English Fish and Chips

English Fish and Chips
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A Little Personal History:

While married, every three years, we’d visit my wife’s family in beautiful New Zealand. It was during those trips I was introduced to “real” Fish and Chips 😉 The whole family really enjoyed this popular English/NZ dish. So … back in the States, decided to give it a go. Came out pretty darn good.

Description:

Fish and chips is a hot dish of English origin consisting of fried battered fish and hot potato chips. It is a common take-away food and an early example of culinary fusion.[1][2] Fish and chips first appeared in the 1860s; by 1910 there were more than 25,000 fish and chip shops across the UK, and by the 1930s there were over 35,000.[2]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips

 

Categories: Seafood
Servings: 8
Time: – Preparation:   20 minutes
– Cooking:         15 minutes
Equipment: Measuring bowl and cup, 1 large bowl, 1 large saucepan or deep fryer, frying thermometer, paper towels, slotted metal spoon, brown paper bags or newspaper.
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • 8 fish fillets (e.g.. cod, haddock, halibut, catfish, tilapia, flounder)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 quart oil (shortening, peanut or canola work well)
  • Beer Batter
  • Crispy French Fries – The chips in fish and chips 🙂
  • 8 brown paper bags (lunch size) or today’s newspaper pages

Condiments:

Malt vinegar, Tartar SauceKetchup, Lemon wedges, Salt & Pepper

Procedure:

  1. 3 hours to a day in advance, prepare beer batter per instructions
  2. Prepare French Fries per instructions, up to the actual frying. Set aside.
  3. Per serving, cut open paper bags large enough to hold individual orders of fish and chips. You can also use newspaper or even paper towels. Set aside.
  4. Add flour to large bowl. Set aside.
  5. Pat dry fish on paper towels.
  6. Over medium/medium high heat, pour at least 3 inches of oil into large saucepan. Oil should be between 355 – 375°F. If you don’t have a thermometer, test by throwing some batter into oil, if it fries, turning golden brown without burning quickly, the oil is ready for frying.
  7. Just before it reaches 375°F, dredge the fish in flour bowl.
  8. Shake of excess flour and dip fish into the beer batter, coating well.
  9. Slide battered fish filet into the hot oil (dipping fingers in batter will help protect them from splattering hot oil).
  10. Drop a serving of raw french fries into hot oil as well.
  11. Deep fry fish and fries until each are golden brown & crispy. As necessary, use slotted metal spoon to nudge the fish and fries so as not to stick together or to saucepan.
  12. Remove fish and fries with slotted spoon or spatula, place on paper bags or newspaper. Repeat till all fish and fries are done.
  13. Serve hot with condiments, a good dark ale, and Coleslaw

Advanced Preparation:

  • Steps 1-4 can be up to a day in advance and refrigerated till ready to cook.

Tips, Notes, and Variations:

  • Rather than cooking the fish and french fries together in batches, you can cook them separately in their own frying pots per instructions.
  • If you don’t have brown paper bags handy, today’s newspaper or even paper towels works well too to hold the fish and fries.

Most establishments serve their fish and chips, wrapped in decorated paper, paper bags or newspaper; in plastic or metal baskets. The baskets are optional. Just unfold paper into a “plate” on the table or paper corn to eat from.