This page used to contain an Arthur Treachers Style Fish recipe - but it as now been withdrawn after receiving a series of rude, offensive and at times insulting communications from their lawyers (copies available on request). We have an authentic fish in batter recipe which gives a truly authentic UK style end result.
The rest of this page is now dedicated to a review of Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips.
Fact is, the 'so-called' secret Arthur Treachers recipe is nothing to write home about and if the example I sampled is anything to go by, certainly isn't cooked in a manner true to the traditional UK product. It seems I am not alone, judging by the Arthur Treachers Fried Fish Reviews on Active Diner.
What was wrong with it? The Fish didn't taste like Cod to me (could have been pollock - see below). Batter was over cooked and too crispy. Chips were not chips, they were fries - ie not thick enough and fried at too hot a temperature. In short, they were just like large versions of the fries you get in a burger bar - fine if that is what you wanted, not fine it is supposed to be similar to UK chips.
Arthur Treachers, claimed to sell "old England's national snack" - but had no qualms in compromising the secret Arthur Treachers Fish recipe when times got hard, subsituting the traditional Cod with the much inferior pollock.
I read somewhere that they claimed to have bought the Arthur Treachers Fried Fish Recipe from the very first fish and chip shop in the UK. This is just a gimmick, and a little deceptive to boot. The Fish and Chip shop they quote is 'Malin's', which dated back to the 1860s. Fish and chips predate this by decades (at least), and you can even find reference to them in Charles Dickens work, Oliver Twist (1830's)
Arthur Treachers is now just another franchise, and not a very big one judging from their figures
If the sample I tried was typical, it is no surpise that their chain has been much troubled, going bankrupt along the way, as a result they appear to have diversified into other foodstuffs that have no connection with their UK branding. Cheese sauce on the chips, being a particularly odd combination to brand as authentic 'UK'
Rest assured, this recipe is for the real thing, NOT a copy of Arthur Treacher's Fried Fish - this uses authentic batter and real Cod, and can't be beaten by the imitations offered by chain franchise outlets.
Arthur Treacher's Fish Recipe - a review
Categories: Fish; Seafood
The History of Recipes
Written recipes as a concept can be tracked way back into history, in truth as far as the Egypt of the Pharoahs, and potentially, even further back. Having said that, in the main part, these old recipes were just simple pictorial recipes for preparing meals.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to Professor Solomon Katz, is a series of ancient tablets in ancient Sumerian which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made drinkers feel wonderful and blissful. As our culinary historical trip moves to more modern times there were two interesting recipe books published in the 14th Century ; one book called `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Although the titles sound familiar, these are not about the indian curry that we all know today, but instead descriptions of the types of food cooked for the upper classes of the time. In the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new foods and spices from the holy lands, including rosemary and coriander. The introduction of these new herbs and spices prompted an increase in recipe books, most of which are now in academic collections. Over the next few centuries, the rich and powerful families of Wesstern Europe tried to serve up the most extravagent banquests, and consequentially the best cooks and their recipe collections were highly sought after. Even so, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that cookery and recipe books became popular. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to collecting, trying out, and publishing popular recipes of the day. The introduction of television brings us celebrity TV chefs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. Which pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing everyone to access thousands of recipes such as those found on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Arthur Treacher Style Fish recipe.
