Fish’n Chips
Fast food which is considered to be the English national food, which usually consists of white fish fillet breaded in batter, French fries served with it, and often also mashed green peas. In England, this food spread at the beginning of the 19th century and gained maximum popularity in the 1930s. Even now, Fish’n Chips is a very popular dish offered in takeaway places and pubs.
Today, it is widely spread all over the world, and each region where it is served adds specific nuance to the food. I tried to follow as classic a version of this recipe as possible, making bread dough based on light beer and using cod fillets.
Making it yourself takes this food to a whole other level. If someone is planning to have an evening with friends, then this kind of food would catch the eye of everyone.
Preparation time: about 1 hour
Level: Medium
Serves: two
Ingredients:
Two cod fillets trimmed into a beautiful 15-20 cm long, square piece.
4 larger potatoes, peeled and cut into bars about 7-8 mm thick
400 g frozen green peas
A small bunch of fresh mint leaves
1 bottle or can of light beer
Wheat flour for the breading dough. It is difficult to predict the amount, but when mixed with beer, the dough should be about the thickness of sour cream
Black pepper and sea salt to taste
A little flour for breading the fish
1 bottle of cooking oil for cooking fish and making French fries
Preparation:
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into bars about 7-8 mm thick. If you want thinner fries, you can also cut the potatoes into smaller pieces.
- Boil water in a saucepan, add salt, and pour the potatoes into the boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes. Pour the potatoes into a sieve and, when the water drains, on a paper towel to dry the potatoes.
- Prepare the fish. Trim the cod fillets into a nice piece that is about 15-20 cm long.
- Season the fish with sea salt and black pepper.
- Prepare the dough. Pour light beer into a bowl, add flour little by little, and mix with a whisk. Add flour until the dough is about the thickness of sour cream. Lightly add sea salt to the dough.
- Heat cooking oil to 190 degrees in a thick-bottomed pot.
- Pour flour on a plate and roll the pieces of seasoned fish in flour so that the dough sticks to the fish better.
- Put the piece of fish in the batter and make sure that the batter sticks to the fish from all sides.
- Carefully slide the fish into the hot oil and let it fry for about 30 seconds. Do the same with the other piece of fish. There must be a slight gap when dropping the fish pieces into the oil so that they do not stick together. You can also fry pieces of fish one by one.
- When the fish has been fried for about a minute, carefully lift the piece of fish onto the surface of the oil with a fork or pan spatula and add the batter with a spoon. Turn the piece of fish around and repeat on the other side.
- Fry the fish pieces until they become golden brown and crispy. In the meantime, turn the fish pieces with a fork or a spatula.
- At the same time, boil water in a small saucepan, add a little salt and green peas, and boil for about 5 minutes.
- Pour off the water from the peas and pour the peas into a bowl, chop some mint leaves and add to the peas, season with black pepper and salt and mash the peas with a fork. It is not necessary to tamp too evenly, rather the pea mash is left lumpy.
- When the fish is finished deep-frying, place the fish on a plate covered with household paper.
- Carefully place the potatoes in the hot oil and deep-fry until they have become suitably golden. Boiling potatoes makes them soft on the outside and they become extra crispy when fried in oil.
- When the potatoes are brown enough, place them on paper towels to drain.
Serve the food so that the fish and fries are nicely placed on the plate, if you wish, you can serve the fries in a wrapping paper cone. Put the mashed peas in a separate bowl.
Serve immediately. The fish is crispy on the outside and very hot on the inside for a long time. You don’t have to be in a big hurry with mashed potatoes and peas.
Ready!!
P.S. I use the frying oil again. Nothing has happened frying these couple of things. I let it cool, use a fine sieve and funnel and pour it back into the bottle and use it for cooking.
