(beer battered fish and chips)

Ingredients

1) For the fish:

• 2 x 200g pollock fillets, boned but with the skin left on
• 200g self-raising flour plus extra for dusting
• 250ml of cold English beer (I used Bombardier)
• pinch of smoked paprika
• ground salt and pepper

2) For the chips:

• 5-6 medium sized maris piper potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chips
• Maldon sea-salt or rock-salt
• oil (sunflower or vegetable) for deep-frying

3)To serve:

• salt and malt vinegar
• homemade tartar sauce (recipe below)
• newspaper
• artistic license

3)Additional serving suggestions:

• bread and butter
• tomato ketchup
• mushy peas

Preparation

• 2/3 fill a large, high sided, heavy based pan with the oil and place over a high heat.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the beer and self-rasing flour into a batter with the consistency of thick double cream, making sure there are no lumps. Place the batter mix in the fridge.
  
• Rinse the chips and throughly in cold water and dry on a kitchen towel. Toss the dried chips in a few pinches of salt.
• When the oil has reached a sufficient temperature (a cube of bread should brown and crisp in approximately 5-7 seconds) add the chips to the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes or until soft but still pale in colour. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chips and place on absorbed kitchen roll.
  Remove the batter mix from the fridge.
  
• Sift the reserved flour, season with freshly ground salt and pepper and add the pinch of smoked paprika. Turn the pollock fillets in the seasoned flour to thoroughly coat.
• Increase the heat on the oil and return the par-cooked chips to the pan. Once golden and crisp, remove the chips and immediately shovel onto yesterdays news.
• Sprinkle liberally with salt and malt vinegar and top with the fish fillets. Ladle lashings of tartar sauce on the side and destroy while hot.

Questions

Photos of members who cooked this recipe

Comments

Tom Dowson

12/10/2008

Seriously you must try this!!!