and the craze has spread to other countries where businesses in ”English Fish and Chips” have been springing up like mushrooms.