Half-Naked Fish and Chips - Level Up, Monday Morning Re-Cap
My dinner menu last Saturday started from one unlikely ingredient I found at a market. An oak-matured ‘old-fashioned’ Malt Vinegar from the UK. Everybody loves fish and chips, and I’m a big fan of the malt vinegar that accompanies it, but I’ve only ever had the cheaper brands, Sarson’s or Heinz. I saw an opportunity for an easy improvement on a classic, and sometimes you need a gentle nudge to dive into something as indulgent as ‘Fish and Chips’.
‘Fish and chips’ has some real pro’s and con’s.
Pro: moist flaky fish, crunchy, great vehicle for salt and malt vinegar, fried potatoes
Con: usually cheap fish, too much batter, oily, cheap vinegar, coma, death, dizziness, etc.
I want to accentuate the positives and minimize the negatives:
Use Halibut instead of Cod or Haddock. Not that helpful in terms of taste and texture, but cleaner and a more refined taste.
Decrease the oil intake by reducing the amount of batter by half by only battering half of the fish. Increase the crunchiness by substituting a Tempura batter.
Boil the potatoes with their skin on, slice into wedges, gently paint with butter and salt, and roast. This will produce a rich, sweet potato flavor that will balance perfectly with the malt vinegar.
Only dip one side of the fish into the batter.
Be a little wild and and not so precious when putting the battered side into the oil. I’m using a sided pan with a 1/2 inch of oil and when I made the first pieces I was very careful to lay the pieces in gently. The end result was crunchy, uniform, and fine, but wasn’t what I love about Tempura. It was a rice cracker. Tempura is about crunchy jagged pieces that are light and airy. I little sloppier drop into the oil, and some early movement in the pan produced pieces with a little wilder Tempura “hat” with crunchy jagged pieces.
