The ultimate in finger food

QUESTION Is a fish finger the same as a fish goujon?

Fish fingers are a processed food made using minced whitefish while a goujon is a small strip of fish. Both are covered in batter or breadcrumbs.

The original goujons were small, whole fish in crunchy batter. The word is of 14th- century French origin and derives from gudgeon, small river fish, which were caught, fried and eaten by the river.

The delicacy crossed the Channel. Writing in the mid- 17th century, izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler, recommended it. in Victorian and Edwardian times, gudgeon parties were held at which ladies and gentlemen met on river banks and fried their catch.

The first recipe for a fish finger appeared in a 1900 edition of staffordshire’s Tamworth herald: ‘Tasty Fish Fingers. A very useful breakfast dish can be prepared as follows: Flake and mince any cold cooked fish very finely and mix it with two-thirds its bulk of cold cooked rice.

‘season to taste with pepper, salt and minced parsley, mixing it into cakes with the white of an egg. shape these neatly, brush with beaten egg, cover with breadcrumbs and fry in plenty of hot fat to a delicate golden brown. Drain well and serve.’ Mass-produced frozen fish fingers were first produced in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, by Birds Eye in 1955. They became popular with the advent of fridges with ice boxes. Eleanor Marsh, Painswick, Glos.

QUESTION Was there once a craze for making paintings from spider silk?

FURTHER to the earlier answer, in Chester Cathedral there is a cobweb picture of the Virgin and Child. it is believed to be by the Tyrolese artist Johan Burgman and is a copy of a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

T. Hind, Chester, Cheshire.