Fish finger

Fish fingers, known as fish sticks in American and Canadian English and by translations of that name in most other languages, are a processed food made using a whitefish, such as cod, haddock or pollock, which has been battered or breaded.

They are commonly available in the frozen food section of supermarkets. They can be baked in the oven, grilled, shallow fried, or deep-fried.

History

The term "fish fingers" is first referenced in a recipe given in a British popular magazine in 1900.

The commercialization of fish fingers may be traced to 1953 when the American company Gorton-Pew Fisheries, now known as Gorton's, had been the first company to introduce a frozen ready-to-cook fish finger, named Gorton’s Fish Sticks, which won the Parents Magazine Seal of Approval.

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 US, under the name "herring savouries". These were tested in Southampton and South Wales against "cod sticks", a comparably bland product used as a control. Shoppers, however, confounded expectations by showing an overwhelming preference for the cod.