Before you start thinking that this blog has turned into a golden arches franchise I should explain the recent streak of deep fried food. I hardly ever deep fry food, so when I do, I like to get the most out of the oil. Since I’d used half a bottle of oil for the chicken cracklins, I started running through the long list of deep fried goodies I’ve drooled over in the past months. State side, good fish and chips are tough to come by. While it may seem simple, it’s all too common to end up with a platter of greasy fried batter smelling of old oil with dry bits of fish in the middle along with soggy burnt fries. For my version I used a mixture of flour and cornstarch, along with a few seasonings and baking powder, then hit it with some ice cold beer (using cold beer prevents strands of tough gluten from forming in the batter). For the fish, I chose cod since it looked the best at the market, but it also happens to be my favorite for making fish and chips. It’s just firm enough to hold up to frying, with a nice balance of fat and meat that keeps it moist without being too oily. The result is a light, crisp shell holding a moist, tender fillet of cod. The shell was so crisp in fact, that when I took some leftovers out of the fridge the next day, it was still crisp. For the chips, I went with a double fry, once before frying the fish then a second time after to get them really crisp. The first fry cooks the potatoes and forms a thin skin, free of moisture, that then becomes crisp when you dump them back into the hotter oil. This also gives the fish a chance to cool off a bit, so you don’t burn yourself when you bite into it. If you have some batter left and really want to go nuts, try beer battering some on their way into their second fry. I’m not a huge fan of tartar sauce, so instead I made a simple curry sauce. Along with some malt vinegar or lemon juice, it makes for a fantastic condiment for both the fish and chips.
📖 Recipe
