Homemade British Fish and Chips

close up shot of fish and chips in newspaper with flaky sea salt

Print Recipe

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Resting Time1 10

Total Time1 55

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: British

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Equipment

Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Potato Peeler
Paper Towels/Kitchen Roll
Medium Sized Plate
Large Mixing bowl & Whisk
Jug (for beer)
Large, Deep Pot suitable for deep frying
Slotted Spoon
Wire Rack

Ingredients

800g / 1.8lb Floury Potatoes, such as Maris Pipers/Russets, peeled and cut into thick chips around 8cm/3" long and 1.5-2cm/0.5-0.8" wide
2 1/2 tsp Salt, plus extra as needed
2 litres / 8 1/3 cups Vegetable Oil, or as needed (or other oil with high smoking point that is suitable for deep-frying)
125g / 4.4oz Plain Flour
45g / 1.6oz Cornflour/Cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder (not to be confused with baking soda!)
1/4 tsp White Pepper
2 boneless skinles Cod Loins (approx 140-150g/5-5.3oz each)
230ml cold Beer (see notes)

Instructions

Place the potato chips in a saucepan of cold water with 2 teaspoons of the salt over a high heat. After around 10 minutes, it should reach a rapid boil. At this point, allow the chips to boil for about 5 minutes until the edges start to fray and they’re just about knife- tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen paper to absorb excess moisture. Don’t worry if any start to crack or break. Allow to rest for around 10 minutes, or until they stop steaming, then transfer to a baking tray and cool in the fridge for 1 hour. They should be fairly firm and cold right through.
Meanwhile, pour the oil into a large saucepan, making sure it doesn’t fill more than half the depth of the pan. Mix 1 tablespoon of the flour and 1 tablespoon of the cornflour with a pinch of salt on a medium plate. Put the remaining flour, cornflour and salt into a large mixing bowl, then add the baking powder and white pepper and whisk to combine.
Take the chips and cod out of the fridge. Sprinkle both sides of each cod loin with salt and leave for 10 minutes. This will draw moisture from the cod. After 10 minutes, use kitchen paper to thoroughly pat the cod dry. It’s important to remove as much excess moisture as possible to ensure the batter crisps up.
Meanwhile, heat the oil over a medium-high heat to 180°C (350°F). When it's hot enough, a breadcrumb should rapidly sizzle when it hits the oil. Use a slotted spoon to carefully lower the chips into the hot oil and fry for around 4 minutes. The edges should be tinged golden, but they won’t be cooked all the way through. The oil temperature will drop, so just maintain it as best you can. Use the slotted spoon to remove the chips and rest them on a wire rack set over a baking tray or kitchen paper to catch any excess oil.
Increase the heat to 190°C (375°F). Add the cold beer to the large mixing bowl with the flour mixture and whisk to combine. Don’t beat the heck out of it, otherwise you’ll lose all the bubbles. Just whisk until the flours have blended through the beer. Some small lumps are fine. The consistency should be ever so slightly thicker than double/heavy cream.
Coat a piece of cod in the flour on the plate and shake off the excess, then add it to the beer batter. Make sure it’s fully coated, then place in the hot oil. As you lift it out of the batter let it hang for a few seconds, then carefully add it to the oil, pushing your hand away from you (so the oil doesn’t splash back at you). Repeat with the remaining piece of cod. Use a slotted spoon to part the pieces of fish if they immediately stick to each other in the oil. Fry for 1 minute, then use the slotted spoon to lift each piece just above the oil and spoon some extra beer batter right over the top of the fish. Do this on both sides of each piece of fish, then allow to fry until deep golden and crispy, around 6 minutes and 30 seconds total. You can turn them once or twice during cooking if needed.
Remove from the oil, place on the wire rack and immediately sprinkle with a pinch of salt, just to help draw out the final bit of moisture from the batter. Increase the oil temp to 200°C (392°F).
Add the chips back into the oil and fry for 5 minutes, or until very deep golden and crisp (timings may vary a lot, so just be vigilant and fry to your preferred texture/colour). Remove and place on the wire rack. Serve with the fish and enjoy!

Video

Notes

a) Cod - other white fish will also work well, e.g. haddock. The main thing is that both pieces are boneless and skinless and both are similar sized, so they cook at the same rate.

b) Beer - it’s crucial that the beer is cold in order for the batter to crisp up. Any light lager will do the trick (Fosters, Carlsberg, Carling, etc.)

c) Extra crispy - spooning extra batter directly over the fish as it fries is a signature move by Heston Blumenthal and creates the most delicious battered fish. Without the extra drizzle, the batter will be much smoother, and while still tasty, it’s the extra craggy shards on the batter that give you true crispiness. Don’t skip this step.

d) Serving - I love flaky sea salt, malt vinegar and Curry Sauce, but lemon (for the fish), Tartare Sauce, ketchup or mushy peas are all common appearances!

e) Cookbook - this recipe is featured in my cookbook 'Comfy'.

f) Calories - difficult to measure how much oil is absorbed and how much batter is used. Here I've calculated that all the batter is consumed (overestimate) and 2 tbsp oil per person is consumed.

Nutrition