Fish and chips never gets old no matter the time we live in. It consists of beer-battered fish like sole or haddock, and paired with homemade fries. The “chips” here is just fried potatoes. I love eating this in the colder seasons and it makes so much sense to pair this with a glass of chilled beer.
For frying potatoes, I usually use either white or Russet potatoes, with white potatoes being my first choice. To get super crispy potatoes, I highly recommend soaking them first in ice-cold water to remove the excess starch. Get a deep fryer or a cast-iron skillet that fries stuff really good. Also, I found that it is best to add the salt to the potatoes have been fried and are hot.
I start with frying the fish first because I think that takes the shortest time, then I go on to fry the potatoes. The other thing is that soggy, cold fries are not really a vibe. Some recipes also recommend frying the potatoes twice, which I think is superb if you don’t mind the extra work. I enjoy serving this classic meal with either barbecue sauce or tartar sauce. Since the fish is literally battered with beer, I think it also makes sense to pair fish and chips with a chilled glass of beer. I do not really recommend keeping leftovers for this battered fish. It becomes moist, and completely loses its crispy factor.
Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 &1/4 cups very cold beer Extra 1/2 cup flour for dredging 400g fresh cod or haddock fillets, cut into thin slices 4-5 white or Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks Salt to taste 2-3 cups oil for frying
Instructions
- Rinse the potatoes with cold water to drain off any excess starch. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Combine salt, Italian seasoning, black pepper, baking powder and 1 cup flour in a large, deep bowl. Pour in the cold beer and whisk until lumps disappear.
- Pat the fish dry and thoroughly dredge both sides in flour (see ingredients)
- The dip into the beer batter and shake off the excess liquid.
- Fry in hot oil for 2-3 minutes on each side. If you’re using a deep fryer set your temperature to 350F/175C and fry for 5-6 minutes on each side
- Remove the fried fish with a slotted spoon and let it cool on a wire rack.
- Deep fry the potatoes in the same oil in batches until browned. This usually takes anywhere between 8-10 minutes.
- Toss with some salt immediately after you take it off the pan. Serve hot.
Notes
I do not recommend keeping leftovers for this battered fish. It becomes moist, and completely loses its crispy factor.