BEER BATTERED FISH

Let’s talk business, fishy business, to be more specific!

There are so many ways to eat fish, it’s such a versatile ingredient, you can bake it, fry it, grill it, wrap it, throw it in a salad, throw it in your sandwich, and the list goes on and on and on!

INGREDIENTS ( 2 servings)

• 1 fish fillet of choice
  • I recommend using a firm, meaty, white, boneless and skinless fish fillet like cod, halibut, fluke, flounder, pike-perch – your choice, but also, no one is here to stop you from experimenting with other kinds of fish!
• 2/3 cup beer (150 ml)
  • I’m usually using a pale lager
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour (100 g) for the batter
• 1/3 cup cornstarch (for extra crispiness)
  • it can be substituted with 1/3 cup AP flour, but if you can get the cornstarch, do it, it really makes a difference
• extra flour for coating the fish fillet
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• salt and pepper for seasoning
• 1 lemon for serving
• vegetable oil for frying

INSTRUCTIONS

There are a total of 3 main steps to have in mind while whipping up this dish: get the fish ready for its hot oil bath, make the beer batter and fry the fish.

STEP 1 – LE FISH

In case you’re working with frozen fish, here are some tips for quickly thawing it:

• place the fish under luke warm water for a few minutes
• cut the fish into smaller pieces
• pour some more luke warm water into a bowl, squeeze some lemon into it and let the fish hang in there – it should be ready by the time you’re done making the beer batter

Pat dry the fish with a clean towel, season it with salt and pepper (and/or other additional spices like chilli flakes, cumin, curry, paprika, the option is yours!). Next, lightly coat the fish in flour.

STEP 2 – BEER BATTER

All you need to do for this step is: get a bowl, pour in the beer, add the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt and whisk everything up until the batter it’s all smooth and lump-free.

Drag each piece of fish into the batter, making sure it has been lightly, but fully coated – and into the hot oil we go!

STEP 3 – FRYING

Fill up you pan/pot of choice with vegetable oil (I’m using sunflower seed oil) on medium high heat. You want an oil bath, so make sure the level of the oil is high enough so that the fish will not touch the bottom of the pan. Once the oil is ready, gently drop each piece of fish into the oil and fry it until it all becomes golden brown (flip it mid-frying if necessary).

In order to maintain things crispy…

• Take the fish out and place it on a cooling rack, hitting it with a healthy pinch of salt as soon as it comes out of the oil.

• I highly, highly recommend using a cooling rack for whatever you’re frying. If you’re stacking fried foods on top of each other, they will end up creating steam, which will eventually get them soggy.

• You can serve it as it is, have some fish and chips for dinner, add it to tacos or have it with rice & a salad. Again, pretty versatile!

FISH & CHIPS