I love the fish, it’s the chips I stick at . . . those thick-sliced things . . . I’ve never been able to develop a taste for what Americans call “steak fries.”
Here in my country, the best is surgeon fish.
It is now – and often that’s because they buy it in that way. In the 70’s in Melbourne it was always only battered. And they peeled and sliced their potatoes too. It was, by default, always flake, which is also much less common now, because flake is no longer the cheapest fish they’ve got.
Two of the reasons flake got much more expensive is that they had to protect some species, and that they had to put in a maximum size limit because of mercury content.
And a good piece of flake is softly “al dente”. You may like your fish falling apart in your mouth, but a good piece of flake held together (the batter helped), so you could eat it straight from the newsprint (butcher paper inside layer) without a knife fork and plate.
I definitely prefer cod, so long as it is done right. Always have to have fish and chips every so often - though having said that I am in the UK - where fish and chips is a traditional meal!
Stop by Eamonn’s if you’re ever around DC.
Seriously, what is it with those big blocky chips?!
I’ve always felt kind of blah about cod. Maybe I’ve only ever had long-frozen stuff, but it was always pretty tasteless and soft.
But I love halibut and chips, especially as served by Phil’s Fish Market in Moss Landing, California. They serve nice big, generous chunks of flaky white fresh halibut with a thin crisp coating of batter. It has spoiled me for fish ‘n’ chips, as it has way more flavor than cod.