In praise of Britain’s (greatest?) culinary invention: The chip butty

The dish

Chip butty, UK

Plate up

This isn’t fair to the UK. It’s rude. This is a country that has given the world some genuinely sophisticated cuisine, from full English breakfasts to chicken tikka masala to the glory of a good Cullen skink. And yet, we’ve chosen to focus on chip sandwiches. So yes, it’s a little rude. Still, you can’t help but doff your tweed flat-cap to the greatness of the chip butty, the ultimate snack for either pre-, mid- or post-alcohol intake, a fatty, carb-laden meal that doesn’t mess around with anything even vaguely nutritious.

The “chip butty” – a staple of the English diet.Credit: iStock

A classic chip butty is made using either a soft white bread roll, or plain, fluffy sliced white bread, which is then slathered with butter and filled with chunky fried chips doused with good shakes of salt and vinegar. This chip sanger is served either with a strong cup or tea, or an equally strong pint of lager.

First serve

There’s an official story about the origin of the chip butty, as recognised by Britain’s venerable National Federation of Fish Fryers. Back in 1863, Britain’s second-ever fish and chip shop, Mr Lees in Oldham, Lancashire, began selling “chip barms”, which were bread rolls filled with fried chips, the perfect cheap meal for those who couldn’t afford fish. Chip butties entered the lexicon in the early 1900s, with the boom of fish and chip shops around the UK. There’s a claim, however, that the dish could have originated in southern Yorkshire, given that’s where the term “butty”, slang for butter, comes from.

Order there

Head to Sheffield in south Yorkshire for a classic chip butty – or a fancy “Rutty Butty” – at the Rutland Arms pub (rutlandarmssheffield.co.uk).

Order here

In Sydney, visit Derrel’s in Camperdown to sample the chip butty with butter chicken gravy (derrels.com.au). In Melbourne, try the chip butty with onion gravy at Northcote Fish & Chips (northcotefishandchips.com.au). And in Adelaide, check out the Fox & Firkin (foxandfirkin.com.au).

One more thing

Chip butties are great, but they’re not the king of the butty world. That honour must surely go to the bacon butty, a sandwich of crisp bacon on soft white bread, with a good squelch of HP sauce. Heaven.