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The Definitive Fish And Chips

The Definitive Fish And Chips
  • serves 4

  • Preparation time:

  • Cooking time:

Ingredients

4 large potatoes, peeled
200 g plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra, for coating
350 ml beer (or 1 stubby with a sip taken out)
4 fillets skinless, flaky fish, about 200 g per person
sunflower oil, for frying
sea salt, to finish

Method

1. Cut the potatoes into chips about 1 cm (½ inch) thick. Place the chips in a large saucepan of salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 4 minutes, then drain and dry on paper towel. Make sure they are really dry, or they will flare up when you add them to the hot oil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and beer until you have a smooth batter, about the consistency of house paint. Season well with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Add enough vegetable oil to a wok so that it will completely cover the fish. Heat it to 150°C (300°F), or when a cube of bread dropped into the oil turns brown in 35–40 seconds. Fry the chips in three batches until cooked through and soft to the bite. They can still be pale at this stage. Spread on paper towel and set aside.
4. Heat the oil to 190°C (375°F), or when a cube of bread turns brown in 10 seconds, and preheat the oven to 100°C (200°F). Fry the chips again in batches until golden. Drain and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the fish.
5. Coat the fish fillets in the extra flour then dip them in the batter, making sure they are completely covered. Allow the excess batter to drip off. Place the fillets in the hot oil one at a time, taking care not to let the temperature of the oil drop too much. Turn them over a few times to ensure they cook evenly.
6. Remove the fish when golden brown, drain briefly on paper towel and serve immediately with hot chips seasoned with sea salt.

Notes

Rules to make the best fish and chips

The Fish
1. Super-fresh, flaky, white fish is best. Think flathead, latchet, trevalla or whiting.
2. Make sure your fish is not too thick. If it is, the batter will burn before the fish cooks. Likewise, if it is thick at one end and thin at the other, inevitably there will be one part overcooked.
3. Use skinless fillets.

The Batter
1. Battered not crumbed. When batter hits hot oil, it forms a seal around the fish so that the fish steams itself cooked.
2. Beer is best. It can be just a bog-standard lager, or you can posh it up with a craft brew – either way, a stubby of beer will make the best batter.
3. Thin is better than thick. Too thick and your batter will be stodgy on the inside. Too thin and it will not coat the fish in a crisp crust. It needs to be about the same consistency as house paint.

The Chips
1. Choose the right potato. You want one with a low moisture content. A floury potato is better than a waxy one for chips. Good varieties are coliban, kennebec, sebago and toolangi delight.
2. Hand-cut the chips. Always. Chips, not wedges. Wedges are for bogans.
3. Triple-cooked. It is worth the extra effort and the first two steps can be done ahead of time.