Beer Battered Fish & Chips
Everything about Beer Battered Fish screams Irish Pub! I love a good Fish n’ Chips with a pint of beer. There are very few pubs who can screw up a Fish n’ Chips dish, but believe me some still can! We won’t talk about those pubs though.
Usually Fish n’ Chips is a go-to dish at a pub if you are torn on what to get. It is a standard dish and who doesn’t love tartar sauce? I personal opt out of the ketchup and choose to dip my fries in tartar sauce just like the fish. With all of this self-isolation and quarantine going on we wanted to bring the Irish pub home .. And that is exactly what we did. Beer battered fish is a lot easier then you would think and we just used Cavendish Extra Crispy Fries so our focus was not taken away from the fish. We don’t have a deep fryer so we just cooked in a frying pan on the stove. If you use a deep fryer you can follow your cooking instructions for that.
Ingredients
4 Haddock Fillets
2-3 Cups Cavendish Crispy Fries, cooked as per packaging
2.5 Cups Flour
2.5 Cups Vegetable Oil for cooking in (or more as needed)
1 Cup Beer
2 Eggs, Beaten
1 Tsp. Pepper
1 Tsp. Paprika
1 Tsp. Salt
Directions
First things first, the state of the fish is the most important. You want to remove as much moisture as possible from the fish (dab with paper towel to remove moisture) and ensure the fish is ice cold before battering it. The battering of the fish will still work if you don’t have it ice cold or the moisture removed but it doesn’t provide the same quality and the batter doesn’t stick as well to the fish.
In 1 bowl combine 1 cup of flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Sift well.
In a second larger bowl combine the remaining flour, the beaten eggs and add in the beer. Whisk well. You want a fluffy mixture and if you get the portions wrong, add more until you get the proper consistency.
Take the fillets, one at a time and dip first in the dry flour mixture then in the wet flour mixture. Ensure all sides of the fillets are covered and lay on a plate. Repeat for all fillets.
Pour the vegetable oil into a deep pan large enough to cook all 4 fillets at once, ensure the oil is 1-2 inches deep. Heat the oil up over medium-high heat until it reaches about 350F degrees.
Slowly lay each fillet into the oil and cook until the bottom is golden brown then flip over and cook until the other side is also golden brown. Continue to monitor the oil heat and reduce heat if it becomes too hot. Remove from the oil, dab dry and serve with hot fries and homemade Tartar Sauce.
Also to make the dish REALLY Irish Pub style you have to absolutely serve it in a basket lined with newspaper am I right?
