{{Short description|Breaded processed fish}} {{Redirect|Fishsticks|the South Park episode|Fishsticks (South Park)|}} {{Infobox food | name = Fish fingers | image = Fishfinger classic fried 2.jpg | caption = Fried fish fingers | alternate_name = Fish sticks | course = | served = | country = United Kingdom | region = | main_ingredient = Whitefish, battered, or breaded | variations = | calories = | other = | cookbook = }} thumb|Baked fish fingers on baking paper thumb|Filling inside a fish finger
'''Fish fingers''' (British English) or '''fish sticks''' (American English and Canadian English) are a processed food made using a whitefish, such as cod, hake, haddock, or pollock, which has been battered or breaded and formed into a rectangular shape. They are commonly available in the frozen food section of supermarkets. They can be baked in an oven, cooked in the microwave, grilled, shallow fried, or deep-fried.
==History== The term "fish finger" is first referenced in a recipe given in a popular British magazine in 1900,<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Fish Fingers|url=https://www.foodsofengland.info/fishfingers.html |work=Foods of England|access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref> and the dish is often considered symbolic of the United Kingdom by British people.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2015/sep/15/fish-fingers-60-britain-taste-of-childhood |title=Fish fingers at 60: how Britain fell for the not-very-fishy frozen sticks|last=Cloake|first=Felicity |date=2015-09-15|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2 December 2018}}</ref>
The food restrictions during and after WWII expanded the consumption of fish fingers, but companies struggled to maintain decent quality.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Josephson |first1=Paul R. |title=Fish sticks, sports bras, and aluminum cans : the politics of everyday technologies |date=26 November 2015 |isbn=978-1421417844 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1421417847 |access-date=23 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Novak |first1=Matt |title=How Fish Sticks Became the Food of the Future That Nobody Asked For |url=https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/how-fish-sticks-became-the-food-of-the-future-that-nobo-1725388138 |website=Paleofuture |publisher=Gizmodo |date=12 August 2016 |access-date=23 April 2019 |archive-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224051053/https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/how-fish-sticks-became-the-food-of-the-future-that-nobo-1725388138 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The commercialization of fish fingers may be traced to 1953 when the American company Gorton-Pew Fisheries, now known as Gorton's, was the first company to introduce a frozen ready-to-cook fish finger; the product, named ''Gorton's Fish Sticks'', won the ''Parents'' magazine Seal of Approval in 1956.<ref>''Pacific Fisherman'' 54 (1956) [https://books.google.com/books?id=AhP9AAAAMAAJ&q=Parents+magazine p. 55].</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Josephson |first1=Paul |title=The Ocean's Hot Dog: The Development of the Fish Stick |journal=Technology and Culture |year=2008 |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=41–61 |issn=0040-165X|jstor=40061377 |doi=10.1353/tech.2008.0023 |s2cid=110903114 }}</ref> The developer of those fish sticks was Aaron L. Brody.
There was an abundance of herring in the United Kingdom after World War II. Clarence Birdseye test-marketed herring fish fingers, a product he had discovered in the United States,<ref name=Independent>Cyril Dixon, "The facts of fish fingers", ''The Independent'', 21 August 1994 ([https://archive.today/20130125113851/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4669873.html online])</ref><ref>David Hillman and David Gibbs, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qWJFAAAAYAAJ&q=frozen+fillets+of+fish ''Century Makers: One hundred clever things we take for granted which have changed our lives over the last one hundred years''], London: Weidenfeld, 1998 / New York: Welcome Rain, 1999, {{ISBN|9781566490009}}</ref> under the name "herring savouries". These were tested in Southampton and South Wales against "cod fingers", a comparatively bland product used as a control. Shoppers, however, confounded expectations by showing an overwhelming preference for the cod.<ref name=BBC>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4282290.stm "Teatime staple marks half century "], BBC News, 26 September 2005.</ref> The snack was nearly called Battered Cod Pieces, until a poll of Birds Eye workers opted for the snappier Fish Fingers.<ref name="facts">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-46071019|title=Fish fingers 'surprisingly sustainable'|date=2018-11-02|work=BBC News|access-date=2 November 2018|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>Clayton, Hugh: "Constancy of fish fingers a symbol of calm in a trade of frequent change" in ''The Times'', 9 May 1980, p 17.</ref>
==Varieties== thumb|Fried fish fingers, Kolkata, India Minced fish comes in industry standard {{Convert|7.5|kg|abbr=on}} frozen blocks for further slicing and battering.<ref>{{cite web |title=7.5kg fish block production |url=https://www.seafish.org/media/Publications/FS28_06_09_MinimisingVoids.pdf |date=May 2009 |access-date=2019-04-23 |archive-date=2020-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222095725/https://www.seafish.org/media/Publications/FS28_06_09_MinimisingVoids.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> These are more commonly used in store brand economy products. They may have either batter or breadcrumbs around the outside as casing, although the coating is normally breadcrumbs.<ref>{{cite web |title=STANDARD FOR QUICK FROZEN FISH STICKS (FISH FINGERS) - CODEX STAN 166–1989 |url=http://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%253A%252F%252Fworkspace.fao.org%252Fsites%252Fcodex%252FStandards%252FCODEX%2BSTAN%2B166-1989%252FCXS_166e.pdf |website=Codex Alimentarius |publisher=WHO |year=2017}}</ref>
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Sweden frozen food brand Findus released a fish finger product with a coating of chips in place of breadcrumbs under the name "Crostinos".<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzO4mo0OPB0 |title=FINDUS 1987 - Crostinos |date=2013-11-26 |last=FINDUS Suisse |access-date=2024-10-22 |via=YouTube}}</ref>
==See also== * {{portal inline|Food}} * Crab stick * Chicken fingers * Chicken nugget * Fishcake * Fish finger sandwich
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{citation |title=How in the World? A Fascinating Journey Through the World of Human Ingenuity |work=Reader's Digest |date=1990 |isbn=978-0-89577-353-1 }}
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}} {{cod topics|state=expanded}} {{seafood}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fish Finger}} Category:American cuisine Category:British cuisine Category:Canadian cuisine Category:Fish dishes Category:Fast food Category:Deep fried foods Category:British fish dishes Category:Canadian fish dishes Category:Frozen food Category:American fish dishes