English Style Fish and Chips

English style fish and chips are fun to make and eat!  This is a very  basic batter recipe, that will only take seconds to whip up!

Select your choice of fish to fry, I am using Ocean perch today! 

Make sure you dry your fillets well with some Kitchen Paper before you dip them in the batter.

This is a very simple batter recipe.  Two cups of all purpose flour, two teaspoons of baking powder, pinch of salt, and enough cold water to make the mix very loose.

Dip the fish in the batter, coat well and let the excess batter drip off for a few seconds!

Swish the batter coated fish in the hot oil for a few seconds until the batter in the oil starts to puff up, this will keep your fish from sinking straight to the bottom of the basket and sticking there. The cooked batter will keep it floating on top of the oil.  Then gently slide the fish into the hot oil. 

You can see how this fish is floating and not dropping to the bottom of the basket.

Repeat till the basket is full but not overcrowded.  You are going to cook off your fish in batches, so have the warming oven ready.  180F should do to hold your battered fish while you cook the rest off.

Turn your fish so all sides become golden.

Pull your fish out of the oil when the colour is perfect.

Dump them on your fries and put them back in the warming oven and carry on with the next batch.

When you have finished all your fillets you should have a nice golden pile of battered happiness to feed your peeps!

Plate and serve!

Pan fry a few fillets for the Paleo dieters!!!! 

You can always fry off a few sweet potatoe fries!  The oil is still hot!!!! 

Ingredients

Your choice of fish fillets

2 cups of All Purpose flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

pinch of salt

cold water 

Directions

Combine flour and baking powder and salt in a large prep bowl.  Using a batter whip stir in water till the mix is very loose.  The batter should be very runny.  

Dip fillets into batter and coat thoroughly, lift out of batter and let the excess batter run back into the bowl. 

Swish your coated fillet in the hot oil, letting the  batter puff up as you swish.  This will allow the fillet to float on the oil instead of sinking directly to the bottom of the basket and sticking.  

Once the batter has puffed gently slide the rest of the fillet into the hot oil.

Repeat with next fillet until the basket is full but not over crowded.

Cook the fish until batter turns golden brown turning the fish occasionally so all sides brown!

Pull your battered fish from the oil when you like the look of them!

Cook fish in batches, keep the cooked ones warm in the oven set to 180 F.  

Perfect French Fries

The perfect French Fry is a hand cut Russet soaked and dried and double fried!  I am talking perfection here!! Golden brown, crisp outer skin, soft warm insides!!!  If you take the extra time and follow these steps your fries will improve immensely!

Ingredients

5 Russet Potatoes
One per person should do it!
Oil for deep frying
salt

Directions
Scrub the potatoes to remove the soil.
Hand cut the spuds to desired size.
You can cut wedges if you want steak fries. I also have a push through cutter to make regular fries.
Leave the skins on for a nice rustic look or peel them if you want naked ones!

Now soak your cut potatoe in cold water for at least an hour, longer if you can in the fridge to get the starch out.

Dry your fries really well with some kitchen paper and let them stand on a wire rack.  The drier the better before you drop them into your oil.

Set deep fryer to 140 C or heat your oil to medium high in a pan.  The idea here is to blanch the fries not crisp them.  You know you have done it right if the potatoe is cooked through but not crispy.  They will take about 6 minutes or so.

Now pull your fries form the oil and let them drain, you can leave these fries sitting for a couple of hours until you are ready to serve dinner.  They should be the last thing you cook off before you plate.

When you are ready to plate dinner, drop the fries into the oil again.  This time the oil needs to be hot,190C. They will only take a minute or two to crisp up, you will have to keep an eye on them to ensure you get the amount of browning you like.

When they look good for you, pull them from the oil and drain and season.

Plate

These steak fries go great with Steak Frites !

 The deep fryer!

Push cutter for the fries.

                                      

Nicely cut 1/4  inch fries the easy way!

Rinse in cold water.

Let soak for an hour or more to get the starch out!

Hand cut steak fries post soak dryout period! 

Soaked dried and double fried, these steak fries are perfection! 

This is a batch of white potatoes I pushed through the chip cutter! 

Mr Chippy it's called! 

These fries are perfection too! 

You can use any potatoe to make your fries whites, yellows, reds, but I have to admit the Russet makes a very good french fry indeed! 

Yukon Golds work well too!