Many health conscious folk feel obliged to shun Britain's staple take away - fish and chips - because of its high-fat content. But now, researchers from New Zealand have discovered a way to improve its battered image.

An old British recipe, which uses beer to make the batter, has been found to slash the amount of fat absorbed when the fish is fried. Following the recipe, which uses roughly the same amount of beer to flour, they discovered an almost 40 per cent reduction in fat absorbed by the fish. And, the fillets turned out more moist and succulent than those cooked with traditional batter.

The scientists, who compared two commercial batters against three homemade recipes, believe that the beer's 5 per cent alcohol content could have caused the batter to dry more quickly during cooking, producing a hardening layer on the surface which reduced moisture loss and fat absorption.

Now they are suggesting that takeaway outlets and restaurants adopt the procedure over there. Back home, at the moment, the best you can do is to take the can of ale into your local chippy and ask if they'll make up a special batch of batter for you.