Be careful - Birds Eye Fish Fingers....

Emp_Fab

I bought two big packs of Birds Eye Chunky Fish Fingers.  I was just about to cook them and wanted to check whether they were Cod or Pollack.  Turns out they were neither.....  They are Basa - in other words, fresh water Catfish, usually from the filthy rivers of the Mekong delta.  Banned in several countries. 

You may have your own opinions on this fish, but I won't eat it.

You don't really expect Captain Birdseye in his salty seafaring garb to be trawling the rivers of Ho Chi Minh City do you.

Kittyfrisk

Ya Basa is a Glaswegian ejaculation...

TTony

Kittyfrisk said:

Ya Basa is a Glaswegian ejaculation...

Does it taste like fish?

darthed1981

Ah... well our constant, staggering, rate of consumption as a species has to be fed from somewhere.

There would have been a time, long ago, when fish fingers were made from actual cod caught in the waters around Britain, but that became waayyy too expensive for the average fish finger long ago.

Looks like Pollock now has got too expensive as well.

thermionic

Ultra-processed food item in low quality ingredients shocker!

Philly_Q

I buy basa fillets from Sainsburys.  They're labelled as basa fillets, in big letters, so it can't be that sinister a fish.  I must admit I had no idea it was controversial, maybe I'll think twice before buying it again.

Quite nice, though, actually.  And to be honest cod is pretty tasteless.

crosstownvamp

I bought some basa by accident in the supermarket once. Never again. 

I've had Mekong catfish in SE Asia, it must be the spices they cover it in that make it taste good.

Kittyfrisk

Well they're hardly attempting a coverup  https://www.birdseye.co.uk/our-sustainable-path/captain's-fish-finder/basa

Dominic

Emp_Fab said:

I bought two big packs of Birds Eye Chunky Fish Fingers.  I was just about to cook them and wanted to check whether they were Cod or Pollack.  Turns out they were neither.....  They are Basa - in other words, fresh water Catfish, usually from the filthy rivers of the Mekong delta.  Banned in several countries. 

You may have your own opinions on this fish, but I won't eat it.

You don't really expect Captain Birdseye in his salty seafaring garb to be trawling the rivers of Ho Chi Minh City do you.

Good for you .......absolutely vile ,bottom feeding ,mud sifting creatures that hoover up the detritus of dirty rivers although I suspect these have never seen the unattenuated Agent Orange tainted waters of the Mekong itself and are probably farmed in an equally toxic tributary .However the giant Prawns that people pay a fortune for are also scavenging filth feeders from the same rivers (they are not a Sea Prawn ,nor are Tiger prawns )

tony99

Ok didn't know this. So basa is shite, and prawns is shite. What good fish can I get from the supermarket if I want frozen?

merlin

Emp_Fab said:

They are Basa - in other words, fresh water Catfish, usually from the filthy rivers of the Mekong delta.  Banned in several countries. 

I thought they were Soylent Green

Bellycaster

Shouldn't this be in the Basa Section?

goldtop

In other news, honey is bee vomit.

Dominic

tony99 said:

Ok didn't know this. So basa is shite, and prawns is shite. What good fish can I get from the supermarket if I want frozen?

Well ,the best Helford or Colne Oysters aren't known for being the cleanest creatures but they certainly taste good

Nitefly

You could always try the Birds Eye Cod Fish Fingers - the ones that are actually labelled "Cod" on the packet?

BillDL

Basa is the Harley Benton of fish.  Cooked in the right way and upgraded with some nice sauce it will be every bit as good as, if not better than, more recognised fish species that are two and three times the price.

hollywoodrox

Surely cod live deep down and eat all the crap that sinks to the bottom 

Emp_Fab

To the handful of smartass reply authors;  I didn't look closely enough at the ingredients list.  I assumed they would be cod or pollack.  I prefer to get pollack as it's more sustainable than cod and I can't really tell the difference in a fish finger.  You don't expect an Asian freshwater river catfish in a box depicting a salty old sea dog and ocean waves.

So - up yer arses.

sinbaadi

darthed1981 said:

There would have been a time, long ago, when fish fingers were made from actual cod caught in the waters around Britain, but that became waayyy too expensive for the average fish finger long ago.

In our own lovely British sewage rich waters.

BillDL

Emp_Fab said:

You don't expect an Asian freshwater river catfish in a box depicting a salty old sea dog and ocean waves.

Here, I fixed that expectation for you.

BigBearKris

Pollack...