Crispy Homemade FISH AND CHIPS Recipe

hey what's up making a proper fish and chips at home is a lot of work there's no denying that fact but in this video i hope to convince you that just like growing your own tomatoes or baking your own bread the payoff here is so sweet that a little bit of extra work and mess is undoubtedly worth it the weekdays are for one pot meals and time savings today is all about the pure pursuit of crisp okay up front the chips part of this recipe was a real pain to figure out in the united states every recipe for chips or fries uses a russet style potato so that's where i started and after four distinct attempts where i tried absolutely every single move i knew how to make crispy potatoes the results were mixed at best it seems that right now in the united states where i'm at the russet potato just isn't gonna work for a really crisp french fry they can be a workable option in a pinch but i'd feel bad recommending them without this disclaimer but i want everybody out there to have a memorable fish and chips experience at home and there's two ways we can do that without a russet potato the first and probably most accessible option is buy high quality frozen fries in the united states and most of the world 99 of the good fries you will have ever eaten in a restaurant were frozen sorry in and out your fries are fresh and they stink so yes i am recommending frozen french fries as one option and i don't have any shame about it the second option and the one that i think has the most payoff i'm gonna show you right now for that we need three to four pounds of kennebec potatoes these kind of bags are the closest match that i've found in the u.s to the maris piper potato variety that's widely used in the uk chip shops however these might be hard to find though so i'd say start by checking with your local produce supplier or maybe the buyer at your grocery store now i'm gonna peel these up using my y peeler here and from this point we're basically just gonna replicate the exact same steps taken in the french fry or chip factory at home once these are all peeled up i'm going to grab a few quarts of cold water and then cut these into chips i'm going to cut off just the roundest parts of the sides of the potato here it's prettier that way and it makes it much easier to cut from there i'm going to size up how many three-quarters inch slabs i can get out of each potato i'm going to cut those slabs and now i'm going to cut these into the best squares that i can so they cook evenly if that means trimming off the edge of the last one to get these just right so be it i really want to replicate the stubby chunky chips that i've seen in pictures from the uk and i think these look pretty close once we've got all four pounds of these potatoes cut up we're gonna dunk them into my reserved cold water splash some water around a little bit and get as much starch off of these as i can now we're gonna drain that off replace it with fresh water splash them around again it's still cloudy so back to the sink drain it off fill it back up with fresh water splash them around one more time and now these look pretty good the water is clear and the potatoes look nice and clean so i'm going to put a lid on these and throw them in the refrigerator to soak in a restaurant this would be overnight for the sake of ease but at home it can be anywhere from two to twenty four hours i soaked mine overnight the next day i'm gonna pull these from the fridge and load a large heavy bottom pot onto my stove into that i'm gonna measure 3000 grams of water and 45 grams of white distilled vinegar i learned this vinegar move from the legend himself kenji lopez alt and according to the ketch this little bit of vinegar in the water helps strengthen the pectin on the outside of the potato and that's huge because we're going to be cooking these three times and it keeps the potatoes from totally breaking down once the water is at a boil we're going to dump in all of these chips and bring that water back to a simmer i'm going to cook these stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes and after that 10 minutes we're going to come back and break one to check for doneness it's cooked these look good now using a spider or a slotted spoon i'm going to transfer these chips to a wire rack to drain and cool off from this point on getting super crisp chips is all about dehydration the more water we remove from the outside the crisper the chip we're going to get i'm going to blot these dry a little bit for good measure with a paper towel and then we're gonna let them evaporate and cool for 15 to 20 minutes in that time i'm going to dump this vinegar water out dry the pot very well because water and oil don't get along then i'm going to load it back on top of the stovetop and grab a jug of neutral cooking oil i'm loading about four inches of canola oil into my pot but vegetable oil soy oil or beef towel will also work just fine once the oil is preheated to 285 degrees fahrenheit we're going to lower in all of the chips this low temperature fry is going to further dehydrate the exterior and that's going to allow us to finish these chips at a hotter temp for longer and that means a crispier chip after five minutes at 285 degrees we're gonna drain these well move them back to the wire rack on the sheet tray and as you can see they're already starting to look kind of like chips they're golden and the exterior is now full of gelatinized potato starch now these need to be chilled really hard to reach their full chip potential so we're going to throw them into the freezer for about 30 minutes while those chill in the freezer now it's time to talk fish for this fish and chips for that i've got roughly one to one and a quarter pounds of not frozen but fresh atlantic cot this fish has a really firm flesh and since it's fresh it's not very wet frozen cod will work but it needs to be dried very well before you use it now we're gonna break these down into smaller pieces that means a higher ratio of breading to fish which me likey and it also ensures the fish can cook quicker and more evenly but more on that in a second the cod i've got here is from the thicker loin end so we're going to cut it diagonally to get that classic tapered pub look and it's up to you on how you want to shape these you can cut these into three pieces if you want they're going to cook a little bit faster but once i've got mine broken down i'm going to season them with a light amount of salt on both sides there is going to be some salt in the batter so we're not going too crazy speaking of batter set that fish aside for about 10 minutes while we get the batter for the fish made up for that i'm going to open up a 12 ounce beer the type of beer is up to you i like stuff that comes in a green bottle that seems to work pretty well and now i'm going to grab a bowl and into that measure 75 grams of all-purpose flour 75 grams