Wedding Beer Battered Fish & Chips

Everyone is freaking out about the "wedding of the century" - well it is just making me want some good Olde English pub food!  That's right - Fish 'n' Chips!  YUM

 Let's just jump right in...  Two bowls - one will be for the beer batter, the other for a flour!

The beer batter:

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 bottle of english beer (Bass)

 Beat an egg white with a pinch of salt until fluffy.  

Fold the egg white into the beer batter - this will keep it light and the beer also adds more air to the batter.  You want it to look like pancake batter.  I think I needed to add a splash more of beer from the second bottle I was drinking whilst cooking!   :-)

 You can use vegetable or canola oil - you'll need a good amount of it!  I think I used 4-5 cups.  You want to have enough oil so that when you drop the fish in, it won't get stuck on the bottom.  Heat the oil to 375 (a candy thermometer is perfect for this - no guessing).

 Mmmm Fishy!  You want to use a firm white-fish (Cod, Pollock, Tilapia)  I went with Hake because it was on sale at Whole Foods and looked nice!  This is about 1.5 lbs

 Cut the fish up into good size chunks.  

 I've never fried fish like this before... there was no way I was going to try to fry potatoes too!  Just buy a good bag of frozen ones!  I think the best are Alexia Oven Fries w/ olive oil and sea salt.

I regret that I didn't get any picture of the actual frying process!  I had my hands full of fish, beer batter dripping all over myself and the stove top - this was not a neat and clean, simple dinner!  That said, the final product did turn out pretty great!  

The trick is to take one piece of fish, coat it in the flour, then coat in the batter - gently slide it in the oil.  The fish will want to drop to the bottom of the pot and as it start to cook, it wants to adhere to the bottom - use some sort of cooking tool (metal hamburger flipper or a mesh skimmer) to remove the fish if it sticks.  It should then float on the surface of the oil.  Give it about two minutes and then turn so the other side can get brown and crispy.  

When you get the first piece in the oil and removed from the bottom - you can start the process over again.  As the second one goes it and gets "unstuck" - turn the first piece over.  It's all about doing it in batches.

Too bad it isn't wrapped up in a copy of The Sun - enjoy with those chips and a good slice of lemon and malt vinegar!