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Research by a leading British marine conservation company has shown that fish sticks are one of the cheapest and most sustainable ways to eat sea fish. And this is for the British very good, because it is this semi-finished product that the inhabitants of the United Kingdom use for the most popular British dish.
Raw materials for fish sticks are most often frozen directly on the ship, therefore, useful substances in the product are stored in sufficient volume. The right ingredients, free of extra additives, are even rich in omega-3s. In addition, semi-finished products are made from the most inexpensive fish species that are not threatened with extinction and the quotas for them are quite large. It’s all in the UK. And we have?
How to choose quality fish sticks
Reading the label
Quick-frozen ready-made fish sticks are prepared from cod fillet, sea bass, hake, pollock, pollock, pike perch, flounder or haddock pressed into blocks. The name of the raw material (fish) must be indicated on the label.
For frying, corn, peanut, sunflower and cottonseed oil or hydrogenated fats are used, which are pre-calcined before use. There should also be information about this on the package.
The composition should not contain dyes, preservatives, color stabilizers. Starch should be no more than 5% and 1,5-2,5% table salt.
Checking the packaging
In the package, the sticks should not be frozen to each other. If the sticks are frozen, most likely they were susceptible to defrosting, which means that the conditions for their storage were violated. There should be no smudges on the packaging – this is also a sure sign of defrosting.
Studying the breading
If you buy sticks by weight, their quality can be determined practically only by the breading. It should not be bright orange, it is better if it has a light beige tint. This is a guarantee that the sprinkling is made from wheat rusks, without the use of dyes.
Cooking fish sticks
Semi-finished products are fried for 2,5 – 3 minutes on each side over medium heat, without defrosting. It will take about 3 minutes in a deep fat fryer to fry the fish sticks. They can be baked in the oven at 200 ° C for 15-20 minutes.
Feeding fish sticks
It is best to serve fish sticks as the British do: with fried potatoes and sauce… Can be served on lettuce leaves or used to make sandwiches and fishburgers.
If you were unable to buy high-quality fish sticks, but really want to eat them, cook according to our recipes: fish sticks with hot sauce or classic fried cod fish sticks.
Fish sticks were invented in 1956 by the American millionaire Clarence Birdseye. He perfected the freezing process for fresh food, which led to a revolution in the food industry. Taking as a basis the tradition of the Eskimos, who instantly freeze caught fish on ice, he founded his own company to produce similar products and even patented a new freezing machine.
From the very beginning, fish sticks were deep-frozen semi-finished products, namely slices of fish fillets or minced fish in breadcrumbs. They resembled fingers in shape, for which they received the name fingers. So that the minced meat does not fall apart when frying, starch is added to it, and various additives are added for taste.