- 1 cups flour
- 1/2 tbl baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- a dash of old bay
- 1/2 bottle of cold beer (the other half didn't go to waste, i drank it)
- about 1 pound of fish cut into strips
- oil to fry (enough to cover the bottom of your skillet plus, about half an inch)
my friend mel always makes fish and chips. every time i hear about it i start to wonder why i never make it. i mean, it’s easy and quick and how can you go wrong with fish and chips? especially when you use a beer batter.
i picked up some frozen cod the other day and actually planned to do something totally different. something with mushrooms and sage…butter maybe, i was going to make it up as i went along. fish and chips just seemed so much easier and to be honest, it has been a long week, a quick meal just seemed right.
i looked around for recipes. one of the first recipes i pulled up was an alton brown recipe, how can you go wrong? i had some blue moon in the house which is a wheat beer, it has a nice lemon and orange taste and would match up perfectly with fish. it was simple, quick and tasted wonderful. it was a nice change from the usual pasta or meat dish.
i didn’t make the chips, we used freezer fries. i also cut the recipe in half, after all, half of my meals only feed e and i.
fish batter adapted from alton brown’s fish and chips
- in a small bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and Old Bay. whisk in the beer. refrigerate for 15 minutes. the original recipe says the batter can sit in the fridge for an hour. i tested that out and it was perfect (it might have been more then an hour).
- working in small batches, you don’t want to overcrowd the pan, dip the fish into batter and set gently in the oil. after about 2-3 minutes the fish will turn golden brown, flip. continue till all your fish is done.
- to keep warm, i set in the oven while i finished up (i was baking the fries, it was nice and warm).
fish and chips are usually served with malt vinegar, not something i have on hand usually. i decided to check and see what i could use, a good replacement, white wine vinegar. it was perfect.
have a great weekend! Happy eating.
