Beer-battered fish and chips at home that beats the takeaway
Proper twice-cooked thick chips and shatter-crust beer-battered fish with house tartare. Better than most takeaways, roughly half the price.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
Fish and chips
- 4 firm white fish fillets 150 g each, skinless, flathead, snapper, hake or barramundi
- 1.2 kg large floury potatoes Russet Burbank, Sebago or Coliban
- 2-3 L neutral oil vegetable, rice bran or peanut oil, for frying
- sea salt, lemon wedges, malt vinegar to serve
Beer batter
- 250 g plain flour plus 50 g extra for dusting
- 10 g baking powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika optional
- 330 ml ice-cold Australian lager or pale ale
Tartare sauce
- 200 g whole-egg mayo Kewpie or home-made
- 2 tbsp capers chopped
- 2 tbsp cornichons chopped
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley chopped
- 1 small eschalot finely diced
- squeeze of lemon, salt, pepper
Instructions
- Peel and cut potatoes into 1.5 cm sticks. Soak in cold water for at least 20 minutes.
- Drain and dry the chips thoroughly. Heat oil to 135°C. Fry chips in batches for 6 to 8 minutes until pale and cooked through. Lift onto a wire rack.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and paprika together. Pour in the ice-cold beer. Whisk just until combined (10 seconds) — lumps are fine. Rest in the fridge.
- Mix all tartare ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust.
- Heat oil to 190°C. Re-fry chips in batches for 2 to 3 minutes until deep gold and crisp. Salt immediately.
- Dust each fish fillet in the extra flour. Dip in batter, let excess drip.
- Fry fish two fillets at a time at 190°C for 4 to 5 minutes until deep gold.
- Drain on a wire rack, not paper towel. Salt immediately.
- Serve with chips, tartare, lemon wedges, and malt vinegar.