🥪 Fish finger

Serious sandwich 15

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Fish finger sandwiches - shot by Patricia Niven for Serious Sandwiches

The fish finger sandwich feels like one of the most personal of ALL sandwiches. Some people will ONLY have tartare sauce. Some people will ONLY have ketchup. Some people just… have mayonnaise?! While many brands of fish fingers are available, there’s really only one that’s relevant and we all know it. Making your own fish fingers is, frankly, too keen. Leave that to the try-hard coffee shops and gastropubs. That said, we have provided a recipe. Ha!

Sliced white or brown, bagged or bougie. Never sourdough - there’s too much sauce and squidge. A roll will work well, although it needs to strike the right balance between softness and chew - too much of the latter will smoosh the fish fingers into a paste, which will eject itself from the sandwich. We’ve all been there.  

Bird’s Eye fish fingers are designed to fit inside a sandwich and they are pretty much perfect as is. What people disagree over is the seasonings and sauces. Our preference is for both tartare sauce AND a thin spread of ketchup. The ketchup adds a slight sweetness to the sandwich, which is really great, actually. If you love fish finger sandwiches but feel like there’s always something not *quite* right, we urge you to try this combo. If you already have your preference worked out then you probably haven’t even bothered reading this far, which is fair enough.

Bougie Fish Finger Sandwich

Serves 2 Of course, you can replace these homemade fish fingers with Bird’s Eye.

4 slices soft white bread
270g cod (2 fillets)
2 teaspoons sea salt
60g panko breadcrumbs (other crumbs will be fine)
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon MSG (optional but fun)
Plain flour, for dredging
1 egg

Tartare sauce
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped sweet pickled gherkins
1 teaspoon capers, finely chopped
Small handful parsley leaves, finely chopped
A squeeze of lemon juice
Small handful chives, finely chopped 

To serve
Ketchup
1 spring onion, finely sliced
Shredded iceberg lettuce
A few drops malt vinegar

• Combine all the ingredients for the tartare sauce and mix well, then season.

• Preheat oil for deep frying to 180C.

• Cut the fish fillets in half lengthways (or whichever way works for the shape of your bread) and then into finger-sized pieces.

• Coat them with the salt, cover, and leave for 30 minutes in the fridge. After this time, wash the salt off and pat dry with paper towel.

• Mix the panko, paprika, cayenne and MSG (if using).

• Spread one plate with a little flour then add the spice mixture. Mix to combine.

• Add the egg to a shallow bowl and whisk lightly. Spread the crumbs out on another plate.

• Dip the fish pieces first into flour, then egg, then crumbs.

• Deep fry the fish fingers and drain on kitchen paper.

• To assemble each sandwich, spread one piece of bread thinly with ketchup and the other with tartare sauce. Top with lettuce, spring onion then fish fingers. Add a few drops of malt vinegar then close the sandwich.

Tofish finger sandwich (with Scampi Fries)

Serves 2 We’ve always wanted to try this, and are happy to report it’s really good. This may be incredibly obvious but it’s worth saying anyway: do not skip the seaweed. The Scampi Fries are, bizarrely, suitable for vegetarians, so adding a crumble here adds a fishiness that’s unobtainable from any other product (this is not a vegan sandwich). We’d also like to explore a version of this sandwich using Kewpie mayo, Japanese milk bread and pickled ginger. If you have the inclination, could you please?

Tofish fingers
280g (or thereabouts) extra firm tofu sliced into 10 tofu fingers
A couple of sheets of nori
1 egg
150g panko or other crumbs
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
Enough plain flour to cover a side plate, seasoned with salt and 1 teaspoon white pepper
Vegetable or groundnut oil, for cooking
A few Scampi Fries, crumbled 

• Follow the recipe above for condiments, then make the following in place of the fish fingers.

• Spread the flour out on one plate and season with salt and pepper. Lightly beat the egg in a bowl large enough to hold a finger. Spread the crumbs out on another plate and combine with the turmeric and paprika. Mix well.

• Wrap each tofu finger in a piece of nori, making sure it coats all the way around the tofu finger. Dip each finger in flour, then egg, then crumbs.

• Heat a frying pan over medium heat and once hot, add a generous dash of oil. Cook the tofu fingers for a few minutes each side, taking care not to burn the outside before the inside is warm. They should be crisp, golden and sizzling. Drain on kitchen paper before adding to the sandwich with the crumbled Scampi Fries and condiments.

Further fishy inspo.

• Scampi and Marie rose sauce (like prawn mayo x fish finger and we are here for it).

• Fish finger tacos (yeah OK not technically a sandwich but whatever). 

• Have you tried a fish finger bánh mì? An absolute staple here.

• Don’t forget the option to make any fish finger sandwich more ‘Filet o Fish’ by adding a plastic cheese slice.

• Also a reminder to always, always get a roll with your fish and chips so you can stuff steaming chunks of freshly fried fish and salt, vinegared chips into it. Thickly buttered, so that the butter melts as you eat…