This Is The Only Type Of Vinegar You Should Have With Fish And Chips

Okay, so you know that if you want to get the real fish and chips experience, you need to add vinegar, but you're not sure where to start. After all, just at your local grocery store, you can get so many kinds — white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and countless others. Don't worry – you don't need to have a pantry full of different vinegar options to get the full experience. For good fish and chips, all you need is one kind: malt vinegar.

According to French Fries Machine's blog, malt vinegar is the classic fish and chips topping in the UK, Ireland, Canada, and Australia. At home in the U.S. Canadians will sometimes swap it out for white vinegar, but for the classic British fish and chips flavor, you're better off sticking with malt. Malt vinegar is made by melting barley, and while there are a few different variations, the kind known as dark malt vinegar or brown malt vinegar is most popular on fish and chips.

One malt vinegar is ranked number one or two across multiple outlets, and no it's not some small-batch, artisanal vinegar that'll cost you a fortune. Falling just shy of first place on Amazon's Bestsellers list and taking the top spot on specialized review sites such as Best Reviews Tips and GistGear is Heinz malt vinegar. Hopefully, they have it at your go-to supermarket, but if they don't, the Heinz website has a distributor locator. From there, you can mix your vinegar into the batter and then drizzle it on top of your fish and/or chips.

Plus, malt vinegar is good for more than just fish and chips. As MasterClass explains, malt vinegar is also great for pickling vegetables, drizzling on top of any oily fish (breaded and paired with fries or otherwise), making maple bourbon glazes for barbecue, or dressing a salad. If you want to go a little fancier than greasy fried fish, you can also use malt vinegar to make a mean aioli.