Reel Big Fish

Brits Steal America’s Fried-Fish Record During Independence Day Weekend

Sink or swim, America.
Sink or swim, America. Photo: Yorkshire Post

Over the Fourth of July weekend, while we were busy grilling and imbibing and watching people consume unseemly quantities of hot dogs, something devastating happened overseas: Great Britain fried up an enormous piece of halibut. Until a few days ago, Boston’s Black Rose held the coveted Guinness World Record, having served a gut-busting 78-pound heap of fish and chips. But per the Yorkshire Post, a British establishment aptly named the Wensleydale Heifer has topped them at last, doling out a 101-pound fish supper.

We admit it: The size is impressive. But the preparation sounds rather frightening. Per the story, “the giant meal was prepared with a monster fillet of halibut, coated in more than four gallons of batter and fried in so much oil it needed seven hours to heat up.” It was served alongside “buckets” of chips and accompanied with a vat of mushy peas.

Don’t expect to see them on an episode of Man vs. Food any time in the near future, though. Apparently this was a one-time-only experiment for the pub, which will now return to serving regularly apportioned fish and respectable dollops of mushy vegetables.

Yorkshire Pub Claims New World Record [Yorkshire Post via Boston Restaurant Talk]

Brits Steal America’s Fried-Fish Record During Independence Day Weekend