Yesterday was our 7th anniversary of being a couple. Justin thought it would be a great idea to purchase a deep fryer for our anniversary and make me fish & chips. What a great present! They were THE BEST fish & chips I've ever had...and that's hard to beat as I'm from New England. Inspired by Alton Brown's recipe for fish & chips, here's how we did it:
Fish & Chips for Two
For the fries:
- 1 gallon of canola oil
- 2 large potatoes
- sea salt
For the batter:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ~ 1 tsp of Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 bottle Yuengling Lager
- ~ 1 pound of cod (cut into your preferred size)
- Cornstarch, for dredging
Method:
We used a "back and forth" method so that you wouldn't have to keep things hot in oven. This is exactly how we did it:
Heat up the oil in your fryer to the temperature it suggests in the instruction book. (Ours was between 350-375 degrees.) Cut the potatoes to your favorite french fry thickness (~1"-1.5"). Stay consistent with thickness so it cooks evenly. Soak the cut potatoes in cold water. Make the batter. Put all the dry ingredients together first, then whisk in the Yuengling. Chill batter. Dry off the potatoes and put into fry basket. Fry for 3-4 minutes. Take out and drain. Dredge fish in cornstarch then dip in batter. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Turn fish when it begins to get that golden color half way through. Take out and drain on cooling rack. Put fries in again for another 2-3 minutes, until golden brown. Drain. Redip fish and put into deep fryer again. Turn fish when the underside becomes golden brown. Fry for ~2 minutes or so...or when a pretty gold color. When we fried the first batch of fish, we used the basket. Bad idea. The batter and fish stuck to it. That's when we made the decision to rebatter the fish and put it in the fryer again. BEST IDEA EVER! The fish that we fried twice came out better. Nice & Crispy! (Now thinking about it, it does make sense..)
Finished Product:
A Close-Up
Accoutrements:
Besides the lemon, vinegar is always necessary. I forgot I didn't have my favorite vinegar for fries (apple cider vinegar), so balsamic had to do. As much as I would have loved to have had beer, Justin decided to class it up with a chardonnay from St. Francis, 2007 of Sonoma County.
Lesson du jour: sometimes mistakes can make things taste better in the end.
