Fish batter recipe?

Fromthetrees

I've never made a batter before, any help would be appreciated boardsies...

Have nice fresh cod.

I have plain white flour, eggs, milk, sunflower oil/olive oil, frying pan, salt, pepper, garlic powder? (bread for breadcrumbs, butter???)

I'd prefer to make it out of what I already have but I'm willing to go out and get something if necessary.

Just a bit nervous about it.

Dizzyblonde

I usually make beer batter, it's really nice and quite like chipper batter. Put flour into a bowl and whisk whatever beer/lager you have into it - just enough to make a thick batter. You can add salt and pepper. I cut the fish into goujons - thick strips - just because I prefer it that way. Don't use olive oil - sunflower is better. You need it to be a couple of inches deep, so I find a wok is great because you don't need to use as much oil as you would in a frying pan.
Heat the oil until a small crust of bread sizzles rapidly when you throw it in. Coat the fish in flour, then the batter - shake off the excess and lower it gently into the pan. If you're keeping the fish whole, don't let go for a few seconds until it starts to float or it might stick to the bottom. If you're doing goujons, only do a few at a time and keep them warm in the oven. The goujons only take 2-3 minutes each side, a whole piece will take a minute or two longer.
You may need to turn up the heat after adding the fish because it will have cooled the oil.

refusetolose

soda water and self raising flour

Seaneh

Fromthetrees wrote: »

I've never made a batter before, any help would be appreciated boardsies...

Have nice fresh cod.

I have plain white flour, eggs, milk, sunflower oil/olive oil, frying pan, salt, pepper, garlic powder? (bread for breadcrumbs, butter???)

I'd prefer to make it out of what I already have but I'm willing to go out and get something if necessary.

Just a bit nervous about it.

Plain flour, sparking water or beer and a little melted butter and a some salt and pepper.

That's all you need.

Seriously.


Don't put eggs in it, it will turn out gross.


1 cup of flour. One cup of water/beer, 2 teaspoons of butter melted and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Mix the water/beer into sifted flour and then pour in the melted butter, mix it through and season.


Flour your fish lightly, shake it off, dip it into the batter and then straight into the oil, dropping it away from yourself so it doesn't splash up and burn you.


You can go crazy with the flour for dusting and add all sorts of niceness to it, whatever spices or herbs take your fancy, tarragon works well.

Dizzyblonde

How did it go?

Oblomov

Heston Bluementhal's Fish andd Chips...

Making this batter is easy, but it needs to chill for half an hour in the fridge, after which speed is the name of the game in order to keep the bubbles in. For best results, you will need a soda syphon. Yeah, really

Ingredients

200g plain flour
200g white rice flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp honey
300ml vodka
300ml lager
2-3 litres groundnut oil (for frying)



4 large turbot fillets, 2-3cm thick (ideally, get 1 whole turbot weighing 2.5kg and either fillet it yourself, or get the fishmonger to do it)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Thick slices of lemon for garnish


Method

Tip the plain flour, rice flour and baking powder into a bowl. Put the honey and vodka into a jug, stir and add to the flour to create a batter mix. Stir the lager into the batter until just combined. It doesn't matter if the consistency is a little lumpy. The most important thing is to open the lager just before stirring and transferring to the siphon, to retain as many bubbles as possible.

Transfer the batter to a jug, then pour it into a syphon. Charge the syphon with three CO₂charges and put it in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Put enough groundnut oil to cover the fish in a large pan or casserole. Heat it to 220°C, using a digital probe to check the temperature. (It's best not to use a deep-fat fryer for this because the temperature fluctuates too much and has trouble reaching 220°C.)


Rinse the turbot fillets and dry them with kitchen paper. Season well, then dust with rice flour. (This ensures the batter sticks to the fillets.) Shake off any extra flour.

Shake the syphon vigorously, then squirt the batter into a medium-sized bowl, enough to cover a fillet. (Don't squirt out too much: the batter begins to lose its bubbles as soon as it leaves the syphon.) Dip the fillet into the foamy batter. When it is completely coated, lower the fillet into the hot oil.

