Fish and Chips
Since you can’t leave your home, let’s travel culinarily. Last week, we were in Thailand. This week let’s go to England and have some Fish and Chips!
Frying fish in a batter is not usually my preferred way to make or eat fish but I had gotten some Halibut for free and somehow got fixated on making fish and Chips. I actually had never had them before until this recipe. Even though this was no fried chicken, it was delicious and comforting. I mean, you can never go wrong with fried food. The coating was slightly crispy on the outside but soft once you bite down while the fish was tender and flaky.
Traditionally, people use Cod or Haddock to make fish and chips. Apparently Halibut is too nice a fish to use for this but again, I was fixated on fish and chips so there was no changing my mind. So when you are making these please use Cod or Haddock, unless you want to be fancy. But I promise, apart from the Halibut I tried to be as authentic as possible. I even bought malt vinegar! And used Guinness for the batter but I’m not sure how authentic that part is. The Guinness made the batter darker and gave it a more pronounced flavor which I liked but I believe lighter beers are typically used and you can use pretty much any beer for this recipe.
Fish and Chips
This recipe yields about 4 servings
The Chips
- 3 russet potatoes, cut into fries
- canola oil, for deep frying
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
The Fish
- 1 lb cod or halibut (or haddock) fillets
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 bottle beer
- tartar sauce, ketchup and/or malt vinegar, for serving
Method
In a large pan, heat up enough oil to submerge a batch of fries to about 325ºF (medium high). Rinse off starch from potatoes in cold water then pat them dry. Working in batches, fry the potatoes in the oil for about 5 minutes or until they are beginning to turn golden. Place the potatoes on a wire rack to drain and season them with salt.
Increase the heat to high or to about 375ºF. Return the fries to the oil and fry until the fries are golden brown. Transfer them to the rack again and season with more salt. Reduce the heat to medium high or to about 350ºF.
Pat the fish fillets dry with a paper towel and season them generously with salt and pepper. Put 1/2 cup of flour on a plate. Then in a bowl, whisk the remaining 3/4 cup of flour with about 1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste and baking powder. Add the beer and whisk until smooth.
Place each fish fillet on the plate coating them in flour before dipping them in the batter and coating completely. Fry the fish in the hot oil for about 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown all around. Transfer fish to a wire rack to drain for about 3 minutes. You can season it with more salt at this point. Serve the fish and chips with tartar sauce, ketchup or malt vinegar or all three. Enjoy!
