Oregon Transplant: Beer-Battered Fish & Chips

This one's for you Dad! :-)

I cannot tell you how much my family loves fish and chips. When my younger brother and I were little, little kids, I can remember Skippers being a family favorite destination. We would get soooooo excited if my parents said we were going there. I mean, I know we loved the little red jello's that Skippers hands out with every meal, but we also liked the fish. And the chips. While Skippers is kind of a no-go these days, fish and chips is still a classic. It's one of those meals where if it's on a menu at a restaurant I'm currently calling on, I'm likely to choose it. That being said, the selection of fish and chips around these parts is sadly, nonexistent. The hubby and I love to go to our local brewery for pizza and beer, but I expressly avoid their fish and chips. First of all, they use haddock. Not a favorite of mine. Plus, they bread theirs and it doesn't have a lot of flavor. The other restaurants in town? They all seem to order (and serve) exactly the same frozen food, so I can honestly say, there's no where to get fish and chips around here. We'd have to drive an hour to Huntington, and needless to say, we don't do that often.

So, we've resorted to making our own!

On Friday morning, I asked the hubby what he wanted for dinner. He's had really good suggestions lately. Anyhoo, I wasn't expecting him to offer much when he suggested deep-frying fish. My hackles immediately raised and I got that look on my face that said "You ain't deep-frying fish in this house boy!". All I could think about was that third day after deep-frying, when you can still smell the fish you cooked all that time ago and it basically makes you nauseous.

I. hate. that. Yuck.

"No." I said, out loud. Then I went into my house-smelling spiel.

The hubby looked at me like I was crazy. "It's like, 70º out, " He said, "We can deep-fry outside."

And then the lightbulb went off. Like Lasagna Soup, I've had Fish & Chips on my to-do list for a loooooong time. And since it was sunny, I could take pictures outside. It was officially on.

First, we worked on the fries. The hubby wanted to fry them twice, so fried them first.

Then, we spread them on a rack to dry and get crispy. Next up, battering the fish!

The beer-batter we picked was a delicious winner. It's pretty hard to go wrong with beer-batter though.

Freshly fried fish. Lord, have mercy. We then put the fries back in the fryer, and crisped them up a second time. They were crispy. Salty. Creamy. Yummmmmm.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, we did eat more than deep-fried food. I made a slaw full of red and green cabbage, carrots, and green onions. So yes, something healthy was consumed :-)

Fish and Chips are one of my Dad's favorite meals, like, ever. My Dad is the same as me. If it's on the menu, he'll probably try it. Another selection Dad seems to pick a lot? Rubens. And chili dogs. I think my parents are planning on coming out next summer, so guess what will be on the menu?

Deep-fried beer-battered fish in the backyard. It already sounds glorious.

It's hard to believe it's already Monday again. I trust everyone had a fabulous weekend, no? The hubby and I joined his sister, her husband, and the 3 kids for a movie-day on Saturday. We all went to see "Goosebumps". I'm not the biggest fan of scary movies, so "Goosebumps" was the perfect amount of scary for this girl. It's a little embarrassing that I probably jumped more than my 7-year old niece :-) Afterwards, we all went out to eat. The kids had filled up on popcorn, so one of them (I won't tell you who, haha) only ate chocolate cake, but we all enjoyed the company. The hubby and I are loving that the kids are getting old enough you can take them places and have a lot of fun. As for Sunday, we were pretty lazy. We've discovered "Freaks and Geeks" on Netflix and are currently flying through that. I have a feeling we would finish it today, but I promised the hubby we could watch a movie. I'm all about television series these days (the stories are so much more elaborate and in depth!) but the hubby still loves his movies. I have to watch one every once in a while to keep him happy.

Sacrifices, right? Hehe.

Have a great day friends!

Beer-batter created by JSP Photo & Design.

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

Chips-

6-8 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

salt, to taste

1 tsp fresh parsley, minced (optional)

Fish-

1 lb cod filets (I used frozen. If you do too, just make sure it's completely thawed and patted DRY)

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup beer (we used Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale)

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tbsp heavy cream

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp honey

2/3 cup flour (for coating)

deep fryer and oil

Tarter Sauce (optional)

Slaw (optional)

Directions:

1. Fill a large bowl with water. Soak potato slices for 30 minutes. Remove from water and drain.

2. Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 325º. When up to temperature, add fries. Fry for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to drain. Set aside.

3. To prepare batter, combine flour through black pepper. Whisk to combine. In a separate small bowl, combine beer through honey. Add dry ingredients to wet, stir to combine. Texture should be that of pancake batter. If batter is too thin, add a little bit more flour.

4. Cut cod fillets into thirds. Pat fillets dry. Dip pieces of cod into flour, coating both sides lightly. Then dip cod into beer batter. Place cod fillets in deep-fryer. Cook for about 2 minutes, then flip. The bottom should be golden brown. Fry another 2 minutes, then remove fish to a cooling rack to drain. Repeat with all cod.

5. When the fish is completed, place the fries back in deep-fryer. Fry another 3-5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. Season with salt to taste. Sprinkle with fresh parsley, if using.

6. Divide fish and fries between plates. Serve immediately with homemade tarter sauce and coleslaw, if using.

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