As the fish fries, drizzle a little extra batter over it to give a lovely crusty exterior. When it has turned a light golden brown, turn the fillet over and drizzle more batter on top.

Let the fish cook for another minute or so until it has coloured to a deeper golden brown, then remove it from the oil. Use a digital thermometer to check it is cooked: insert the probe into the thickest part of the fish - once it reads 40°C the fillet should be set aside so that the residual heat will cook it to a temperature of 45°C.

Serve with lemon.

For the chips


1.2kg Arran Victory or Maris Piper potatoes
2-3 litres groundnut (peanut) oil
Table salt and sea salt

Wash and peel the potatoes, then cut them into chips about 1.5cm thick (don't worry too much about making them all the same size: the variation will give a greater range of textures).

Place them in a bowl under cold running water for 2-3 minutes to rinse off some of the starch, then drain.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil (add 10g of salt per litre of water), add the chips, bring back to the boil and simmer until the chips have almost broken up (it's the fissures that form as the potato breaks up that trap the fat, creating a crunchy crust).

It is important to make sure the simmer is gentle so the potatoes don't start to fall apart before they have cooked through. The verbal instruction was " just befoe it turns to Potato soup"

Using a slotted spoon, carefully lift the potatoes out of the water and place on a cake rack. Leave to cool, then put in the fridge until cold.

Pour enough oil to cover the chips into a deep-fat fryer and heat to 130°C. Plunge in the chips and allow them to cook until they take on a dry appearance and are slightly coloured.

Remove the chips and drain off the excess fat. Place them on a cake rack and allow to cool, then return to the fridge until cold.

Reheat the oil to 190°C. Plunge in the chips and cook until golden brown.

Drain the chips, season well with a mixture of table and sea salt, then pile next to the fish.

To serve

For that total chip shop experience, decant some pickling juice from a jar of pickled onions (or white-wine vinegar) into an atomiser and squirt it on the fish and chips.

Enjoy

Fromthetrees

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

How did it go?

Great thanks, I made the beer batter using the recipe and cut the cod into goujons, they came out excellent.

Will be doing this again.

Hoop66

Step 1 - throw out the cod and get some haddock. As my (Scottish) mother always said "Cod is for english people". It's difficult to convey the right amount of venom with just italics...

For batter I just use seasoned flour, with a splash of oil and then add beer (london pride is excellent) until I have a nice thick batter. Works every time.

vicwatson

Plain Flour or Self Raising Flour?? That is the question

refusetolose

vicwatson wrote: »

Plain Flour or Self Raising Flour?? That is the question

self raising

vicwatson

refusetolose wrote: »

self raising

Some say Plain, some say Self Raising.

What's the difference? How is the batter affected?

dmc17

vicwatson wrote: »

Some say Plain, some say Self Raising.

What's the difference? How is the batter affected?

Taken from here

"The perfect batter...

The combination of flours is good for batter. The self-raising flour contains raising agents, mostly bicarbonate of soda and tartaric acid, which start to
produce little bubbles of carbon dioxide gas, once some liquid is added. The bubbles keep the batter light and fluffy. But you also want the batter to be able to
hold together and keep the fish wrapped up. That’s where the plain flour comes in. It has a high proportion of protein, in addition to the starch. The proteins
interact to form gluten - long, tangled strands of molecules which effectively glue your batter together so it nicely wraps around the fish."

vicwatson

Well...... I used 250g of Plain Flour, a pinch of salt and 500mls of COLD sparkling water and If I do say so myself, it was quite a magnificent batter. Floured the Cod in plain flour first and tapped off the excess, then into the batter and then the fryer at 190c, nice thick pieces of Cod and boy they were yummy ! Wedge of Lemon and Mushy peas and nom nom !

