A Texan take on Fish & Chips

Cue the Olympic music and let the games begin!! We welcomed in the 2012 Summer Olympics last night by having some friends over and eating Fish and Chips--since that is one of the traditional dishes from England. We debated between going the easy route and buying frozen fish sticks and fries...or finding a legitimate recipe and well... here was our choice

(source)

We made a few adaptations to make it serve 6 (1 1/2 times the original recipe), and use what was available at our grocery store...and to get it out of Celsius. So here is our take on the recipe:


Ingredients:
6 Tilapia frozen fillets *thawed and cut in half lengthwise to better fit in our deep fryer
2 Cups Flour, plus some extra
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 Bottle of beer *We used Ziegenbock (our favorite Texas beer), but the recipe really called for a British beer
2 Tablespoons lemon juice from concentrate 
salt and pepper
5 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into fries
good cooking fat or oil (we used lard)


Directions:
1. Heat up fat/oil in deep fryer to 375°F.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut into fry size pieces. Rinse off and then dry.
3. Fry potatoes for about 3 minutes or when they are soft but not completely done (haven't changed color). 
4. Drain and set the fries on a plate or in a bowl off to the side.
5. Pour some flour on a plate and dredge the fish fillets in the flour -this makes the batter stick to the fish when fried. Let fillets rest in the flour while you work on the batter.
6. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and pepper into a nice big bowl. Then gradually add the beer until it is a thick batter (we added our whole 12 ounce beer, but you can add less if you want a little drink). Whisk until all the lumps are gone. Add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly again. 
7. Change the temperature of the deep fryer to 325°F.
8. Now start taking individual fish fillets and dip them in the batter and put them straight into the deep fryer. Add one at a time and don't crowd them before batter is crisped up. We cooked 2 at a time for 3-4 minutes since we had small pieces (the original recipe said 6-10 min depending on thickness). When done the batter is a light brown.  Put them on a plate and keep warm in microwave or oven.
9. Crank up the heat to 375°F again and cook the fries until they look done. Put on a plate and add salt.
10. Serve and enjoy!!!


This recipe was pretty simple, and very tasty! While we really enjoyed the fish, I think we were more impressed with the simplicity and tastiness of the fries. I don't think we will go back to buying frozen french fries again (unless we are feeling lazy -which we sometimes do)! 


Anyone else as excited about the Olympics as we are? Did you make anything tasty to celebrate?

Many Blessings,
S + B