4 Levels of Fish & Chips: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious

Hi, I'm Bianca, and I'm a level one chef. I'm Julie. I'm a level two chef. Hi, I'm Palak. I'm a chef at the Institute of Culinary Education, and I've been a chef for 10 years. We are going to be making fish and chips. My aunt, during the holidays, she's usually like the lead chef. This is her recipe for southern fried fish and chips. I used to live in Australia. Instead of McDonald's, we go to the fish and chip shop, so I'm excited to be able to make it. I can make a mean fish and chip. My fish and chips would stand up to any pub landlord. The first thing we need to do is talk about the fish. I like to do whiting. Sometimes you could do porgies, but porgies has a lot of bones, so whiting just makes it a more seamless eating experience. We're gonna use cod, which is an Atlantic fish. As you can see, it's very thick. It holds up to the frying. We're gonna be using haddock because it's a nice, really well-priced, flaky, beautiful white fish. So normally when I fry fish, we usually use the whole fish, but today we're gonna do fillets. We've cut it almost like the size of a small iPhone. This is finger food. This is food on the go. We always add some lemon before we kind of like soak in meat. That's including the fish. So we're gonna squeeze. And now to soak the fish. As you can see, this is a huge piece of cod, and we'll just portion it out. We're ready to season it. The secret to really good fish and chips is the batter. It has to be light and crunchy and airy and delicious. Generally, I do a dry batter, and we're going to add cornmeal mix, some paprika, pepper, and salt. So we've got flour, baking powder, cornstarch, salt and pepper, the staples, some eggs, and beer. That's what's gonna put the icing on the cake. First thing, AP flour. Put it through a strainer just so I can get some lumps out. And then the other thing that I'm putting is rice flour. This is gonna help lighten the batter. A little bit of baking powder and some salt. The first thing we wanna do is prep the eggs. Whisk them up to get them ready. Now what you do is you wanna fold in your dry ingredients. A little bit of your cornstarch, baking powder, which gives it that little pop. I like to put just, I would say, two, maybe three grindings of fresh pepper. Some generous little bit of salt here. The effervescent part, which gives it light and airy texture, is a beer. I'm using IPA. There's not a whole lot of seasoning going on in the batter so I feel like the beer that's nice and tasty is good for this. I'm using wheat beer today. We don't want to overwhelm the flavor. So you're gonna put in your egg and then stir in your beer. I like this batter right now, the way it's shaping up. I'm an eye cooker. No real measurements. You know, we kinda just do this with feeling. You want it to be kind of a ribbon consistency. This is ready. And then I'm just gonna put a little bit of vodka. It's gonna help it get a little bit more fluffy when it hits the hot oil. So we use cornmeal instead of flour because cornmeal gives it like a better taste and a little kick. Like, I cannot tell you what exactly is in the cornmeal that does it, but it's magic. We mix until it kinda has like a bit of a coloring. You see kind of like the red. So now we're gonna add the dry batter into a bag. Okay, so I know you think we're done because we seasoned the cornmeal mix, right? You're wrong. Now it's time to season the fish, okay? So the fish has been soaking for like a few minutes. I'm gonna dry it off a bit so the seasoning can stick to the fish. So we want to add a generous amount of both salt and pepper. What the salt does is it takes the moisture out of the fish so that when we drop it into the batter, it's gonna get nice and crispy and not watery. We're gonna give it a little dredge in the flour. This is just AP flour. I like to use cornstarch. My thoroughly unscientific self says that it helps the batter adhere more, and it's also a little lighter. I'm gonna zhuzh up the cornstarch a little by putting more salt and a little pepper. We're going to dip the fish into the batter. And this is the best part, right? To make it advance, right? This is the best part. So let's take this nice piece of fish here, dredge it up, shake off the excess, then dip your fish in. Hang it upside down. Make sure you get that excess batter off. And then drop that baby in the deep fryer. Here we go. Oh, you see the sound, the sizzle? We're on to a great start, guys. You want the fish to go about golden brown, anywhere from five to eight minutes. If you have an extra large piece, you want to go about eight minutes. When they're in there, about halfway through, flip them over. So you see how it's kind of looking all brown and golden? So we'll flip, oh, ----. Hold up. Oh, no. Well, you know what? So now we have a little fish nuggets, okay? And that's good, too. It may not look good, but it's gonna taste good, all right? And that's what matters here. Because what? Flavor is love. Oh, my friends. Look at this. It's yum. Isn't this pretty? The reason it's so nice and puffy, remember, if you do this and you forget the baking powder, you're sunk. Been about six and a half minutes. That's the golden brown color we're looking for. I'm just gonna take it out and put them into the paper towel. Right when it comes out of the oil, I want to hit it with some salt, just to give it an extra layer of seasoning. Eh, voila. We have the fish half of fish and chips. Now for the most important part of the dish. That's the chips. Not