of white rice flour 2 grams of salt and 2 grams of baking powder i'm gonna whisk these dry ingredients up and now i'm going to keep whisking and stream in about 75 of this bottle of beer just to see where i'm at you may need more or less beer depending on your setup but this is the texture you want it should be slightly thinner than you think i made this mistake three times in a row before i figured out that the thick batter actually suffocates the fish and it steams in there instead of fries and the breading goes soft almost immediately for best results this beer batter needs to be very cold when we use it so i'm gonna throw it into the fridge for a few minutes while we finish prepping everything else now back to the fish salting them has drawn out a decent amount of moisture and that for sure needs to be eliminated for the ultimate crispness later on so we're going to gently blot these with portions of paper towel and just make sure to blot the tray too because that's also got some fish juice on it once we've got all these dry we're going to add one more step to make sure that we've got the crisis possible fish and to ensure that the batter sticks to these fish filets into a plastic container i'm going to measure a 50 50 blend of rice flour and all-purpose flour and that's maybe 25 grams of each we're gonna coat the cod with whatever sticks this is an insurance policy to make sure the batter does not slip off when we take a bite once these are floured up we're gonna move over to the fry pot and make sure the cold chips are also at the ready these have been in the freezer for 30 minutes now and they're pretty stiff and pretty frigid it's gonna make a sick chip in just a minute one last detail we need to hit before we fry and that's diy tartar sauce of course i don't know if tartar sauce is traditional in the uk with fish and chips but in the us in my house it's totally essential and it comes together in like five minutes so for that i'm gonna combine 175 grams of mayonnaise 100 grams of chopped bread and butter pickles 20 grams of capers 10 grams of chopped parsley 30 grams of minced and rinsed red onion 40 grams of dijon mustard the juice of a half of a small lemon and a small garlic clove that's pressed i'm gonna stir all that up to combine i'm gonna transfer that to a little container and set it aside okay now it's go time i'm gonna grab the batter from my refrigerator and check the temperature of my oil i turned the pot back on while we were flowering the fish and now we're at 375 degrees perfect now i'm gonna grab my cod filet and lower it into my batter one piece at a time i'm gonna flip it over and make sure that it's really well coated and then i'm gonna let all that excess batter drip off because more batter is definitely not more result as i spoke to earlier so now we're gonna move this over to the fry pot and i'm gonna lower it in gently i'm gonna let it fry for just a second before i let go and when i do that i'm gonna let it go away from my body that way i don't splash hot oil all over my unsocked foot i'm gonna batter the second piece and then repeat that lowering it in very gently and dropping it away from my body now with battered fish we're cooking in a way that i don't use very often and that's high heat real fast 375 degree oil is quite hot and we're keeping it hot by only frying two pieces at a time when fishes cook too slowly and for too long it goes way past the recommended 135 degrees fahrenheit and we have some serious crispness issues as fish becomes overcooked the proteins inside seize up and squeeze out all kinds of water and that goes right into the crispy batter and then we're very frustrated after four minutes of frying total we're golden and crisp and i'm gonna move this over to my wire line sheet tray and let's look at this thing that rice flour in the batter really makes a big difference in terms of brittle exterior let's cut real quick to a test batch this is the same recipe but with cornstarch instead of rice flour and in my opinion it just sits really heavy on the fish a little bit more doughy and most importantly it's just not as crisp as rice flour and also i found that cornstarch didn't stick as well to the fish so i chose rice flour as soon as these fish are out and on the wire rack we're gonna lower in our chips and fry those between 350 and 360 degrees fahrenheit for seven to eight minutes if you're using store-bought fries now would be the time to drop those and i want to mention we're gonna be frying these chips in two batches so that the temperature of the oil doesn't drop too much and i only fried two of my four pieces of fish because it's just me eating and if you're worried about this fish sitting over there and getting soggy this is what it's like after 35 minutes glassy but back to the chips as you can see these are looking very good the main problem with the russets was that they browned too quickly in this final hot oil step the sugar in them caramelized well before the outsides were dehydrated and crisp and that's just not ideal after 7-8 minutes these kennebecks are just starting to brown and they feel very firm almost like potato glass i'm going to pull them out and drain them really well with my spider and then i'm going to move them into a large bowl and season it with salt listen to these things [Music] that is a crispy boy these are creamy all the way through they're deeply deeply crunchy and they're very potatoey the fish is scented with hoppy beer and it's perfectly coated in a thin veneer of glassy crispy batter you didn't know crispness at this level was available in the home now i've got my tartar sauce at the ready i've got my malt vinegar at the ready let's eat this thing real quick before i get out of here thank you to everybody who supports this channel on kofi if you want to learn more the link will be in the description below along with the whole recipe for this video if you like this video please consider giving it a like if you want to see more content from me there's a couple videos over there that youtube thinks you might like as always guys thank you so much for your time and attention thank you for sticking around and we'll see you next time

Channel: Brian Lagerstrom

Views: 409,783

Keywords: crispy homemade fish and chips, fish and chips, fish and chips recipe, best fish and chips, how to make fish and chips, homemade fries, fried fish and chips, beer batter, kennebec potatoes, how to fry fish, crispy fish and chips, beer battered fish, fried cod, homemade french fries, crispy french fries, crisp, fish & chips, tartar sauce, beer battered fish recipe, fried fish recipe, perfect fish and chips, weeds and sardines, brian lagerstrom, cooking, recipes, food

Id: auLBC82e3Sw

Length: 10min 47sec (647 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 18 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/altonbrownie]

I just caught a BUNCH of halibut. I’ll try this out.