Fish and Chips
From: United Kingdom
Servings:
4
Difficulty:
Medium
Ingredients
- For fish: 4 cod or haddock fillets (150-200g each)
- For batter: 250g all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 250ml cold sparkling water or lager beer
- Salt and pepper for fish
- For chips: 800g floury potatoes (e.g., Maris Piper, Russet)
- Neutral oil for deep frying (vegetable, peanut, or fish-frying oil)
- Sea salt
- Malt vinegar
- Optional: mushy peas, tartar sauce
Instructions
- CHIPS: Cut potatoes into thick batons (about 1cm × 1cm × 7-8cm).
- Soak in cold water for 30 minutes to remove starch.
- Pat completely dry with paper towels.
- Heat oil to 160°C. Fry chips in batches for 5-7 minutes until they start to soften but are not yet golden. Remove and drain. (First fry)
- BATTER: Mix flour, salt, baking powder in a bowl. Pour in cold sparkling water or beer gradually, whisking until you have a smooth batter with consistency of thick pancake batter. It should coat a spoon but pour easily.
- PAT FISH DRY and season with salt and pepper.
- Raise oil temperature to 180-190°C.
- Dip each fish fillet into batter, coating completely.
- Carefully place in hot oil. Fry 4-5 minutes until golden and crispy. Fish should flake easily inside.
- Remove and drain on paper towels. Season with salt.
- FINISH CHIPS: Raise oil to 190-200°C. Re-fry chips (second fry) for 2-3 minutes until golden and crispy. Drain, season with sea salt.
- SERVE: On paper (newspaper traditionally) with salt and malt vinegar on the side, optionally mushy peas and tartar sauce.