UPDATE: I'm leaving this post up for the curry sauce, but please see this updated Fish and Chips post for making fish and chips.
Before you start thinking that this blog has turned into a golden arches franchise I should explain the recent streak of deep fried food. I hardly ever deep fry food, so when I do, I like to get the most out of the oil. Since I'd used half a bottle of oil for the chicken cracklins, I started running through the long list of deep fried goodies I've drooled over in the past months.
State side, good fish and chips are tough to come by. While it may seem simple, it's all too common to end up with a platter of greasy fried batter smelling of old oil with dry bits of fish in the middle along with soggy burnt fries.
For my version I used a mixture of flour and cornstarch, along with a few seasonings and baking powder, then hit it with some ice cold beer (using cold beer prevents strands of tough gluten from forming in the batter). For the fish, I chose cod since it looked the best at the market, but it also happens to be my favorite for making fish and chips. It's just firm enough to hold up to frying, with a nice balance of fat and meat that keeps it moist without being too oily. The result is a light, crisp shell holding a moist, tender fillet of cod. The shell was so crisp in fact, that when I took some leftovers out of the fridge the next day, it was still crisp.
For the chips, I went with a double fry, once before frying the fish then a second time after to get them really crisp. The first fry cooks the potatoes and forms a thin skin, free of moisture, that then becomes crisp when you dump them back into the hotter oil. This also gives the fish a chance to cool off a bit, so you don't burn yourself when you bite into it. If you have some batter left and really want to go nuts, try beer battering some on their way into their second fry.
I'm not a huge fan of tartar sauce, so instead I made a simple curry sauce. Along with some malt vinegar or lemon juice, it makes for a fantastic condiment for both the fish and chips.
Recipe
Fish & Chips with Curry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ onion minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger minced
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- ⅓ teaspoon ground coriander seed
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- ¾ cups low sodium chicken stock
- vegetable oil (for frying)
- 2 large russet potatoes (cut into ¼" sticks)
- 1 pound cod (cut into 4 strips)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cups cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup beer very cold (plus some extra if needed)
Instructions
- To make the curry sauce, add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil into a small saucepan and fry the ½ onion over medium heat until they are soft. Add the 2 tablespoons fresh ginger and 3 cloves garlic and continue frying until they are very fragrant and browned all the way through. Add the 1 tablespoon curry powder, ⅓ teaspoon ground coriander seed, and 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour and fry until saturated with oil and fragrant. Add the 2 tablespoons ketchup and ¾ cups low sodium chicken stock then whisk, cooking until the sauce thickens up just a bit.
- To fry the chips the first time, add about ¾" of vegetable oil to a heavy bottomed pan (cast iron ones work great), and heat over medium heat until it reaches 325 degrees F. Carefully lower some pieces of the 2 large russet potatoes into the oil without overcrowding the pan. Fry until they are limp but not brown. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and fry the rest of the potatoes.
- To make the beer battered fish, mix the 1 cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cups cornstarch, ½ teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon onion powder, salt and black pepper in a bowl. Put about ½ cup of the mixture into a shallow pan or bowl and dust the 1 pound cod with the mixture.
- When the chips are done, raise the temperature of the oil to 375 degees F. Add ¾ teaspoon baking powder to the unused flour mixture in the bowl then add about 1 cup beer. Gently stir until just combined (it's okay if there are still a few lumps), and add more beer if the mixture seems too thick (should be like thick pancake batter). Dip the cod in the batter, coating and allowing any excess to drip off and place in the hot oil.
- Fry until golden brown on one side then flip and fry until golden brown on the second side. Transfer to paper towel lined wire rack and repeat until all the cod is fried. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- To finish frying the chips, add a handful of potatoes into the hot oil and fry until crisp and golden brown. Repeat until all the chips are fried. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Plate a mound of fries, top with a piece of fried cod and serve with curry sauce and a wedge of lemon or malt vinegar.
Recipes in your inbox
I'll send you recipes and ideas to get you excited about cooking.