to be mistaken with fries, because fries and chips are not the same. Repeat after me. Not the same. So we have Yukon Gold potatoes. They're gonna give us a nice, great crunch. We're gonna use a Idaho potato. This is perfect for the type of chip that we're making, because it's gonna go through three different processes. So when I make fish and chips, I like to make chips like chips. So we are going to use one of my favorite tools, which is a mandolin. And now all you do is take it down. So I'm gonna peel these, and then we're gonna soak them in water so that we can kind of clean up all the starch before blanching them. So I like to take as much skin off as possible, but at the same time, I hear that all the nutrients is in the skin. The skin has a lot of fiber and roughage. And also, I find that it kind of holds the chip together in the frying process. We have our potatoes, and now we're gonna cut them into slices. And these are gonna just be cut by hand. Again, it's pub food. You know, it doesn't really have to be fancy. You don't really need to get too crazy with it. Because again, it's really all about the flavor, you know? Cut down the middle. Chips. Papas fritas. The potatoes are done. And I like to pre-season my fries. Excuse me, I like to pre-season my chips before I add them to the oil. Pepper. Salt. And then I'm just gonna sprinkle with some salt and mix it all up. So now my chips are ready to be fried. For step one, we are gonna blanch the chips in water that's lightly salted. It's been about 15 minutes, and we're ready to take the chips out of the water. This is a very delicate process. You don't wanna rush it. The chips are almost cooked, so they will easily fall apart. These will go into the freezer until they're completely cooled, and then we're ready for the first fry in duck fat. I've got a beautiful big Dutch oven full of peanut oil. I like to use peanut oil because it has a nice sort of neutral flavor and a very high smoke point. But now I'm gonna put them in. It's gonna look really laborious and slow, but I want my chips to be nice and crisp. I want them separate. I don't want them to clump up together. Ooh, it's like a choir. The chips have been in the freezer. They're nice and cold, and we're ready for the first fry. We're gonna drop these in slowly. The first fry is to just get it to cook and get a little crispy outside. We're not looking for color, and we're looking for a really, really fluffy middle and a really crispy exterior. They're out of the fryer. It's time to pop them in the freezer for about 30 to 45 minutes. There's nothing like playing around with dangerously hot oil. Always has to have a little bit of element of danger with whatever you do. I'd say maybe three to five minutes. What do you think? I think like three to five. So we're just gonna chill out and wait. The chips have come out of the freezer, and we're ready for the second fry. These are gonna be a little darker than a regular French fry. That's how they serve them in the pub, so don't get scared. Voila! Okay, now these are some good chips. I know some people like those meaty steak fries or French fries, but I just like the whole lightness of the light fish batter and the lightness of the chips. This is what you're looking for. You just pull them out. These are our chips, and now we're ready to plate. Okay, so sauce. I'm a really big sauce fan. I pretty much dump sauce on everything I eat. When we would fry fish, my mom would always just mix this concoction. I never really thought of it as anything, but come to find out, it's spicy mayo. You get your fish and chips with tartar sauce. It's really sort of an American-type thing, and my preference is malt vinegar all day, all night. That's all you need to enhance the flavor of good fish and chips. Now we have to make the tartar sauce. In order to make the tartar sauce, we have to make mayo. This is sriracha, mayonnaise, and mustard. So it's a bit of a zest and a bit of a spice, and it's really perfect for fried fish. First thing you need is an egg, and all we need is the yolk. It is a little bit extra work to make your own mayo, but you'll thank me later. And just for a little bit of flavor, I'm gonna add some Dijon mustard, a little splash of lemon juice. So you're gonna break up the yolk first, and then steadily pour the oil and mix it. I judge it by the color. It's usually kind of like a beige or like a deep yellow. Does deep yellow exist? Season with a little salt, and that's your mayo. This is gonna be our base. These are my favorite little things. It's like a mini pickle. Cornichons, they're really tangy. Just kind of rough chop it. It's bar food after all. Some more mustard. This one's got a bit more texture, so I want to be able to see it. And some champagne vinegar. And for the sauce, I love using fresh herbs, so what I have here is parsley, some dill, and tarragon, but I like a little pop of green. Just chop some of that up. But it's perfect. It's spicy. It's tangy. This is perfect. This is my sauce for my fish and chips. And last thing, freshly ground black pepper. And that's our tartar sauce. Now we're gonna make the only thing that's allowed to be next to this dish, and that's mushy peas. I have some green peas. I'm gonna put them in boiling water. So we're gonna cook these for a few minutes, and then we're gonna shock them in cold water. By shocking them in cold water, you kind of retain the vivid green color, and that's what we want. So I'm gonna remove the peas now, and dunk them in the ice bath. While my peas are cooling, I'm gonna make a