# What fish is "fish and chips" where you are? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2006, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100 "2006-02-12T10:38:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/41 "2006-02-13T15:39:12Z")
Whiting. (serious soul food!) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/42 "2006-02-13T15:57:39Z")
Halibut, no question. The only place to get cod is in chain restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/43 "2006-02-13T17:20:42Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Most places are sufficiently busy that there will be a production line in operation for commonplace items such as large cod in batter; what’s the difference between having it just cooked to order and just available freshly-cooked because the system made it happen that way? Fair enough, if they really are judging it that well (and, come to think of it, I do know one place that does so very well). But even when the cooked fish has been sat there for just a couple of minutes, I find the sogginess starts to creep in. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/44 "2006-02-13T17:22:20Z")
Sole or Halibut. I prefer Halibut. If I had a choice though, I would make mine Perch. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/45 "2006-02-13T17:23:58Z")
Gosh darn it, now I’m hungry for a nice ol’ crispy, beer-battered hunk o’ fish and some thick-cut chips, with a lemon wedge and malt vinergar and lots of tartar sauce. Damn you guys. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/46 "2006-02-13T17:31:46Z")
Rabbit Fish ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/47 "2006-02-13T17:44:08Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > Gosh darn it, now I’m hungry for a nice ol’ crispy, beer-battered hunk o’ fish and some thick-cut chips, with a lemon wedge and malt vinergar and lots of tartar sauce. Damn you guys. Well at least you’ll probably have some over the next 9 months or so. I quit french fries as my new year’s resolution, so I won’t be enjoying fish and chips until 2007. It was truly a bad idea for me click this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/48 "2006-02-13T17:53:15Z")
Up here you’d order the fish fry (not “fried fish” as my in-laws from Texas tend to confuse the waitress with) and you can get it pretty much everywhere, as long as it’s Friday. Most places it’s Lake Superior Whitefish, but occasionally you see cod. I like the whitefish better. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/49 "2006-02-13T18:01:07Z")
> [@jali](#): > > Whiting. (serious soul food!) There’s a place on Venice Blvd., Smitty’s Famous Fish And Chicken, that served fried whiting. Definitely soul food, rather than ‘fish’n’chips’. ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/50 "2006-02-13T18:20:47Z")
We make our own since I haven’t managed to find anywhere here that makes them well. What the hell is with using cornmeal on them? Ick. If you’re goona bread them have the decency to shallowfry and use breadcrumbs.And they tend to use catfish, which I despise - it tastes somehow dirty to me. So we make our own batter and I wrap everything in paper - there is something better about fish’n’chips in paper. I usually use tilapia, since it is fairly cheap, although I will sometimes use snapper or orange roughy (cheaper here than back home in NZ). ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/51 "2006-02-13T19:44:21Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > \ > Walleye is also popular, and I think viewed as the authentic local fish. Could there possibly be a _less_ appetizing name for a fish? Well, I would hesitate a bit before inserting [this](http://core.ecu.edu/biol/nortons/NCFishes/BonyFish/Labridae/SlipperyDick/SlipperyDick.html) [del]irwrassible[/del] irascible fellow into my mouth. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/52 "2006-02-13T20:01:03Z")
> [@Jackknifed Juggernaut](#): > > I quit french fries as my new year’s resolution Are you **MAD**? What could you possibly have to live for? ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/53 "2006-02-13T20:12:06Z")
The “real” fish & chips I’ve been brought up to appreciate are done with halibut. More commonly though you’ll be served haddock or Boston bluefish. The really cheap stuff is usually Alaskan pollock (which is also used to make simulated crab legs/flakes and probably dozens of other imitation fish dishes) ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/54 "2006-02-13T21:43:23Z")
'round here it’s usually cod, but I prefer halibut. I’m still pissed at Dave & Buster’s for dumping their delicious Corona-battered fish & chips Red Lobster uses snapper, I think, it’s horrible. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/55 "2006-02-13T21:59:06Z")
> [@Anastasaeon](#): > > In my hometown, in New Brunswick, Canada, it’s haddock or bust. You try serving someone anything else, and heads will roll. One restuarant went under for trying to serve skate as “fish and chips”. BLECH! > > Here in Seattle, it’s tough to find haddock, instead it’s halibut or cod. Yuck. It’s okay. But _yuck_. _Really?_ You don’t like _halibut?!_ Fresh halibut is da bomb! I don’t mind cod, either, really but it’s no halibut. Haddock? Never had the stuff. I’m originally from Florida, so I used to get fried grouper sammiches - another big yum! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/56 "2006-02-13T22:53:11Z")
In what form are the fish & chips? ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/57 "2006-02-13T22:57:58Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > In what form are the fish & chips? Was that question for me? I don’t know - I never ate fish & chips when I lived in Florida - I usually don’t eat any fried seafood. In Portland, I’ll occasionally eat fish & chips if they’re halibut & beer battered & soaked in malt vinegar. Cod appears to be the default, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/58 "2006-02-13T23:01:34Z")
> [@YaWanna](#): > > Was that question for me? I don’t know - I never ate fish & chips when I lived in Florida - I usually don’t eat any fried seafood. > > In Portland, I’ll occasionally eat fish & chips if they’re halibut & beer battered & soaked in malt vinegar. Cod appears to be the default, though. Anybody who’s eaten it could answer. When you get a serving of f & c, what does it look like? ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/59 "2006-02-13T23:13:54Z")
My favourite fish and chips come served in newspaper. Coupla big old slabs of battered haddock on one side, fried to death, and long, crispy chips. Add vinegar and/or salt at your leisure. If it’s not in newspaper, it’s not fish and chips. However, I will accept those little thick paper carry-out trays in a pinch. Around here, you go to a restaurant, they expect you to sit down and they serve it on a friggin’ plate. A\* real \* plate, not even a paper one. But paper is part of the experience! And linen napkins… gag. I don’t need no steenkin’ forks and knives to eat my fish n’ chips! And they hand me ketchup. No vinegar. Ketchup. ~sigh. And yep, **YaWanna** - only haddock will do! 😃 Halibut is okay. Cod is okay. But haddock is my favourite fish to be battered and fried. Mmmmmmm… My parents call it, a little deceptively, “candy fish”. Not because it is _sweet_, but because when prepared properly, it melts in your mouth; and it tastes so good, you would forgo dessert and have some more haddock! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100/60 "2006-02-13T23:15:10Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > When you get a serving of f & c, what does it look like? Abe Vigoda. No, really: 😕 What does fish-n-chips normally look like? Coupla pieces of breaded fried fish, pile of cut fried potatoes. [Like so](http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-34,GGLG:en&q=%22fish%20and%20chips%22&sa=N&tab=wi). How else would it look? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fish-is-fish-and-chips-where-you-are/344100.md?page=4)