DJ says
So I did everything a bit differently, owing to a lack of a lot of ingredients, but due to your technique it turned out quite well. I added a healthy portion of S&B curry powder to the dry batter ingredients, I substituted room temperature Coke (never light, needs the sugar) as I was surprisingly out of beer, I don't even know the name of the little local fish i used (similar to mackerel), and I deep fried them in pork tallow. Oh yea, and I used your allioli from the batata bravas to dip the fries and drizzle on the fish. But as I mentioned, your technique made them perfectly crispy. Really surprised as I haven't done fish & chips in an aeon. I also took some broccoli florets and gave them the batter and fry treatment as well. Totally delicious. Both the British and the Japanese (tempura) have the Portuguese to thank for this simple and oh-so-satisfying technique they call "temperado." Thanks a million, Marc!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi DJ, wow that's clever hack and pork tallow will make anything taste better! Happy this worked out for you. I'd never thought about fish & chip's relation to Portugal, but I knew about the modern day equivalent of tempura: Peixinhos da Horta. I had it on a past visit there and it's basically identical to tempura (minus the dipping sauce). In Japan the lore is that Jesuit missionaries brought it to Japan in the 16th century and that the name comes from the latin word "tempora" refering to the Ember Days where Catholics avoid eating meat (and ate battered/fried veggies). We have a lot of food related loanwords from Portugal, including konpeito (confeito), kastella (bolo de castela), piripiri (means spicy in Japanese but refers to a type of pepper Portugal introduced to Japan).
Kathy Stroup says
Wow, what a great method! I love cod for fish and chips, too. You seem to have gotten over your frying aversion since moving to Japan.😊 You got me frying again! I will make this; we have been craving fish and chips, and the good shop we used to go to has closed.
The Curry Sauce is new to me. I usually put so much Malt Vinegar on I don't need any other condiment! I have some Banana Ketchup I made a while ago to go with Lumpia and I may have to get that out. It's so good! Or maybe I'll try making Tartar Sauce with the Preserved Lemons I made last week. As I've said before, I never make anything without checking your site. I'm rarely disappointed.😍
Marc Matsumoto says
Now you have me craving fish and chips Kathy 🤣
shenadebee sucks juevos says
By diction i would say shenadebee is british, maybe why they are hating on this fish and chips dish. Regardless; if you think ketchup, chicken stock, curry powder, garlic, flour, ginger, and onion are too complicated ingredients for a sauce to heat and mix together, you might be missing the point of this blog. And eating.
fusiondesigner says
nice sauce tried it today blog
I HATE SHENADEBEE says
Aye aye aye! people like you 'shenadebee' dont know how to talk properly-allow swearing on someone elses website-flippin heck its only food, not even that, it's only sauce. if you wanna know how to make a simple sauce recipe-go learn to become a chef, or a sauce person dont go takin it out on other people and their mums.
ShenadeBee says
i searched for simple sauce recipies not fuckin 8 ingredient ones-bloody hell some people dont understand the fuckin meanin of simple. i feel sorry for your fucked mum for havin such a fucked kid!
Debbie Pierce says
You are absolutely awful! If eight ingredients are too much for you...move on to something that you DO consider simple! No need to be insulting. This recipe is one of our family favorites.
Marc Matsumoto says
Cold soda water should work fine. As for frozen fillets, they will work, obviously there will be a difference in taste and texture.
Tara says
Do you have a substitute for the beer? And is it okay if I use the normal frozen fish fillets instead of cod? Thank You
Peko says
Yum! That looks REALL yummy.
Peko says
Yum! That looks REALL yummy.
Kevin (Closet Cooking) says
I really like the sound of serving fish and chips with a curry sauce!
Kevin (Closet Cooking) says
I really like the sound of serving fish and chips with a curry sauce!
Alex says
Love it, looks amazing
Alex says
Love it, looks amazing
Ursula says
sounds delicious. I love anything fried. It's like window shopping, you get to sample the food without really eating it!
Carolyn Jung says
I usually like the tang of malt vinegar on my fish and chippies. But curry sauce? Oooh, you have something there. I love curry so I can totally see the two going together. A great idea!
Ursula says
sounds delicious. I love anything fried. It's like window shopping, you get to sample the food without really eating it!
Marc Matsumoto says
You're both welcome to come over if you're ever in NYC:-)
Marc Matsumoto says
There are so many foods in the world I've yet to try too!
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks for telling me! I had no idea I was even nominated:-)
Marc Matsumoto says
I'm usually the same way. It makes a mess, uses a lot of oil and is bad for you, but in this case I'll say it was worth it:-)
Carolyn Jung says
I usually like the tang of malt vinegar on my fish and chippies. But curry sauce? Oooh, you have something there. I love curry so I can totally see the two going together. A great idea!
[eatingclub vancouver] js says
This looks amazing! So hard to get good fish and chips here. "Do we have to do everything ourselves?" I'd rather angle for an invitation to your home. LOL
Yvo says
I'm so with you. Why is it so hard to find good fish'n'chips here in NYC? I grew up here, so I'm not even sure where this standard to which I'm holding them hails, but ... yeah.