British Expatriate Network

Batter ingredients

3/4 cup (3oz) all purpose (plain) flour
3/4 cup (3oz) cornstarch (cornflour)
1/2 tspn baking soda
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar (icing/confectioners)
2 tspns sea salt
1/4 tspn ground white pepper
1/2 tspn powdered garlic
1/4 tspn paprika
1/4 tspn dried dill
1/4 tspn dried thyme
1/2 tspn finely grated lemon zest (I sometimes use a ginger grater)
1/2-3/4 cup (4-6floz) good quality dark strong beer
1/2 cup (4floz) plus 1-2 tablespoons water (if needed)

Fish:

This will be more than enough to coat 1 1/2 lbs of cod/halibut or similar firm white fish(I sometimes use roughy).
I usually cut the fish into 2 inch wide goujouns (strips) for easier handling and better cooking.

Batter:

In a large bowl combine and mix all the dry ingredients.

Stir in the beer and add enough water to make a light batter, the consistency of the which should be similar to a crepe batter (not too runny). Whisk/mix well and let stand for about 30 minutes or so.

Cooking:

You'll need about 5 inch's of peanut oil in a deep heavy pot (or use a deep fryer) and bring it up to 375 degrees (190c).

<!-- BBCode Start --><font color=#ffff00>DO NOT LEAVE HOT OIL OR POTS HEATING OIL UNATTENDED. KEEP THIS STUFF AWAY FROM CHILDREN.</font><!-- BBCode End -->

Dip the pieces of fish, one at a time, into the batter to coat them well, shake off any excess and carefully add to the hot oil a few pieces at a time and fry, turning if required until golden brown (making sure they don't stick together). About 3 1/2 minutes.

Do not try and cook too many at one time otherwise you compromise the oil temperature and the batter could go soggy.

Drain on baking racks over paper towels, and keep warm in a low ELECTRIC oven until all cooked. If you have a GAS oven, simply
lightly cover the fish with a sheet of paper towel to keep warm.

Gas oven are very humid and thus give off quite a bit of moisture which will render the batter soft...

Serve with chips.

If you're really interested, here's how I make chips/french fries.

To serve 3/4

2lbs of large russet potatoes. (The older the better)

Peel potatoes and cut into desired chip size (you should know what you like!).

Place potatoes in a big bowl of lightly salted COLD water and leave for about an hour, changing the water twice in this time.

Heat a deep fat fryer to 320 degrees.

Drain chips/fires, and dry thoroughly on a clean tea towel.

If you have a basket you can use, so much the better, make sure that you do not over fill basket so as not to cause oil to rise over the edge of the pot. If you have a domestic deep fryer (De Longhi whatever), it will tell you how much food/basket ratio.

Cook chips until they're "straw" coloured and very pale.

Remove from the pan and drain. (This can actually be done the day before, just refrigerate the cooled/drained fries until needed)

Using the same oil and pot, increase the heat of the oil to 375 degrees.

Carefully add the parcooked fries to the oil and cook until puffy and golden brown - this will take very little time. Drain, season and server with the above (or with anything else for that matter - mayonnaise..mmmmm)

Merry Friar regards!

Andrew :smile:

ok, I have to ask. Why do you soak the chips and why do you cook them at two different temperatures? What does it do to the potatoes? Make them crispier on the outside?

The reason for soaking potatoes is to remove as much of the starch as possible.

Hence the suggestion to use older potatoes as they'll have less starch, thereby creating a better french fry/chip.

Starch in fries is not good. In commercial fish and chips shops they'll use an agent (can't remember the name)in the water where chips are held before cooking. It allows them to leech the starch from them.

Although not 100% necessary, the twice cooking gives a better chip. It will give a crunchier outer texture that with stay crisper longer than a straight fry through (if you know what I mean).

In place like Bugger King and MacDonalds, there fires )after the pre-cooking in pressure deep fryers, are flash dried and have a exceptionally thin dusting of cornstarch/cornflour "sprayed" over them to give them that "extra" crispy fries they advertise.

You can imitate this if you really want to by putting some cornstarch/seasonings/salt in a flour shaker and sprinkle this over the fries after the first cook.

It'll render your oil useless for any other use but it'll make the fries somewaht crispy.

Another good tip to good fries, good healthy deep fat frying. Only use the oil a max of 3 times then ditch it (responsibly of course).

Andrew

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: maczippy on 2001-11-02 15:43 ]</font>

I tried this fish and chip recipe last night and the result was delicious. My only complaint was that the batter wasn't as crispy as I would have liked, but this is probably because I can't regulate the temperature on our deep fat fryer. It was actually me second attempt at doing the chips, the first time they were a little tasteless - this time I cut them thinner and fried them after the fish and they were great.

Thanks Andrew, I'm sure everyone appreciates your help in the cooking department.

Hello Beng,

I'm glad you liked it!

