Fish and chips is one of those foods for me that are either hit or miss. My biggest pet peeve when it comes to fish and chips is when the batter is too thick and all I can taste is oil. For some reason, I don’t crave fish and chips, but I could eat 5 pieces every time. This isn’t one of my healthiest recipes, but definitely one of my crispiest. The light crispy batter mixed with the moist fish is absolutely to die for.
My parents went to boarding school in England for 10 years so when they moved to Canada they had some high standards for fish and chips. We found that the best fish and chips restaurant in the greater Toronto area is called Olde Yorke. They have an extremely authentic vibe to the restaurant along with great quality fish. My goal was to replicate that to the best of my ability.
Tips for the perfect fish and chips
Carbonated water: The air pockets from carbonated drinks is extremely important to created a really light and crispy batter. You can use club soda, sparkling water, seltzer or beer but I would stay away from anything with too many sugars.
Consistency: You definitely don’t want your batter to be too thick. It should be much thinner than pancake batter.
Fish: The most popular types of fish to use are haddock or cod. I personally prefer cod because I found that it stays for moist and soft compared to haddock.
Chips: The process of making the chips is very simple, however, to make your life simpler I would recommend leaving you cut potatoes out to air dry for as long as you can. This will allow them to get crispier for longer.
Fish and Chips
Ingredients
Fish
- 2 8oz cod filets
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ cup flour
Wet batter
- ½ cup flour
- ½ tbsp garlic powder
- ½ tbsp onion powder
- ½ tbsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 170 ml carbonated water or beer
- 3 ice cubes
Tartar sauce
- ½ cup mayo
- 1 tbsp whole grain dijon mustard
- 1½ tbsp diced pickles
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp worcestershire
- 1 tsp dry dill
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Chips
- 3 russet potatoes
Instructions
Fish
- Begin to preheat your oil to 350F to save time because you want to fry immediately after dipping into wet batter.
- Cut your cod filets into desired size. I like to cut them diagonally to maximize the crunchy bits.
- Season fish lightly with salt then cover in flour.
- Mix together all your wet batter ingredients in a bowl. The consistency should be runnier than pancake batter. If it is too thick, add more beer or carbonated water.
- Dip the flour-coated fish into the mixed wet batter and immediately drop into hot oil for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown. Fish cooks quick so I remove right when I see the golden color.
- Sprinkle with more salt to taste on top.
Chips
- Cut your potatoes into your desired size. I like the traditional thicker cut chips.
- Soak potatoes in water then drain and allow to dry.
- Fry at 350F until golden brown about 5-10 minutes.
If you enjoyed the crunch on this one, check out some more crispy food recipes here:
