Fish and Chips

 

Saturday after the hike we decided to fry up some beer-battered fish and chips. Yummy!

This was our first beer batter, and it turned out pretty dang good.

For the batter all you need is:

- 1 Cup stale warm beer (a sacrificial lamb if you will)

- 1 Cup white flour

- 1 1/8 teaspoon baking powder (I think this gives it a lighter crust?)

- 1 egg

- a few pinches of salt and pepper

- a few shakes of paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder

 

Then you stir it all together and you got yourself a batter. My cook-fried also says that pancake mix + milk, pepper, salt will make a killer batter as well.

 

For fish we used Dover Sole, which is a bit thin for this preparation, but it was on sale so that makes up for it in my eyes! Preferably you would use a thicker fish with a bit more flavor, like cod or halibut. Catfish is also a good option for those who like that flavor of fish.

 

To cook:

- Preheat peanut oil (the best for frying) a 1.5-2 inches deep in a big pan

- Rinse and pat-dry the fish, then dip in the batter, allowing excess to drip off

- Throw the fish into hot ass oil

- The recipe said that it would take 2-3 minutes per side, but this resulted in some pretty wimpy crust. I recommend more like 4-5 minutes per side, as this will give you a nice full-bodied brown crust which is crunchy.

- Throw the fish on some paper towel to help remove excess grease, and allow to cool (very important if you want to taste more than the first bite)

 

As far as the 'chips' part of the equation goes, all we did was throw a little generic steak seasoning on some fresh cut potatoes (rinsed of course), and threw them into some hot oil until nice and crispy.

 

Add some of the 'secret sauce'

and a little lemon and you have yourself some right-fine fare!!