Hoop66

Great, now I'm hungry and it's 4 hours til lunch.

blueshed

going to try this today for dinner, got some haddock and old speckled hen beer. don't tell my wife but I also got some beef dripping to fry the fish in.

blueshed

quick question = got some sausages today and could I use the left over batter to make batter sausages ?

Dizzyblonde

blueshed wrote: »

quick question = got some sausages today and could I use the left over batter to make batter sausages ?

Definitely. If they're thick you might need to split them in order to cook them through, like they do in the chipper. You could also make banana or pineapple fritters. Or even little squares of jam sandwiches dipped in batter then dusted with sugar when they're cooked

Name Changed

Saw this on RTE the other night. Simple beer batter also.

I was going to give it a go but I haven't got a proper high sided frying pan.

http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/food/recipes/2013/0618/3854-beer-batter-fish-with-pea-mash-and-rosti-potato-cakes/

Name Changed

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I usually make beer batter, it's really nice and quite like chipper batter. Put flour into a bowl and whisk whatever beer/lager you have into it - just enough to make a thick batter. You can add salt and pepper. I cut the fish into goujons - thick strips - just because I prefer it that way. Don't use olive oil - sunflower is better. You need it to be a couple of inches deep, so I find a wok is great because you don't need to use as much oil as you would in a frying pan.
Heat the oil until a small crust of bread sizzles rapidly when you throw it in. Coat the fish in flour, then the batter - shake off the excess and lower it gently into the pan. If you're keeping the fish whole, don't let go for a few seconds until it starts to float or it might stick to the bottom. If you're doing goujons, only do a few at a time and keep them warm in the oven. The goujons only take 2-3 minutes each side, a whole piece will take a minute or two longer.
You may need to turn up the heat after adding the fish because it will have cooled the oil.

I was going to look for one of these high sided frying pans. Do you reckon the wok is just as good?

Dizzyblonde

Name Changed wrote: »

I was going to look for one of these high sided frying pans. Do you reckon the wok is just as good?

We use a wok because we do goujons which are small, and there are usually only 2 or 3 of us having them. If you're doing big fillets of fish you might need a high sided pan, but if you can get by with a wok why buy another pan?

You'd also use a lot more oil in a straight sided pan.

rubadub

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Definitely. If they're thick you might need to split them in order to cook them through, like they do in the chipper.

I used to deep fry or grill them a little beforehand before battering. I hate anemic looking sausages.

Odlums sell "batter flour" in 25kg bags, dunno what is in it, somebody going into cash & carries could read the label.

blueshed

update on the fish, it turned out very nice and will be doing it again. next time will try a different fish and beer plus might add a little herb to the mix.

didn't get to make the batter sausages as the wife binned it Friday evening.

Tcmouse

Simpley, 4 Units Plain Flour, 2 Units Cornflour, 1/2 Unit bread soda/baking powder,season to taste. Stir to a semi light paste (not too thick)with cold water. Let settle for the bread soda/baking powder to activate. Dry your item to be fried, toss in dry flour. Coat in batter and deep fry. I'v tried many ways including ready made mix and this the best.

duploelabs

Tcmouse wrote: »

Simpley, 4 Units Plain Flour, 2 Units Cornflour, 1/2 Unit bread soda/baking powder,season to taste. Stir to a semi light paste (not too thick)with cold water. Let settle for the bread soda/baking powder to activate. Dry your item to be fried, toss in dry flour. Coat in batter and deep fry. I'v tried many ways including ready made mix and this the best.

Worked in a Michelin starred place and this is the closest recipe so far.
300g of plain flour
200g of corn flour
tablespoon of baking powder
A bit of salt
Enough sparkling water to make a light paste that will coat the back of a spoon.
Don't forget to dust and shake off your fish bits in plain flour before coating in batter

rubadub

Tcmouse wrote: »

1/2 Unit bread soda/baking powder

This sounds like a lot. Which do you actually use?, you do realise bread soda an baking powder are different things right?

Baking powder contains bread soda, and other stuff so there is no need for acid in your mixture.

