On a bench? Nonsense. Sit on the beach itself, on the naturally-created seats of shelved shingle - another reason Aldeburgh’s the place to be 
We have sandy beaches in Yorkshire, and while being sand-blasted adds to the pleasure of a day at the seaside, the crunchiness doesn’t enhance fish & chips.
I can’t tell you how yummy this sounds for pan-fried fish.
I think Club Crackers are like crack. I can’t keep them in the house.
This place ain’t bad either… or at least it wasn’t 10 years ago.
No, baking powder.
I prefer the sea wall behind the Cross Keys. That way I can have a pint as well.
God, I might actually be missing England.
The best fish and chips come from the Black Country Living Museum near Birmingham. That’s where I had my first English fish and chips and none have been able to live up to that standard.
At those prices it must cater to rich buggers, not your ordinary bloke like what I am.
Fish 'n Chips from my local chippy costs £3:25 for generous proportions
Ai yi. **Carson’s **right, actually. I typed my beer batter recipe from memory…and forgot the baking powder. Eeeps, and apologies.
How do you feel about Alton Brown?
I’ll second Alton’s fish n chips recipe. I’ve made it a few times and each time the fish comes out absolutely perfect and delicious… The reviews on the Food Network site seem to mirror my opinion.
That’s OK. The batter didn’t turn out the way I’m looking for; but as I said, it’s the most successful batter I’ve made. (I think the problem I’ve had in the past was using milk as the liquid.)
I’ll try that next time. Thanks!
This is Heston Blumenthal’s recipe - being Heston he used a soda syphon to add even more bubbles, but I imagine your local chippy isn’t doing that, so I think you can leave this step out.
200g plain flour
200g white rice flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp honey
300ml vodka
300ml lager (Kronenbourg 1664 works well)
2-3 litres groundnut (peanut) oil
4 large fish fillets, 2–3cm thick
Table salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tip the plain flour, rice flour and baking powder into a bowl. Put the honey and vodka into a jug, stir, then add to the flour to create a batter mix. Open the lager and stir it into the batter until just combined. It doesn’t matter if the consistency is a little lumpy. The most important thing is to open the lager just before stirring, to retain as many bubbles as possible.
2 In a large pan or casserole, put enough groundnut oil to cover the fish. Heat it to 220C/425F, using the digital probe to check the temperature. (It’s best not to use a deep- fat fryer for this, because the temperature fluctuates too much and has trouble reaching 220C/425F.
4 Rinse the fillets and dry them with paper towels. Season well, then dust with rice flour — this ensures the batter sticks to the fillets. Shake off any excess flour.
Dip the fillet into the foamy batter. When it is completely coated, lower the fillet head first into the oil holding it by the narrow tail end to avoid splashes.
6 As the fish fries, drizzle a little extra batter over it, to give a lovely crusty exterior. When it has turned a light-golden brown, which will take 1-2 minutes, turn the fillet over and drizzle more batter on that side.
7 Let the fish cook for another minute or so, until it has coloured to a deeper golden brown, then remove it from the oil. Use the digital probe to check it is cooked: insert the probe into the thickest part of the fish — once it reads 40C/105F, the fillet should be set aside. The residual heat will cook it to a temperature of 45C/113F.
Ahhhh, but the problem there is that it’s either too cold to properly enjoy a pint outside, or too busy to spread out and enjoy the food fully. On the beach you’ll never struggle to find plenty of space, although you are at the mercy of the evil gulls.
And then go to the pub
A friend from the UK once told me that to get the proper look and feel of fish from a fish and chip shop, the fish actually has to be fried twice – though I confess I’ve never tried this. Deep fry at a high temperature, drain thoroughly, and fry again at high temp. Things will be very crisp indeed.
I use Tyler Florence’s recipe from Tyler’s Ultimate. It’s turned out well every time. As other’s have mentioned, the key is the rice flour. I’ve used other types of flour and none have been as light and crunchy as rice flour.
OK. A month later, and I wanted fish’n’chips again. I followed criminey.jicket’s link to Alton Brown’s recipe.
I cut AB’s recipe by about half, but I kept the tablespoon of baking powder. In fact, it was a heaping tablespoon. This time I used the porter as the beer.
I ran into a little difficulty with the oil. I have an old electric stove, and before I moved here I always used gas. After five years I’m still not used to electric. I aimed to do the chips first and I overshot the temperature. I let it cool down and put in the potatoes, and of course the temperature plummeted. Well, the spuds are in; can’t take them out now. I did get the blanche done. Now I had to heat the oil to 375ºF. I didn’t turn the element all the way up, but just before I headed back to the kitchen to check the temperature I heard a noise. When I looked at the thermometer it did not have a solid red line in it. Yep, it got too hot and the bottom blew off. Great. Glass and some unknown chemical in the oil. New pan, new oil, and just guessed on the temperature (what I’ve done in the past for other things). Got the potatoes done.
I covered the fish with corn starch and then dredged it heavily in the (modified) AB batter. The results? The batter puffed up nicely. Just the expansion I’d hoped for. Upon tasting (with malt vinegar and salt, of course) I found the batter to be a little on the bready side. But there was one piece that was ‘well done’ and it was crispier. While I was chowing down on about a quarter-pound of cod plus the batter and the chips, I cooked the rest of the fish. Now I’m full and don’t want to check to see if the other pieces are crispy.
In any case, it looks like Alton Brown’s recipe is pretty close to what I’m looking for; especially with the extra baking powder.
I note that the title of this thread is how to make fish AND chips! I love handcut chips and have started trying to replicate the ones I find in the few restaurants that still take the trouble to make them.
The problem I’m having is that the vegetable oil I use (usually Canola oil) fails to brown the chips adequately. They taste sort of OK, and the texture is fine, but they just ain’t brown… What oil should I be using, and what sort of blanching process is recommended?
Try adding some tallow to your oil.
BACI, you will need to blanch your fries first in 320F oil until they are limp but still pale–about 3 minutes. Drain them and cool to room temperature, then fry them in 350F oil–about 2 or 3 mintues. They should be crispy brown on the outside and mealy on the inside. Yummm~!
Canola oil is fine for deep frying. Use a cast iron or the heaviest-bottomed pot you have. Strain and reserve your oil and keep it in a cool dark place.