Day 18: Fish and beer-battered chips with tartar sauce
The husband, being an Englishman is obsessed with fish and chips – it’s his comfort food. I got to like it too after many years in England. I know it’s probably treason for an English person, but I’ve found the Australian fish much more preferable to Cod or Haddock. It’s something that I’ve always wondered about doing but I’ve always been terrified of boiling oil. But it’s time to bite the bullet and give it a go. Flake (gummy shark) was what was used here – I like it because it’s meaty.
There are 3 stages:
- Tartar sauce – 2 part, a) making home-made mayo to use in, b) the tartar sauce
- Thrice-cooked chip creation – 3 part, a) chip cutting, boil, b) fry #1, c) fry #2
- Batter for the fish, and cook it.
Ingredients for the mayo
- 2 egg yokes
- 2 tsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tbs dijon mustard
- Oil (veg or olive oil)
- Salt to taste
Step 1: Mix all but the oil in a blender. With the mixer going, SLOWLY pour in a thin layer of oil and keep at it for several minutes and it will start to go thick. If you pour the oil in too fast it won’t emulsify (go thick). You chose how much oil you want to add. Give it a taste and add a bit more mustard and a bit of salt until it taste like mayo.
Ingredients for tarar sauce
- 1 cup of mayo (this was way too much for 2; I’d do 1/3 of a cup in the future)
- 4 tsp gherkins
- 4 tbs capers
- 1 lemon (juice of the whole thing)
Step 2: Chop up the capers and gherkins. Squeeze the lemon and mix up in a bowl, add more/less as to your taste.
Making of the triple cooked chips
4 potatoes cut into even thickness. We used Desiree spuds because it’s what we had. Apparently, Maris Piper are the best ones to use.
Simmer the potatoes until that second before they come apart. Take them out (carefully to not break them) and put on paper and let them cool down enough that the steam is gone. Put into freezer for 45min.
Heat up the oil to 130C and chuck in the chips. Cook for around 5min depending on how well your pot keeps the temperature. Do not let them get coloured at all. Take them out and put on paper to get rid of excess oil. At this stage you could keep them to later in the day or the day after (I read) ready to cook for the final time.
The final stage is done after the fish is cooked: up the temperature to 190C and cook until golden chip colour, about 4 – 5 mins! Dab off any excess oil with paper towel.
The fish batter
- 2 egg
- 1 cup of flour
- 1/2 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 a bottle of Coopers beer (or any other awesome brew)
Mix it all to a semi-thick smooth mix. Leave in a warm area for at lest 10 minutes.
The fish
With the oil at 190C – coat the fish in flour to make the batter ‘grip’ and carefully place it into the oil.
Keep in mind that depending on the size of your pot/amount of fish the temperature will drop. Cook the fish until golden (here at the half way mark):
Depending how quick you are at doing this you might want to (as I did) to turn the oven on in advance to place the fish in to keep warm until the chips are on their last frying stage.
Serve with beer!
