Leintwardine chippy trials new frying fat after P100 win

A Herefordshire fish and chip shop has been able to trial a different frying medium after winning a competition, giving the owners the chance to experiment with an alternative oil while also saving money during a challenging period for the industry.

Linzi Morris and Dominic Eusden, who run Fiddlers Elbow Fish & Chips in Leintwardine, won 10 boxes of P100 palm oil and began using it last month.

Linzi explained that the decision to enter the competition came from both habit and a practical need to explore alternatives to their usual oil. “We like to enter competitions, but also we use high oleic sunflower oil and we were finding it wasn’t lasting as long as it used to, and we wanted to try an alternative vegetable oil,” she said.

Dietary requirements have always been central to the business. Since taking over the shop in 2013, Linzi and Dominic have offered gluten free options, becoming fully gluten free in 2017, while vegan dishes have also become a significant part of the menu. As a result, any change to their frying medium had to meet those needs.

Linzi commented: “We always want to keep to either sunflower or vegetable oil, because we have a lot of vegetarian customers and vegans. Changing to anything else would be so detrimental to our customer base. This was an ideal way, if we won, to try P100 at no cost before we make the decision whether to switch from sunflower to vegetable oil.”

Winning the prize came as a genuine surprise for the pair. “We don’t tend to win very much, so we were pleased and surprised when we won 10 boxes of P100,” Linzi added.

The new fat was put into use on Tuesday, and early results have been encouraging. Dominic commented: “It’s really good. It’s holding up well and it hasn’t discoloured much compared to the sunflower oil, which goes dark really quickly. Linzi also preferred the taste of P100, adding: “I think it’s given the food a slightly better flavour so it has an edge there.”

Longevity has been one of the biggest differences so far, as Dominic explained: “The sunflower oil would only last us a maximum of a fortnight, and we were constantly topping up pretty much every day. With the P100, we’ve only topped up by one box in four days, so the longevity is looking pretty good,”

The financial impact of the win has also been significant at a time when costs continue to rise. “It costs us about £240 to fill the pans,” Dominic said “Winning has been absolutely amazing, just that little bit of saving, even if it is £240 while we’re using the P100. It’s a lot of money, considering the price of fish is going through the roof.”