There are a number of variables that could cause the batter to be a bit soft.

1. The batter may have been too wet (runny).

2. The oil may not have been hot enough, it must stay around 375 degress, so you have to make sure you do not add too many pieces at one time as it will cause the temp of the oil to drop. Sometimes it's worth trying this with a stove top pot of oil thus allowing you to keep the heat at the right temperature. (But be very careful and over fill the pot. About 2/3rds should be sufficient, otherwise it could boil over).

3. The flour (this kinda ties in with the runniness). Flour is hygroscopic. It absorbs moisture thus depending on your climate could affect the effectiveness of the flour. You may want to consider adding a little bit more cornflour. This is what gives the recipe the "crunch" (tempura batter in Japanese cuisine is made from cornflour).

As for the fries. I always go for organic potatoes. I don't know why, but they just seem to have that good potato (non floury) taste that works!

Andrew

Andrew, would you think a bottle of IPA would be alright for the dark beer? It's a bit hoppy for me so I'm wondering how it would come out in the recipe.
Used the delonghi for the first time last night on a trial run of chips, scrumptious. And as you say, this soaking them in water is a great idea, bitlike washing the rice til the water runs clear.

I have plenty of ingredients left so I'm going to try it again later this week (wife don't like fish - so I'm only cooking for one). I will try for a thicker batter next time, if that doesn't work then I'll try your other suggestions.

Also, I used Canola Oil instead of Peanut Oil - how much of a difference does this make?

IPA is perfect. Yes, will give the batter a good colour and a nice taste. Hence a good strong beer.

Yep, and I always wash my basmati!

Exactly same thing...

They're both fine. I just use peanut all the time and have since I was a kid and got into this cooking lark...

Andrew

Thanks Andrew, you're a gem!

OK Andrew, question the umpteenth.

Having tried our newly aquired delonghi deep fryer(ace price at costco,) we discovered chips to be great, however, how do you stop the fish sticking to the bottom of the basket?
The recipe was wonderful and his nibs ate a whole plate of fish first time since leaving blighty over ten years ago. Used IPA, gave a lovely colour and taste, did leave out dried dill, as usually use fresh and none available at the mo, also powdered garlic, prefer fresh or not at all, and besides they hadn't discovered garlic when we left so it wouldn't have been quite so authentic.
Any more recipes. We shall have to be careful. No more than one deep fried meal a week, and it means giving up choccy on other days, the dreaded cholesterol thingy, 50 brings many things one has to give up. The booze and the choccy are always the last to go, we can justify those with certain health reports!!! lol
BTW, have you ever made doughnuts, (part of me is saying, NO NO NO, but im indoors has a new toy and so wonders.) roll

No worries...

Can you use the deep fryer without lifting the basket? Does the lid lift the basket when you open it?

That's fine (there's nothing "bad" per se with using dried herbs/spices), although most "commercial" batters that fish and chip shops use would have these components contained within the dry mix (and may even contain some other flavour enhancers).

There's no problem using dried herbs/spices, especially when you're creating a batter as using fresh would simply not work (you should try it. Ever had the Birds Eye battered fish fingers of yore? I think you'd be surprised as to where that flavour comes from.)

It's always a good idea to have dried herbs and spices for these sort of purposes.

Depending on how much you use them, just buy a couple of the small jars. Dried Dill, dried garlic and dried onion powders are my favourites to use in rubs for salmon, pork and other groovy things you can grill.

Maybe I should list what I have in my spice pantry one day. Hmmm.

The only item that I will not buy is pre-peeled garlic. Evil.

I have made doughnuts, but only the Italian style (sfingi or bombolini - stuffed with creme anglaise) and using olive oil to fry (you have to be very very careful with olive oil)

Let me know on the basket!

Oh, and here's a little snapshot of one of our deep fryers (I have a few of these):



Andrew :smile:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: maczippy on 2001-11-07 15:57 ]</font>

Can you use the deep fryer without lifting the basket? Does the lid lift the basket when you open it?

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It took me a couple of times scraping the fish off the basket to realize that I needed to fry fish without the basket. If you can remove the basket you'll be fine.

----

What kind of fryer is that that one Andrew? Mine is due for replacement, and that square one looks just right.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: wendl on 2001-11-08 09:35 ]</font>

It is a Tefal. And it took me a long time to find it, as the other residential fryers just don't hold enough, plus they're round (not a bad thing per se), but if you want to do fish without cutting it up it can be restrictive.

It will cook almost 3lb's of fries (not that I ever have), but it's always beter to buy appliances that are bigger than what you may need as it's always easier to cook less. Whereas the reverse can be a headache.

It holds almost a gallon of oil (5l). (I actually gave a powerpoint presentation on this at work as a joke!)

The Model is a Tefal MaxiPro:

http://www.t-falusa.com/products/applian...index.html

Andrew