 A chip butty made with chips, white bread, and butter | |
| Alternative names | Chip barm, Chip bun |
|---|---|
| Type | Sandwich |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Main ingredients | Bread, butter, chips |
A chip butty, chip barm or chip bun is a sandwich filled with chips. It originated in fish and chip shops in the British Isles in the 19th century, though the exact origin is disputed. The chip butty is associated with British working-class culture.
The chip butty is a sandwich filled with chips, often served with malt vinegar or ketchup. [1] The British food writer Tim Hayward recommended using "undistinguished" soft white bread, as "this is not the place for artisanal sourdough". [2] In The Guardian , Tony Naylor recommended using buttered soft white bread and lightly fried chips seasoned with salt and vinegar, and serving the sandwich with a cup of tea. [3] Naylor wrote that "the chip butty is the most reliable way we human beings have to mentally shut out this harsh world and, momentarily, transport ourselves to a happier, more innocent place". [3]
The Michelin-starred chef Paul Ainsworth created a version with sourdough, triple-cooked chips, mayonnaise and parmesan. [4] In 2020, the fast food franchise Burger King began selling chip butties in New Zealand. [5]
The chip butty originated in working-class communities in the 19th century, though its exact origins are unknown. [4] According to the National Federation of Fish Fryers, it was created in 1863 in Oldham, Lancashire, at Mr Lees, the second-ever fish and chip shop in Britain. The term "chip barm" began appearing in print in the 20th century, likely the result of the surge in popularity of fish and chips in the 1900s. [4] Yorkshire, Liverpool, and Ireland have also been suggested as origins; the word "butty" originated in Yorkshire as slang for butter. [4] In the north of England, the easier access to fuel and the closer proximity to the potato supply of Ireland meant chips could be produced cheaply in large quantities. [4]
The chip butty is associated with British working-class culture. [3] The anthropologist Kate Fox wrote in her book Watching the English : "Even if you call it a chip sandwich rather than a butty, it is about as working-class as food can get." [6] "The Greasy Chip Butty Song", a football chant that glorifies South Yorkshire, includes the chip butty as a Yorkshire invention. [4]
In 2010, writers for the American media organisation NPR made a chip butty, having learnt of it from the National Geographic, and concluded that it "was less gross than they expected". [1] In 2018, the American website Food Insider attracted mockery from British social media users when it appeared to discover the chip butty. [4]
French fries, chips, finger chips, french-fried potatoes, or simply fries are batonnet or allumette-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium or France. They are prepared by cutting potatoes into even strips, drying them, and frying them, usually in a deep fryer. Pre-cut, blanched, and frozen russet potatoes are widely used, and sometimes baked in a regular or convection oven; air fryers are small convection ovens marketed for frying potatoes.
A hamburger, also called a burger, is a dish consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon or chilis with condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish or a "special sauce", often a variation of Thousand Island dressing and are frequently placed on sesame seed buns. A hamburger patty topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.
Fish and chips is a hot dish consisting of fried fish in batter, served with chips. The dish originated in England, where these two components had been introduced from separate immigrant cultures; it is not known who combined them. Often considered Britain's national dish, fish and chips is a common takeaway food in numerous other countries, particularly English-speaking and Commonwealth nations.
A sandwich is a dish typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a portable, convenient finger food in the Western world, though over time it has become prevalent worldwide.
Polish cuisine is a style of food preparation originating in and widely popular in Poland. Due to Poland's history, Polish cuisine has evolved over the centuries to be very eclectic, and shares many similarities with other national cuisines. Polish cooking in other cultures is often referred to as à la polonaise.
The horseshoe is an open-faced sandwich originating in Springfield, Illinois, United States. It consists of thick-sliced toasted bread, a hamburger patty or other choice of meat, French fries, and cheese sauce.
A bread roll is a small, usually round or oblong individual loaf of bread served as a meal accompaniment. Rolls can be served and eaten whole or are also commonly cut and filled – the result of doing so is considered a sandwich in English.
"The Greasy Chip Butty Song" is a football chant sung by the supporters of Sheffield United football club to the tune of "Annie's Song", glorifying life in Sheffield, in chief the chip butty but also nightlife, beer and tobacco products. The song, with its good-natured humour, has been adopted and adapted by fans of a number of other association football teams.
A rissole is a small patty enclosed in pastry or rolled in breadcrumbs, usually baked or deep fried. The filling has savory ingredients, most often minced meat, fish or cheese, and is served as an entrée, main course, or side dish.
A dip or dip sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, chopped raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, falafel, and sometimes even whole sandwiches in the case of jus. Unlike other sauces, instead of applying the sauce to the food, the food is typically placed or dipped into the sauce.
A bacon sandwich is a sandwich of cooked bacon between bread that is optionally spread with butter, and may be seasoned with ketchup or brown sauce. It is generally served hot. In some establishments the sandwich will be made from bread toasted on only one side, while other establishments serve it on the same roll as is used for hamburgers.
A barm cake is a soft, round, flattish bread item from North West England, traditionally leavened with barm.
A fish and chip shop, sometimes referred to as a chip shop or chippy, is a restaurant that specialises in selling fish and chips. Usually, fish and chip shops provide takeaway service, although some have seating facilities. Fish and chip shops may also sell other foods, including variations on their core offering such as battered sausage and burgers, to regional cuisine such as Turkish or Indian food. Variations on the name include fish bar, fishery, fish shop and chip shop. In most of the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland, they are colloquially known as a chippy or fishy, while in the Republic of Ireland and the Aberdeen area, they are more commonly known as chippers.
Potato cake is a name given to various shaped potato dishes around the world, including a patty of hashed potatoes, a fried patty of mashed potato, a fried and battered slice of potato, or a flatbread made with mashed potato and flour. In Northern England and some states in Australia, a thin slice of potato that is battered and deep fried may be called a potato scallop. In Australia and New Zealand, the terms potato cake, potato flip and potato fritter may be used.
A pickled cucumber – commonly known as a pickle in the United States and Canada and a gherkin in Britain, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand – is a usually small or miniature cucumber that has been pickled in a brine, vinegar, or other solution and left to ferment. The fermentation process is executed either by immersing the cucumbers in an acidic solution or through souring by lacto-fermentation. Pickled cucumbers are often part of mixed pickles.
A Gatsby is a South African submarine sandwich consisting of a bread roll filled with chips and a choice of fillings and sauces. It originated in Cape Town and is popular throughout the Western Cape province. The sandwich is typically large and shared by several people.
A crisp sandwich is a sandwich that includes crisps as the filling, or on its own. In addition to the crisps, any other common sandwich ingredient may be added.
The peanut butter and banana sandwich (PB&B), or peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich (PB,B&B), sometimes referred to as an Elvis sandwich, the Velvet Elvis, or simply the Elvis, is a sandwich with toasted bread, peanut butter, sliced or mashed banana, and occasionally bacon. Honey or jelly is seen in some variations of the sandwich. The sandwich is frequently cooked in a pan or on a griddle.
