![]() So the fish inside is actually really good for you. A bonus is that the vitamins are locked in by the protective layer of batter, whereas when you boil or fry the fish they can just leak out. The hot oil comes into contact with the batter rather than the fish, which produces steam and this effectively “poaches” the fish inside it. The batter protects the fish from the hot oil. “Two shops can enter from the same street or village so that’s why we don’t have a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place.OUR FAMOUS FISH “Cod/ Halibut/ Pickerel (walleye)” is prepared fresh daily, and coated with a seasoned flour and beer batter. One thing that Head is keen to highlight, however, is that the top 50 winners are not ranked each has its own unique charms. “It’s quite common for businesses in smaller towns like Musselburgh to be overlooked in UK-wide competitions and not get the recognition they deserve, so it’s an amazing feeling to be named,” she admits. With that in mind, if you want great fish and chips, it’s worth travelling, argues Crolla. According to Phillips, pre-Covid it wasn’t uncommon for customers to make an hour and a half round trip to visit Shap Chippy. Many are in small towns or even villages. One thing that stands out about the Fry list is that few of the shops which have been named in the top 50 are located in major towns or cities (there is only one in London, on the outskirts of the city). “If they don’t know what fish it is, or if it's been sitting there in the hot box for 15 minutes, that doesn't fill me with confidence that it'll be a banging product.” “Is it sustainably caught? Does it have MSC certification? What oil is it being fried in? If the staff know a lot about their product then you can tell there's care and attention. Phillips agrees that knowledge is the biggest thing he looks for when searching for good fish and chips himself. Over the three-page reviews, detailed assessments are required on everything from the crispness of the batter to the legibility of the menu boards.Īnother entrant which made the top 50 this year, Carlo Crolla, owner of East Coast in Musselburgh, East Lothian, explained his own business’ secrets to success. “We’re committed to having a friendly team, being dedicated, and having great knowledge of the industry while continuously wanting to improve, having very high standards and knowing what a consumer wants.” With safety for staff and customers paramount, many introduced click and collect ordering through apps and technology, for example.” Every shop that enters is visited by a mystery diner, "and assessed on first impressions, staff, service, handling of the payment and food quality, of course, as there are individual scoring sections on the batter, chips and fish – finishing with the overall experience." Head explains that the entrants, of which he had several thousand, "did particularly well this year under the working circumstances of the pandemic. According to data from delivery platform Foodhub released last May, fish and chip orders shot up by 208 per cent since the start of lockdown.īut at a booming time for the trade, what does it take to be the very best of them all?įry Magazine’s annual top 50 list is open to all to enter, but the selection process is “in-depth”, according to Reece Head, Fry’s events director. This year’s success comes hot on the heels of the business winning second place at The National Fish And Chip Awards 2020.Īs it stands, there are around 10,500 fish and chip shops operating in the UK and for many of them the pandemic has proved fruitful. In April, Shap Chippy was named among the 50 best fish and chip shops (technically 60, due to some shops' scores being tied) in the country, and one of the ten best mobile fish and chip vans, by trade magazine, Fry. You can go into five shops which use the same batter but they could produce a very different product.” “The ratio of water to batter, what temperature you fry it at, how long you cook your fish for, the process of cooking the chips. “There’s a lot more to great fish and chips than Joe Public probably imagines,” says Matt Phillips, owner of Shap Chippy in Shap, Cumbria.
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