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found by the Council's officers packed in trunks, with a layer of larger fish on top; and there can
be no doubt that under the conditions as to inspection which at present exist, the decision as to
whether such fish shall be fried or not practically rests with the retail vendor.
As regards nuisance from vapours, consideration may be given to the following points:—
A.—Materials Used in Frying.—Fish is fried in either dripping or cotton-seed oil. In some
cases a mixture of both is used, generally in the proportions of one-half of each. In a few
instances, fish is fried in dripping and the potatoes in oil. Ordinary dripping is the fat which
drips from meat during roasting, plus a small quantity of the extractives, in the form of gravy,
which has not been separated. It is more or less hard, according to the amount of mutton fat
contained in it, and on fracture is rather rough in appearance. The dripping used for fish
frying may have been obtained in small quantities either from butchers' shops or public institutions,
or from butchers' fat, and may be rendered by the fish fryer himself. It is, however, chiefly
supplied by a number of firms, usually fat or tallow melters, who specially prepare dripping for
this business. In such cases it is usually darker in colour and more oleaginous than ordinary
shop dripping. In some instances a tallowy-looking kind is used, which is said to be imported
from Australia. Fish fryers' dripping may be regarded as blended fat made up of dripping from
hotels and shops, and, from fresh butchers' fat.
Cotton-seed oil, one of the cheapest of the fatty oils, is largely used for fish frying. It is also
said to be sold under the disguise of such names as "table oil," "salad oil," "sweet nut oil," and
thus is used for other edible purposes. It is obtained on a large scale from the seeds of various
kinds of cotton trees, cultivated in the United States, Egypt, &c. After decortication, the seeds
are pressed in hydraulic presses. The crude oil from the presses is heated to 120° F., and intimately
mixed with caustic potash solution—only so much caustic potash being added as to combine with
the colouring matter and the free fatty acids in the oil. The mixture separates into two layers—
the upper being a decolourised oil, the lower a heavy mucilage of a brown or black colour. The
supernatant oil is drawn off and washed with warm water; the edible oil is not bleached with
chemicals. The finer grades of oil are used for edible purposes, the lower grades for soap-making.
It is said that cotton-seed oil, being one of the cheapest fatty oils, is hardly liable to adulteration ;
but, when the price of linseed oil and maize oil is lower, admixture with these oils may occur.
Cotton-seed oil is fluid at ordinary temperatures, is of a brownish colour, and has a characteristic
oily smell. The semi-solid kind of cotton-seed oil was found on the premises of one fish-fryer, but
this probably contained an excessive amount of cotton-seed stearin. Cotton-seed oil is used in
nearly all the fried fish shops in the East-end of London and is preferred, because the fish when
cold looks better and is more moist.
The dripping or oil is heated to a temperature of from 350° to 380°F. The temperature was
taken by the Council's inspector in upwards of 40 cases whilst the business was going on, and
these temperatures include instances of:—
Max. Min.
Cotton seed oil only in the pan 406° F 346° F.
Dripping „ „ „ 402° 300°
Fish frying in the oil 374° 322°
„ „ dripping 378° 306°
„ „ oil and dripping 350° 328°
Potatoes „ oil *382° 230°
Potatoes frying in dripping 306° 236°
„ „ oil and dripping 290° (the only observation).
N.B.—When oil or dripping alone is being heated in the pans, and the temperature reaches
400° F., a smell of charring is given off and a large quantity of blue fume noticeable.
When the fish and potatoes are put into the pan, particularly in the latter case, a large
quantity of vapour is given off, both from the potatoes and from the water from the batter†
around the fish. This vapour carries with it minute particles of fat and oil, which, on condensation,
are deposited. There is ample proof of this in the numerous instances in which the hoods
and chimney breasts were found to be thickly coated with oil and soot, and the ventilation
openings into the chimney flues and shafts, were in consequence, clogged up. Such deposit is further
shown in the streaks of black oily liquid on the walls, the numerous oily globules on the ceilings
of the frying-rooms and shops, and the dirty oily deposit on the fascia boards above
the openings over the shop windows. In other instances, the vapour, probably aided by
the high temperature due to the heat from the furnace and gas jet under the hood, had
carried further, and condensed in the external shafts : indeed, in one notable instance, the vapour
had fallen on to the roof, leaving an oily, sooty deposit. These facts point to the conclusion that
the vapour from furnaces in which oil is used is carried away in larger quantity, and carried further
before being condensed than is the case when dripping is used; indeed, vapour from oil is
productive of much more dirty conditions in all respects. An important factor in the case is the
fluid condition of the oil at ordinary temperatures. Although it is not a volatile oil, its characteristic
smell permeates the atmosphere of the premises even when frying is not going on.
When the water has evaporated from the fish and potatoes, a blue fume is given off in
* Potatoes only just added to very hot oil.
† The batter consists of flour and water, and into this the fish is dipped previous to being placed in the oil.