WhyBaby’s craving fish and chips. Since WhyBaby’s mouth is only 1/2 an inch long and residing in my uterus, I must eat it for him/her. 
The only fish I have in the house is frozen orange roughy (I know, I know, but it was on sale). Anything I can do with it, or do I need to trek out into the cold Chicago gloomy day and get some other fish?
Any batter/breading recipes?
WhyBaby thanks you.
I have no idea how they do it, but a proper pile of british chippie chips is so unlike any other type of ‘chip’ that er… well it’s not the same anyway. Proper fish’n’chips has to include chippie chips.
Well, as mentioned in another thread regarding lobster executions, I must direct you to the guru of methodical cooking, Alton Brown.
His directions for cooking fish ‘n’ chips can be found here or in his book I’m Just Here for the Food.
The episode will be airing again in February, but I’m not sure your craving will last that long. 
Good luck, and good eats!
I would suspect that Epicurious would have many such recipes. In the meantime, here’s one for popcorn shrimp that works fine for halibut or cod.
2 cups flour
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp baking powder
3-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tbsp sugar
3-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 12-oz bottle beer
1 egg white, whipped
vegetable oil for frying
1 pound firm white fish (or shrimp)
Combine all but one cup of the flour with the paprika, baking powder, 1 tsp salt, sugar and 1-1/2 tsp of cayenne. Add beer, mixing with a fork, then stir in egg white. Set aside.
Heat the oil to 365 F. This is critical, so use a thermometer.
Mix remaining flour with remaining salt and cayenne pepper on a plate. Add all the fish and dredge in the flour mixture. Shake off all excess flour and place fish in the batter.
When oil is hot, remove fish pieces one at a time, shake off the excess batter, and fry. Make sure the oil comes back to temperature before doing a second batch.
Yum! I’m going to have to check out the Alton Brown guy - I keep hearing fabulous things about him. And his recipe’s pretty close to Chefguy’s, so I’m sure they’re both good.
Looks like orange roughy isn’t the ideal fish for this, although several sites refer to it as “firm-fleshed” and a couple offer pan fried recipes. Considering the weather and my wallet, I think I’ll try it with the roughy and see what transpires.
(Unless anyone posts with dire warnings not to, of course!)
Hey! Epicurious. I love that site. In fact I was just there looking up spare rib recipes. And I think that’s where I went when I made fish and chips. My first time and it came out pretty well (and passed muster with an actual Englishman). So I’d definatly recommend looking there.
This recipe from Epicurious mentions orange roughy right next to cod, so I guess it’s not a bad choice after all. Vinegar (preferably malt) is a necessity for seasoning, and coleslaw for a side dish. Tartar sauce is optional.
I’m cooking beef stroganoff tonight, but maybe fish and chips tomorrow. Yum!
Here’s a nice simple recipe:
Preparation time: 15 Mins + 20 mins standing
Total cooking time: 25 mins
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup beer
3/4 cup cold water
Light olive oil, for deep-frying
750g potatoes, peeled and cut into thick finger shapes
4 white fish fillets (about 160 g each), skinned and boned
Yum. WhyBaby’s very happy now, thanks. I sort of used an amalgam of several recipes, and WhyDad declared it better than any fish ‘n’ chips he had in the UK!
Here’s what I did, more or less:
2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
dash of mace
dash of white pepper
dash of paprika
dash of garlic salt
all wisked together in a bowl, then I added
1 bottle of cold Guinness
and mixed. It was too think at this point, so I added maybe
1/4 cup cold water
and stirred until completely smooth. Set that in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour while I made chips (per Alton’s instructions, although I realized from reading that they weren’t really British “chips,” they were “crisps.” Regardless, they were yummy!). When I was ready, I took
1 pound orange roughy, defrosted and cut into pieces
and dredged the pieces in
cornstarch
Then had my oil (I used a mix of unrefined coconut and canola) heated to 350. I dunked about 4 pieces of cornstarch-covered fish into the very thick batter. Then fried until the batter set, then flipped and fried for about 2 or 3 minutes, until nice and golden and crispy. (It’s hard to tell “golden” with unbleached flour and Guinness). I fished out the pieces and let them drain, then returned the heat to 350 before doing another batch.
I had some batter left over, so I made fried dough with it. Just plopped spoonfulls in the hot oil and sprinkled them with powdered sugar when cool.
Oh, it was so good! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear my cardiologist calling.
WhyNot wrote:
Be advised that, near as I can tell, everybody makes Fish ‘n’ Chips differently from the way they do it in Chicago. Maybe it was just the place where my dad would get them, but what I remember of the Chicago Fish ‘n’ Chips was that the fish came in squarish chunks and had a coarse, dark brown breading. Everywhere else I’ve seen it they cut it in strips and use some kind of tempura batter or something.
I’ve seen both kinds, and it was the tempura batter kind I was craving and made. The Fish Keg in Rogers Park is one of my favorite, as is The Davis Street Fishmarket in Evanston, but either one meant spending money I really don’t have right now. 'Sides, there’s nothing like just out of the fryer fresh and homemade!
The coarse breading I usually make by dredging in egg and then seasoned bread or cracker crumbs and baking. It’s certainly healthier than the deep fried batter from heaven I made last night.