Beer Batter English Fish and Chips

So as most people, we are not traveling in this time of Corona and DH and I find ourselves missing rather badly both friends in far away places and the places themselves.

As I’ve mentioned oftentimes, one of my fave places is Gibraltar, whence live some very close friends and in general, there is a wonderful warm community. Foodie that I am, I also miss certain foods that I’ve grown fond of. There’s a very nice dairy restaurant which the Jewish community relies on there known as Amar’s. They have a bakery as well but at the restaurant, the favorite dish we eat there is the fish and chips, served English style, deep fried (I rarely do it, but if I do, it’s gotta be worth it) and is absolutely fabulously delicious.

DH and I look at each other and say, yeah, we’ll sin and have the fish n’ chips here, just cuz ya can’t NOT eat it. So, in a quest to recreate this delicious meal, and since I know I can’t go there for quite awhile yet, I made my own.

I wanted to have super crispy chips and searched around a bit for a recipe which spoke to me but as I often do, I made a hodge podge of ideas I liked and cannot point to a specific recipe. Each of the better recipes have you twice fry the french fries or chips as the English call them and although that may sound scary, it produces an awesome crispy chip. I had extra batter left over from the fish so I sliced an onion and made onion rings too. In for a penny, in for a pound.

So, I achieved my goal, the fish was gorgeous and crispy and the chips the crispiest I’ve ever made, so let’s make a gloriously unhealthy meal, shall we? (Hey, once in a while, right?)

Start with the potatoes, since you need to peel and cut and soak them. Yup, soak in order to get rid of the excess starch and this in turn helps make them super crispy. So for the added eye candy, I cut my potatoes in slices with a waffle cutter (nothing to do with waffles) for a charming look.

You can just cut them in chip form or french fry form, don’t matter none, whatever pleases you. The main thing, cut them in approximately the same thickness so they will fry evenly (this avoids those nasty ones that turn into coal bits when the others are half done).

Then put them in a bowl with cold water.

Since you start off with this, it should wind up having soaked around 15 or so minutes which should be fine but longer is good as well.

Next, prepare your batter. It’s not crazy thick nor too thin but the way to prevent the batter from sliding off your fish (or onion rings) is to first dredge them in flour. We’ll get to that.

Line up your batter ingredients, start with the flour and the baking soda and stir together with the cornstarch.

Then add your liquids and whisk together.

Set the batter aside, you want it to sit about 15 minutes or longer (up to an hour, approximately) and it will since you will be a busy bee.

Take your fish fillets and here it should be any firm white fish, I used tilapia but cod is excellent as well, rinse them, shake off excess water and have your pie plate with flour ready and dredge (coat) the fish on both sides in the flour. You will shake off the excess flour before dipping in the batter but we ain’t there yet. Set aside.

Next take your quart or liter of oil (plain vegetable, canola, safflower, what have you- not olive or coconut which overwhelms the flavors) and in a deep medium pot, bring to a boil. Be careful!

Take your soaking potatoes and drain in a colander thoroughly, shake shake shake. Then take a towel or paper towels and pat dry (you don’t want the oil to spatter you, so do this well).

pat pat pat. By now, your oil should be hot but I always test it by gently placing one chip in. If it doesn’t bubble like a witch’s cauldron, wait till it does and then add your other potatoes (okay so one will be a bit too done). Now this is important. This is your first fry of the potatoes.

Don’t cheat and do it the whole way or you’ll be sorry since it won’t be as crispy. After about 3 minutes of frying (they should be deep yellow) using a large slotted spoon, scoop out your potatoes and place in the dried colander to rest and drain. Set aside.

On to the fish (keep oil ready to roll, so to speak). You’ve dredge the fish

Now shake off excess flour from one piece and dip into the batter making sure to completely coat the fish.

Now be prepared for the shocking way of how the batter expands in the frying pot, so I advise doing them one at a time. It’s really cool, actually 🙂 .

and the other side

And you have on the stovetop by your side a wire rack with a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminium foil on it to catch the drips. Do not put fish on paper towels, they steam and get soggy.

Finish frying your fish, and immediately put the chips into the oil for the second frying (be super careful not to burn yourself!!). Gently stir the chips once if necessary and if your pot doesn’t comfortably hold all the chips and let them fry properly, do it in two batches. While the chips fry merrily, prepare your plates since this is a dish that must be served right away, not cold like revenge. Little joke there.

Now the chips I don’t drain on a rack since they go straight to the plate, I make small bowls with paper towels (mea culpa) and scoop them out with a slotted spoon, drain briefly and into the bowl, with the fried fish.

Now the English eat this with vinegar (the good L-rd knows why, yes, I know my friends will whack me) but people like me and DH eat it with tartar sauce like regular people do. This you can make before this whole adventure, I give you a recipe at the bottom and here’s a pic with the ingredients and resultant sauce. You can also buy it if you choose.

Since there are capers and pickle relish in the tartar sauce, you can pretend you had vegetables with your meal.

Last but not least, the last minute onion rings which you simply dip in flour and whatever leftover batter you have.

This produces an incredibly filling and satisfying meal. A nice beer goes well with this or perhaps some English tea, black or with milk!

Beer Batter English Fish and Chips

4-5 medium potatoes

1/2 cup flour for dredging
4 pieces tilapia/cod fillets
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup beer

1 quart/liter oil

Directions:
Peel potatoes and slice thickly either in chip form or thick French fries. Fill a bowl with cold water and put the cut potatoes in the cold water. Set aside.

Next rinse the fillets and shake off excess water. Put the flour in a pie plate or dish and dredge the fish in flour on both sides till fully coated. Set aside.

Next prepare the batter. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, salt and pepper and then mix in the lemon juice and beer. You should have a thickish batter. Set aside. The batter can sit up to an hour, by the way, so it’s fine.

Now drain the potatoes well and shake them. Then take a towel or paper towels and thoroughly dry the potatoes. You will double fry the chips which will produce an incredibly crispy chip so it’s really worth it! So do the first fry.

Take a pot and fill with the oil and bring to a boil. Test the oil with one chip if it’s frying like mad, excellent- slowly add the chips, make sure the oil should fully cover them or do it in two batches. Fry 3-4 minutes till yellow but not brown. Remove the chips from the oil with slotted spoon (try to drain as you go) and set aside to drain in a dry colander.
Keep the oil hot and take the floured fish and coat on both sides with batter holding the end of the piece and let excess drip off and place in hot oil carefully. Only if you can easily fit one more piece of fish in without crowding it since the batter expands like mad, do so. Fry for about 2 minutes till nicely browned and gently turn once and fry till lovely and browned. Remove from oil and drain on wire rack placed over baking tray lined with parchment paper. Do NOT drain fish on paper towels or it steams and gets soggy.
Repeat with next batch of fish. Leave to drain on wire rack.

Now take fried chips and put back into hot oil and cook till nicely browned. Nestle these in individual bowls lined with paper towel for each diner.

Serve with tartar sauce on the side.

Tartar Sauce

1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons capers, drained and chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dehydrated or 2 teaspoons fresh onions, minced
2 teaspoons sugar (yes you need it the capers are tart and salty)
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl. Taste and adjust sugar. Serve with the fish (also wonderful with poached chicken).