Beer and Chilli Battered Fish n Chips

This is my favourite recipe for beer battered fish n chips, it’s totally up to you which beer you use but I find the fizzier, yeastier ones give a better texture to the batter, the trick is to have the beer really cold too.

I like to fry my fish then let it stand while finishing the chips but you can always do it the other way round if you are worried about the fish going soggy.

Serves 2

Delicious and go great with a nice bitter!

Ingredients

• 2 boneless and skinless haddock or cod fillets (i used nice fresh redcar cod and skinned it my self ;o) )

For the beer batter

• 55g self raising flour and a bit for dusting
• pinch of sea salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 75ml of ale (something cold and with good carbonation, Leffe works well)
• Chilli flakes or powder (as much as you think you can handle)
• 1 egg white (works well without this and by adding more beer)

for the chips

• Chipping potato : maris piper, king edwards or cyprus chippers work well.

Method

1. Peel and cut chips, soak in water for as long as possible to remove starch, rinse and drain.
2. Cover the chips with cold water and boil until nearly cooked, drain, give a quick shake to rough the edges up and leave to steam cool.
3. Pre heat you fryer to 160 degrees, fry chips until cooked but not coloured. Remove the chips and let them cool
4. Add the flour, salt, oil and beer into a bowl and mix until smooth, beat the egg in a separate bowl until stiff and fold into the batter.
5. Dust the fish with flour and place into the batter.
6. Heat the fryer to 180-190 degrees and fry fish until golden, remove and set a side,
7. Add chips back to the fryer and fry until crisp and golden
8. Remove, season with salt n pepper and serve with the fish, mushy peas, lemon and vinegar…..oh and a bottle of your favourite ale.