Fish and chips – Britain’s national dish

One of the nation’s favourite takeaways (after Chinese and Indian*) is fish deep fried in batter, served with thickly-cut chips liberally doused in salt and vinegar. This enormously popular family favourite is often seen as Britain’s national dish.

First brought together as a meal in the 1860s, fish and chips became a popular and accessible meal for factory and mill workers, and by the late 1920s, it’s said that most industrial towns boasted a chippy on almost every street: there were 35,000 by 1927. Today, you’ll find them on most town centres and seaside resorts.

Although a popular takeaway, many places offer an eat-in option so you can have a “fishy on a dishy” – as well as the works: fish and chips, mushy peas, bread and butter, all washed down with a mug of tea.

Regional dishes

This popular British dish also reveals a region’s dialect as well as food tastes. What you call it – and the accompaniments and alternatives to fish on offer – vary around the country.

You might ask for fish ‘n’ chips in southern England, or a fish supper in Scotland, a fish lot in the North East of England, and fish and nerks if you’re in Leeds. But it’s not just fish – cod, haddock, or other locally caught favourites – on the menu.

Babby’s Yed (Wigan) – lamb or pig kidneys combined with diced beef and gravy in suet pastry

Black pudding (Glasgow) – a type of blood sausage, battered and deep fried.

White pudding (Aberdeen); like a black pudding without the blood. Served with chips as a white pudding supper.

Red pudding (east of Scotland, especially in Fife) – beef, pork, suet, rusk, spices, and colouring shaped into a sausage. Known as a ‘single red’ on its own, or a red pudding supper when served with chips.

Cod roe (Weston-Super-Mare) – battered and deep fried fish eggs

Haggis (Scotland). Deep fried and served with chips to make a haggis supper.

Pastie (Northern Ireland) – deep-fried and battered round of mince, herbs, potatoes

Pattie (Birmingham) sausagemeat with potato on top, battered

Pie barm (Wigan) – meat and potato in a suet crust, popped in a buttered bread roll

Pizza crunch (Glasgow) – pizza, battered and deep fried; particularly popular at 3am

Rag pudding or rag pie (Oldham) – mince and onions in suet pastry, steamed in a cloth

Rissoles – contain meat in the north east of England and in South Wales; in Yorkshire, they are fishcakes made with a large slice of potato

Sausage (nationwide) – battered saveloy or smoked

Saveloy dip (north east of England) – smoked saveloy sausages smothered in pease pudding, stuffing, butter and mustard, dipped in gravy.

Fish and dabs

And it’s not just chips you can get with your fish:

Poke of chips – a serving of chips (Glasgow)
Scallops (Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield) – slice of potato, cooked in batter
Potato dabs (Yorkshire) – mashed potato, battered and fried
Orange chips (Midlands) – chips dipped in orange-coloured battered before being fried
Smack (Wigan) – slice of potato, battered and fried; known as ‘special’ in St Helens.
Split (St Helens) – peas served on top of chips; known as a ‘mixture’ in Wigan, where the peas are served on the bottom
Salt and pepper Chinese chips (Liverpool)

Accompaniments

Mushy peas (nationwide) – soaked marrowfat peas, simmered until mushy
Pea fritter (battered peas)
Faggots (Wales and the Midlands) – meatballs made from minced offcuts and offal
Scraps or scrags (Yorkshire) bits of fried batter served with chips, also known as screeds in Plymouth and Swansea, as scratchings in Birmingham, scrumps in South Wales and Wiltshire, and bits in Lincolnshire. Traditionally given away free.

Condiments

In the north of England and in Scotland, fish and chips is best served wet. As well as ketchup, tartare sauce, brown sauce, and of course, salt and vinegar, you’ll be offered:

Salt ‘n’ sauce (Edinburgh) – a mixture of vinegar and brown sauce.
Gravy (northern England) – particularly popular with pie and chip combinations
Pea-wet (northern England) – the liquid drained off mushy peas; often asked for as ‘chips and wet’
Mushy peas and mint sauce (Nottingham) – often eaten as a stand-alone dish
Pease pudding (North East England) – yellow-split peas and spices cooked until soft
Curry sauce (most of UK)
Bolognese sauce (Leeds)

Extras

Poke of chips – a portion of chips in Glasgow

Chip butty – a chip sandwich in the south of England

Chip barm – chips in a bread roll in Manchester

Chip cob –  chips in a bread roll in the Midlands

Batch – bread roll in Coventry

Stottie – a bread roll in the north east of England

Bechdan – a bread roll in Wales

Dessert

If you haven’t quite had enough calories, head to Glasgow for a deep-fried Mars bar (battered); Cadbury’s creme egg is popular at Easter.

Whatever you call it, fish and chips are undoubtedly popular wherever you are in the country. Fish and chip shops outnumber McDonalds by ten  to one in the UK, with 10,500 chippies in the UK.** 

*According to the 2021 YouGov survey into the nation’s favourite takeaways

**Source: The National Federation of Fish Friers