The Precise Way Queen Elizabeth Liked Fish And Chips Prepared

Queen Elizabeth II reigning over Britain and many sovereign states for nearly 71 years, making her the world's second-longest reigning monarch. Groomed to be a royal from the day she was born, the Queen was accustomed to, and certainly could afford, the best of everything, including food. According to Insider, she had over 1,100 people in her employment. When she hosted state visits at Windsor palace, her dinner guests (up to 140 at a time) would be offered canapés on solid gold platters, as seen in the program Secrets of the Queen's Kitchen. E

Even in her day to day life she enjoyed small pleasures that most commoners are not accustomed to, such as enjoying high tea daily and a glass of fine French champagne at the end of every dinner, per Today. But, it wasn't constant truffles and caviar for the Queen. In fact, most of her daily meals were rather simple and unstuffy albeit perfectly prepared to her liking by the royal chefs. Todays finds the Queen's breakfast was often a bowl of Special K cereal, lunch was fish or chicken with vegetables, and dinner was meat or fish and more veggies. Queen Elizabeth was a ruler, a royal, and, one of the most famous women in the entire world, but she was also a Brit to the core, evidenced by her lifelong love of fish and chips.

According to Secrets of the Queen's Kitchen, the Queen's father, King George VI, would request fish and chips for the family, including a young Elizabeth, to enjoy while listening to the radio. We can be assume this meal remained a nostalgic and comforting memory for the Queen. Insider points out that Queen Elizabeth was not a fan of starches when eating alone, so she probably asked for fish and chips when her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would visit. 

Of course, appearances must always be maintained when you're a queen, so battered, foot-long fish filets on newspaper was not an option. Instead, the Queen preferred the royal version, haddock Saint-Germain. As seen in Secrets of the Queen's Kitchen, the haddock Saint-Germain is portioned into small squares and coated in crispy panko breadcrumbs. The chips were made from fresh potatoes and cut into tiny rectangles, so only a couple of inches long. Bearnaise sauce accompanied the lunch, studded with fresh tarragon.

In more ways than one, she was like much of the world, occasionally enjoying her meals in front of the television, and pulling out all the stops when it came to entertaining. Just on a very different scale.