Bloke claims we’ve been eating fish and chips completely wrong and sparks a fierce debate

LOVE tucking into fish and chips? Turns out we might have been eating the nation’s favourite dish wrong all these years. 

A single comment left under a restaurant review of a Cumbria chip shop has left people flummoxed about the correct way to devour fish.  

Restaurant columnist Grace Dent shared her shock after receiving the comment on her review of Angel Lane Chippie. 

The comment said: “The batter is there to protect the fish during frying, you peel it off, throw it away, then eat the fish!

“If you bake a fish (or indeed a vegetable) in a salt crust, do you eat that too?”

Masterchef regular Grace took to Twitter saying: “This week’s Guardian column is about a northern chip shop. This comment has kept me awake. I. I just. What.”

And she wasn’t the only one left confused about the correct way to eat fish and chips. 

Location, Location, Location host Kirstie Allsopp wrote: “If you throw away the batter what do you feed the children?”

Another person added: “I guess you have to take the skin of sausages and throw away the skin around a jacket potato- both sacrilegious!”

And one man added: “It’s so bonkers and wrong it makes me wonder if he’s actually right and we’ve all, everyone, been doing it wrong.”

Despite the man’s bold assertion, there is little evidence to back up his claim, which has proved unpopular with chip shop fans and chefs alike.

Andrew Crook, President of the National Federation of Fish Friers, told Fabulous Digital that batter should be left ON.

He said: “Modern batters are delicious and crisp with a great crunch when you eat them with lovely white steamed fish inside, it’s the combination of taste of the batter and fish bursting through that makes the dish so special.

“Batter came from a practice of baking fish in a salty dough to steam the fish inside historically, but by the time fish and paired with chips in 1860 it had become an edible batter.”

It was revealed last year that fish and chips is still the nation’s favourite takeaway, in a poll of 2,000 adults which saw it beat Chinese and Indian to the top spot.

Nearly one in five Brits visit their local chippy once a week, while another third enjoy a fish supper every month.

Meanwhile, we revealed Britain’s top 15 fish and chip shops. 

And chef Tom Kerridge defends charging £32.50 for fish and chips at his London restaurant.