Beer-Battered Fish and Chips

Course: Mains

Cuisine: European

Keyword: fish, french fries

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 40

soaking time (for the potatoes): 2

Total Time: 3 5

Servings:

Calories: 799kcal

This classic dish from the UK, this is a perfect meal to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with.

Prep time includes a recommended 2-hour soak for the potatoes.

3 large (560 grams) Russet potatoes peeled and cut into 1/4-inch by 1/2-inch sticks (see post)
oil for frying
salt and pepper as needed to taste

Soak the sliced potatoes in cold water for at least 2 hours.
You can soak the potatoes up to 48 hours, putting the bowl with them in the fridge, before draining and frying them.
In a large stockpot or deep fryer, heat 4 quarts of oil to 310°F (155°C). While you're waiting for the oil to heat up, arrange a draining station.
Put a cooling rack over a sheetpan.
Drain the potatoes of their soaking liquid them and rinse them really well under cold water to remove any remaining starch.
Lay the potatoes in a single layer on a sheet pan lined with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels to soak up excess water. Pat the top of the potatoes with another clean towel to remove all remaining traces of moisture.
Carefully add a handful of the potatoes into the hot oil.
Blanch the potatoes for 3-5 minutes or until they are soft. The potatoes will not have any color once they're done blanching.
Use a spider to remove the fries from the hot oil. Transfer the fries to a cooling rack set over a sheet pan to drain excess oil.
Continue blanching the rest of the fries until they are all tender.
Once done, set the potatoes to the side while you fry the fish. They're safe at room temperature.

Increase the oil temperature to 375°F (190°C). Preheat your oven to 200°F (93°C) for keeping the food warm.
Arrange a second cooling rack over another sheetpan or make room for the fish on the first rack and sheetpan setup.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and kosher salt with a whisk.
In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg.
Add the egg and beer to the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir gently with a whisk to form a thick batter. The batter will be the same consistency as pancake batter.
Set the batter aside while you season and dredge your fish.
Lightly season the cod fillets with salt and pepper.
After seasoning, coat the filets in the remaining, unseasoned, all-purpose flour. Coat the fish entirely in the flour and shake off the excess flour.
Dip the fish into the beer batter and lift it out. Allow the excess batter to drip back into the bowl before carefully slipping the fish into the hot oil.
Fry the cod for 8-9 minutes, or until it is a deep golden brown.

After the frying time is up, use a pair of tongs (or your spider) to remove the fish from the hot oil. Transfer the cod to the cooling rack set over the sheetpan.
Keep the first batch of fish in the warm oven while you fry the rest, allowing the oil to come back up to 375°F (190°C) between each batch.
Once the last batch of fish is fried, increase the oil temperature to 400°F (205°C).
Add a handful of the blanched potatoes to the oil once the oil reaches the proper temperature.
Fry the chips for 4-5 minutes at 400°F (205°C), or until crisp and golden brown. Use your spider to remove the chips from the oil and back onto that cooling rack (over the sheetpan) to drain.
Toss the chips in a pinch of salt and pepper in a metal bowl after draining them. Keep the chips in a warm oven until you've fried all of the potatoes.
Continue frying the chips in small batches until they're all cooked. Remember to allow the oil to come back up to temperature between batches.
Serve the fish and chips while piping hot with a side of tartar sauce and lemon wedges.

Instead of Russet potatoes, you can use Yukon Gold potatoes or sweet potatoes.
You can swap the all-purpose flour for a one-to-one gluten-free flour to make this gluten-free fish and chips.
Replace the cornstarch with potato or tapioca starch.
Use your favorite lager or ale, but avoid stouts.
Swap the codfish out and replace it with haddock, pollock, or whiting.
You can use frozen cod to make fish and chips if you thaw it first. Just leave it in the fridge to thaw completely and drain any liquids produced as it defrosted.

Soaking the potatoes for fries removes the excess potato starch, creating crispier fries or chips.
You don't ever want to add watery potatoes to hot oil. It's a sure-fire way to start a grease-fire. Make sure your potatoes are very dry.
The oil temperature will drop by 5° when you add the potatoes, so reaching 310°F (155°C) is important in preventing the absorption of the oil, which causes the potatoes to become soggy. In theory, a temperature range between 300°F-310°F (150-155°C) is optimal.
Do not use salted codfish (or bacalao) for this recipe. Only use fresh codfish.
The goal when blanching potatoes is not to create a crisp exterior on the fries. Instead, it's to cook the interior of the potatoes most of the way.
Adding cornstarch to the dry ingredients creates a crisper batter on your fried fish.
You can add a tablespoon or two more flour if the batter is too thin. If the batter is too thick, thin it with more beer.
Dredging fish in flour soaks up any moisture from its surface. In addition to drying out the surface of the cod, dredging fish gives the batter something to stick to.
Properly dredged fish will look ashy like it needs to put on some lotion.
Draining foods on a rack allows the oil to fall away from foods, leaving their coatings crisp and not soggy, but you can drain the fish on a paper towel-lined pan if you don't have a cooling rack.
Fish and chips don't reheat well. Try to enjoy them shortly after preparing.

Cut and soak the potatoes as instructed above. Pat the potatoes very dry and toss them in 2 tablespoons of oil, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, and a 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.
Arrange the seasoned potatoes in a single layer with a small amount of space between each. Bake the potatoes in a 400°F (205°C) oven for 20-25 minutes. Tossing once during baking.
Once baked, keep them in a warm oven until you're ready to serve.

Store leftover fish and chips in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheat the fish and chips in a 300°F (150°C) air fryer or oven for 10 minutes on a lightly greased sheet pan until heated through.
You can freeze fish and chips after cooling them completely, but the batter of previously frozen fish will likely be very soggy after freezing and reheating.
1. Transfer them to a freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to 3 months.
2. Thaw them in the fridge or reheat them straight from the freezer. Add 5-10 minutes of reheating time to account for them being frozen.