So if you used baking powder, and somebody used just bread soda it might be too much of it. And there might not be enough acidity in the other ingredients to make it release gas.

Tcmouse

one or the other

Seaneh

That's way too much of either of them, would leave a manky taste.

I honestly think 1 part flour to 1 part liquid works best.

duploelabs

Seaneh wrote: »

That's way too much of either of them, would leave a manky taste.

I honestly think 1 part flour to 1 part liquid works best.

It won't rise then and also it shouldn't be so much that you can taste it

Mrs Fox

Oblomov wrote: »

Heston Bluementhal's Fish andd Chips...

Making this batter is easy, but it needs to chill for half an hour in the fridge, after which speed is the name of the game in order to keep the bubbles in. For best results, you will need a soda syphon. Yeah, really

Ingredients

200g plain flour
200g white rice flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp honey
300ml vodka
300ml lager
2-3 litres groundnut oil (for frying)



4 large turbot fillets, 2-3cm thick (ideally, get 1 whole turbot weighing 2.5kg and either fillet it yourself, or get the fishmonger to do it)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Thick slices of lemon for garnish


Method

Tip the plain flour, rice flour and baking powder into a bowl. Put the honey and vodka into a jug, stir and add to the flour to create a batter mix. Stir the lager into the batter until just combined. It doesn't matter if the consistency is a little lumpy. The most important thing is to open the lager just before stirring and transferring to the siphon, to retain as many bubbles as possible.

Transfer the batter to a jug, then pour it into a syphon. Charge the syphon with three CO₂charges and put it in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Put enough groundnut oil to cover the fish in a large pan or casserole. Heat it to 220°C, using a digital probe to check the temperature. (It's best not to use a deep-fat fryer for this because the temperature fluctuates too much and has trouble reaching 220°C.)


Rinse the turbot fillets and dry them with kitchen paper. Season well, then dust with rice flour. (This ensures the batter sticks to the fillets.) Shake off any extra flour.

Shake the syphon vigorously, then squirt the batter into a medium-sized bowl, enough to cover a fillet. (Don't squirt out too much: the batter begins to lose its bubbles as soon as it leaves the syphon.) Dip the fillet into the foamy batter. When it is completely coated, lower the fillet into the hot oil.

As the fish fries, drizzle a little extra batter over it to give a lovely crusty exterior. When it has turned a light golden brown, turn the fillet over and drizzle more batter on top.

Let the fish cook for another minute or so until it has coloured to a deeper golden brown, then remove it from the oil. Use a digital thermometer to check it is cooked: insert the probe into the thickest part of the fish - once it reads 40°C the fillet should be set aside so that the residual heat will cook it to a temperature of 45°C.

Serve with lemon.

I just caught this episode of his perfection series on GoodFood yesterday-- I soooo want to make his batter recipe. The layers of light crunchy batter looked to die for. Where can I get a cheap basic soda syphon? The ones I've browsed online are mostly vintage or retro.

I really don't want to get a utensil that I'll only use a couple of times a year. If I don't use one, and just put the batter in fridge for half an hour, wouldn't the bubbly gas from the larger escape, which us crucial to keep in?
I was actually thinking of making the batter first without adding the larger, then just before frying I'd mix in the ice cold bottle of larger. Would it work?

the beer revolu

Mrs Fox wrote: »

I just caught this episode of his perfection series on GoodFood yesterday-- I soooo want to make his batter recipe. The layers of light crunchy batter looked to die for. Where can I get a cheap basic soda syphon? The ones I've browsed online are mostly vintage or retro.

I really don't want to get a utensil that I'll only use a couple of times a year. If I don't use one, and just put the batter in fridge for half an hour, wouldn't the bubbly gas from the larger escape, which us crucial to keep in?
I was actually thinking of making the batter first without adding the larger, then just before frying I'd mix in the ice cold bottle of larger. Would it work?

I don't see why that wouldn't work.