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English-Style Fish and Chips
English-Style Fish and Chips have tender and juicy pieces of cod fried up in a light and crispy batter. Serve with crispy chips on the side.
Yield: 4 servings 1x
Prep: 30 minutesCook: 30 minutesTotal: 1 hour
Scale:
Ingredients
Salad Cream, for serving
2 pounds yellow potatoes, about four medium potatoes
1 1/2 pounds fresh cod fish (four thick six-ounce pieces)
Vegetable oil (enough to fill your frying pot to least six inches deep)
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon white pepper, divided
12 ounces of any beer or ale (we used a citrus flavored wheat beer)
1 whole egg
Malt vinegar for serving
Plenty of table salt for serving
Instructions
- If serving with salad cream, make that ahead per our recipe and keep cold until ready to serve.
- Fill a large bowl with cold tap water.
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
- Line a sheet tray with a rack.
- Peel potatoes and cut into thick slices then cut slices into strips. French fires should be about a half inch by half inch thick and be as long as the potato. Place in cold water and set aside to soak.
- Measure out four pieces of cod, about six ounces each. The pieces should be cut from the thick end of the filet. If thicker than an inch, butterfly the pieces so that they open into one-inch-thick flat pieces. If they are too thick, the outside will get too dark before the inside is cooked.
- Drain the potatoes using a colander and dry with paper towels.
- Fill a fry pot, wok, or heavy open pan to about six inches deep of vegetable oil. Turn the burner on high and use a candy thermometer, fry thermometer or heat gun to monitor temperature.
- Once the temperature reaches 265 degrees F, add dry potatoes. Keep the flame on high and monitor the oil temperature. If it recovers back to 265 degrees F before the potatoes are cooked, lower the flame to maintain that temperature. This is a slow blanching process.
- After 8-10 minutes, remove one blanched fry with a spider or strainer and break it open. The inside should be soft and cooked, and the outside should still be yellow. Use the spider to remove all the blanched potatoes to the rack covered sheet tray. After they drain a bit, slide onto a platter to be crisped later.
- Raise the heat to 385 degrees F., using the thermometer to monitor the temperature. This temperature will drop when the fish is added so we start high to recover to 365 degrees F for frying.
- Place one cup of flour, half the salt and half the pepper into each of two bowls and whisk each.
- To one of the bowls, add beer and whisk. Then add egg and whisk again. This wet batter will be thinner than pancake batter.
- Dip a fish portion into dry flour mixture, shake and then into wet batter.
- Hold up out of the batter for one second, then slide into the hot oil. Do the same with a second piece of fish. The oil temperature will immediately drop into the low 300s F. Keep the flame on high and monitor with the thermometer. The temperature will start to rise as the fish cooks. If the temperature rises above 365 degrees F. before the fish is cooked, lower the flame to maintain that 365 degrees F temperature.
- The fish will float. Use the spider to flip so both sides get browned. The total cooking time should be about 4-5 minutes until golden and cooked inside. If not sure, use a probe thermometer and stick it into the thickest part of the fish. The internal temperature should be about 140 degrees F. It will continue to cook from residual heat once removed and while being held in the warming oven.
- Place cooked fish on the rack covered sheet tray and hold in the warming oven.
- Once the oil is back to 385 degrees F., batter and cook the last two pieces of fish as before, then hold on the rack covered sheet tray with the first two pieces.
- Raise the oil temperature back to 385 degrees F and once hot, add the blanched potatoes. Keep the flame on high but don’t let the temperature get higher than 375 degrees F. The potatoes should stay in the hot oil until browned and crispy, about 3-5 minutes.
- Remove fries using the spider to the sheet tray with the fish to drain slightly. Sprinkle with salt as soon as the fries come out of the fryer.
- Serve four portions with the salad cream on the side.
- Also serve with malt vinegar and plenty of table salt.
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Find it online: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/english-style-fish-and-chips/
