One thing I miss most about growing up in Australia are the fish & chip shops that dotted the area and seemed to be on just about every corner. You’d find your way up to the counter and place your order which included not only fried fish and chips, but also HUGE batter fried potato cakes, dim sims (not dim sums) which were a very thick pork and vegetable dumpling rolled in a very thin dough that was about the size of a small fist…truly delicious and very Australian.
When I got older, I would crave the crispy batter that encased the fish and I tried to discover all of the secrets in making the perfect light and airy batter…and surprisingly enough, it was quite easy to do. Some people simply use water, others use the more traditional beer but there is another school of thought that uses club soda to create that extra fizz. If you are going to use beer, make sure to use a darker beer which at this point is not really for flavor but mostly for a finishing color on the batter after frying.
I like to use a generous amount of lemon pepper on the fish before I batter it. I then toss the fish into some cornstarch, dip it into the batter and right into the hot oil.
This batter is so versatile, use it for wedges of sweet potato, onion rings or even if you want to be really bad and batter your french fries with it…oh, so good. It’s very light and airy, and very similar to a tempura batter.
If you’re using it to batter fish, make sure to serve some hot peppers and homemade mayo filled with coarsely chopped pickles. If you want to be a purist…then malt vinegar is the way to go.
This dish always transports me back home…
Traditional Fish & Chips
4-6 large haddock fillets cut into cubes
Lemon pepper seasoning
S&P for flour mixture (also use on fish if not using lemon pepper)
½ cup cornstarch to toss over nuggets before dipping into batter
½ cup flour
½ cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ bottle beer, preferably darker
Homemade mayo with chopped dill pickles
Malt vinegar
Hot peppers
Preheat your oil so that it is between 360°F-370°F. Make sure to have at least 2”-4” of oil in the pot so that the fish is completely immersed. Dry the surface of the fillets with some paper towels and then cut fish into cubes and toss them with some lemon pepper seasoning.
Toss the ½ cup cornstarch over the nuggets and using your fingers, make sure all of the nuggets are coated well. In a medium sized bowl, and the other ½ cup cornstarch, flour, baking powder plus some S&P. Add enough beer to make a thin pancake batter. For this recipe, I generally use a little more than half a bottle. Whisk everything together and make sure there are no lumps.
Add the pieces of fish into the batter and then gently drop into the hot oil. The small pieces will cook quickly, so make sure to keep an eye on them. Remove them onto a paper lined tray and then place these onto a sheet pan with a rack insert so that the fish nuggets do not get soggy as they cool. Use any leftover batter to dip any vegetables you may have hanging around, it’s that delicious.
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