little saute of green onions and some mint. Two classic things that go with this pea dish. Peas and mint are such a cool combo. And have some fresh mint here. I like a lot of mint. Just my personal preference. Kind of brightens up the dish. Once these are sauteed, I'm gonna shake out the peas. We don't want them to look like peas that came out of a can. Once all the liquid is gone, turn the heat off, transfer them into a bowl, and for a little extra decadent, gonna put some butter in. Time for some exercise. I like mushing them because it gives out the creaminess. When you do mush it, as you can see, it's kind of getting nice and creamy from mashing some of the peas, and then some of them are half. Nice little mixture of texture. And that's our mushy peas. Okay, so we've made it to the end. We have our fish, our chips, and sauce. It's gonna make it kind of cute, you know? It's all about the aesthetic sometimes. We have our beautiful beer-battered fish. For our three-step chip, we have our mushy peas with mint and our tartar sauce with homemade mayo. My plating is to make it look like this came from a pub. Put a paper towel down just to catch any extra drippings from the chips. The fish can just hang out by itself. And then I have some ramekins. In a pub, you'll get these in ramekins on the side, your mushy peas. Last but not least, this beautiful tartar sauce. Let's do three nice, beautiful pieces of fish. Does that look great or what? And then I'm gonna take a nice handful of chips. Look at them, they're beautiful, they're glistening. So you've got this, and then put a couple lemon wedges. I want my malt vinegar. You already know it's good, but it's gonna be better once I put my malt vinegar. This is my southern fried fish and chips. Fish and chips, a la Julie. And here you have your perfect fish and chip with tartar sauce and mushy peas. Okay, guys, so here we are. Crunchy and creamy. Malt vinegar all day, mm! It's great. First of all, who's the man? I'm the man. Okay, the woman, all right. Wow. I'm a chef. Level one, who? Like what? It's flaky, it's almost creamy, and yeah, I love my cooking. So what? There's beautiful crystals of salt that we put right when the chips came out of the fryer. That crunch is everything. If I'm really gonna be honest, I need an IPA. I should've saved some when I was doing the batter. A traditional British pub food since at least the 1860s, fish and chips is a dish that's popular all around the world. Let's see how our three chefs tackled this fried favorite. Bianca made a delicious southern rendition of fish and chips using whiting fillets. Whiting are smaller fish related to cod that are usually sold whole or as fillets. It's a good size for Bianca's pan-frying method. So now we have a little fish nugget. Okay, and that's good too. Julie used haddock that she cut into pieces. Almost like the size of a small iPhone. Like the whiting Bianca used, haddock is a lean saltwater fish, but it can grow to be much larger than whiting. It works well for the deep frying method Julie used. Pollock used traditional cod fish. Also a lean white saltwater fish. Cod is large and sturdy enough to stand up to the cutting and shape that Pollock used. I mean, you can actually get in a fight with this and you'd be okay. Bianca used a coating instead of a liquid batter. She also used traditional yellow cornmeal. She added salt and pepper along with hot paprika for a little kick with a bit of lemon. Lemon or vinegar go well with fish and our traditional rub, harking back to times before refrigeration. Acid tends to act as a preservative because it has a low pH and disrupts the metabolism of pathogenic microorganisms. It also simply tastes good. Julie's batter included wheat flour and cornstarch. Cornstarch has no gluten, so it won't get chewy. It also increases crispiness because cornstarch has a larger particle size and lower absorption rate relative to wheat flour. She adds baking powder as a chemical leavening agent to add a light and porous quality to her batter. The liquid she uses is a combination of eggs and wheat beer. That's what's gonna put the icing on the cake. Beer adds effervescence to the batter, also making it nice and light. Pollock used a combination of wheat and rice flour with vodka and beer as her liquids. It's my favorite beer and it smells really good. Vodka's mostly alcohol, so while it's a clear liquid, it doesn't hydrate the gluten proteins in the wheat like water does, ensuring that there's minimal or no gluten formed, making hers a very tender batter. The baking powder also creates carbon dioxide, adding to the light quality of her batter. Bianca made thin, crispy chips from Yukon Gold potatoes. Yukon Golds have a buttery color due to the carotenoid pigments present. They have a slightly moist and fluffy texture when fried. Julie made potato chips, which is how we use the term in the US to describe paper-thin, round, fried potato slices. They're thinly sliced and round because the potato is cut in a cross section. She left the skin on for some color and fried them in peanut oil, which is a nice neutral oil that has a high smoke point, which makes it an excellent choice for deep fat frying. It's nothing like playing around with dangerously hot oil. She used russet potatoes, which are mealy and stand up very well to deep frying. Pollock also used russet potatoes and cut them to the customary size of about one inch thick. She rinsed her chips to remove some of the excess starch, particularly the amylose fraction, and then simmered them in water to par-cook the potatoes. