Classic Fish and Chips

Raise your hand if you love fish and chips?! Yeah, that gets two hands from me...I learned to love them wrapped in an old piece of news paper while I was in Ireland. These are a close second, I don’t think anything is quite the same as buying them from the Chippie Shoppe. Just add a little malt vinegar and wow!

I wanted a basic recipe that could be altered to anything I really wanted. I like my fish and chips with a thin crispy batter rather than a lot of breading. This recipe is very simple and tasty. As we get older I try to not eat as much fried food so I made oven roasted red potatoes instead of the chips but I will include the chip recipe for those of you who know that I really missed out not making them with the fish.

I prepared my roasted red potatoes and got them going in the oven. Nothing special, cut them into quarters, coated them with olive oil and seasoned them with Lipton Onion Soup and into a 450 degree oven for about an hour. Once the potatoes were in I turned on the fryer to preheat the oil to 350 degrees.

Onto the fish...I used Ling Cod. I will admit I have never cooked Ling Cod but how could I go wrong with Fish and Chips...it did not let me down. I also used some Halibut because you know me, I always want to try several things to show the versatility.

Getting my supplies together.

I cut the Ling Cod into nice pieces. Paige was afraid I would cut myself...she brought me bandaids just incase.

Now that the fish is cut into nice size pieces and set to dry a little onto the dry ingredients. After reading many different recipes with different liquid elements I decided I wanted to substitute different liquids to see if it made a difference. I used milk (as the recipe is written), Sprite and Coke. I’ll tell you right now, no one in my family could tell a difference in flavor or texture. So, feel free to use what you have on hand. I added Old Bay to my milk recipe, I think it added a nice flavor, wish I had added a little more...next time.

I added the milk and eggs, ready to stir and then...let’s fry some fish!

Into the fryer with the fish. I wish I could tell you how long it took to cook, that all depends on the size of your fish. I think mine was in about 5 minutes but I just waited until it was nice and golden. The fish stayed nice and moist and the crust was a lovely crispy crunch.

Oh man...my mouth is watering again. This is a do again meal for sure.

Starting to look nice and golden!

Usually when I am cooking deep fried fish it disappears off the pan as soon as it is not to hot to burn the thief. This time I made them wait...oh the complaints! If you are trying to hold it, keep it in a 200 degree oven to keep it hot and crisp. Soggy fish and chips will never do! I served mine with tarter sauce and lemon. I really wished I had malt vinegar...next time...

I was lucky to get this picture, the kids were starving. I had to crop it so you couldn’t see missing fish on the other end of the pan. Yum!

Enjoy ~ Momma Mary

Classic Fish and Chips

Serves: Well...that depends on how much you like fish and chips!

INGREDIENTS

4 large Potatoes, peeled and cut into strips

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 quart vegetable oil for frying

1 1/2 pounds Ling Cod fillets or halibut

Instructions

Place potatoes in a medium-size bowl of cold water. In a separate medium size mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Stir in the milk and egg; stir until the mixture is smooth. Let mixture stand for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oil in a large pot or electric skillet or fryer to 350 degrees F.

Fry the potatoes in the hot oil until they are tender. Drain them on paper towels.

Dredge the fish in the batter, once piece at a time, and place them in the hot oil. Fry until the fish is golden brown. If necessary, increase the heat to maintain the 350 degree temperature. Drain well on paper towels.

Fry the potatoes again for 1 to 2 minutes for added crispness.

Serve with tarter sauce, lemon wedges and malt vinegar.

**I added 1 tsp of Old Bay to my fish, next time I will probably do 2 tsp of Old Bay.