Me vs. Tesco
This is Tesco's attempt at the timeless classic
I love the humble, yet majestic fishfinger sandwich. It’s right up there in my top 100 foods. As stated in that list, I don’t honestly think there is such a thing as a wrong way to make one.
Tesco have decided to launch their (cold) version of this classic, it goes into stores in September 09 and costs a paltry £2. I know what you’re thinking, you look at the picture to the right and it just comes into your head, “what’s with the lettuce?” I thought the same thing, so I asked Tesco. This is what they said.
We wanted to bring a bit of nostalgia into the Tesco sandwich range and Fish Finger sandwich was the obvious choice. What was difficult was deciding the best combination – ketchup, mayonnaise, tartare sauce, lettuce or no lettuce? We conducted internal panels but everyone had their own favourite. In the end we panelled all options with Tesco and we decided to go with ketchup as it worked well with the fried flavour of the fish fingers, cutting through this to give a good balance of flavours. The lettuce really helps to lift the visual on the cut face of the sandwich and also gives a bit of a crunch when you bite. One thing that needed no debate, it had to go into soft white bread.
I’m afraid this is where me and Tesco part ways, because I think there is plenty to debate in choice of bread alone, let alone the other constituents that combine to create this classic. So by way of evidence I present my recipe for the perfect sandwich.
Ben’s Fishfinger Sandwich
My profile pic for FishfingerBook
Ingredients
2 Slices wholemeal bread (square loaf tin)
4 Birds Eye Haddock fish fingers
Hot English mustard
Mature Cheddar
Heinz Tomato Ketchup
Method
Spread a generous film of hot English mustard on a slice of fresh wholemeal medium sliced bread. Top with a slice of mature cheddar cheese (2-3mm thickness). Place 4 oven baked Birds Eye Haddock fishfingers (grilled too crispy, fried too greasy) on top of the cheese. Squeeze a hefty portion of Heinz Tomato Ketchup onto the fishfingers and top with the second slice of bread. Leave for approx 5 seconds, then give a gentle squeeze to ensure good ingredient cohesion.
It’s certainly a hot topic for debate. So, for the record, here’s my take on the British classic:
2 slices white bread
4 fish fingers (any brand; haddock fillet)
Room-temperature unsalted butter
Mature cheddar
Tartare sauce
Heinz tomato ketchup
Oven-cook the fishfingers until they’re crisp on the outside but hot and moist on the inside (is there a greater waste in food than an over-cooked, dried-out fishfinger?!?). Prepare your bread: lightly butter one piece before liberally applying the tartare sauce to the other slice. Apply thinly cut squares of mature cheddar to the buttered bread. Lay down your four fishfingers on the bread before applying a liberal dose of Heinz ketchup on top of the ‘fingers (and, cheekily, inbetween the gaps!). Finally lay the tartared piece of bread on top and apply a polite but firm squeeze (ideally, you want the sauces to seep to the edge of the bread – you’ve applied too much if the gunk starts dripping out of the edges of the bread). Now, this is the important part: CUT DIAGONALLY. And serve.
Y’see – there’s not a great deal of difference between your recipe and mine – but would I take yours over mine? Not on your life! It’s all in the details…
Cheddar? CHEDDAR?
Ahhhh, the mighty fish finger.
I like to keep it simple-
White bread
4 fish fingers
tomato sauce
end.
In my version, I toast the bread slightly. I use ‘plastic cheese’ (you know the square things that come wrapped in plastic) A little tartare sauce and maybe a sliced gherkin (wally)
This would surely deserve a Michelin star!
Potato waffles! You all forgot to add the potato waffles. Do you really expect me to take your Fish Finger Sandwiches seriously if they’re devoid of potato waffles? Dear me, what is the world coming to.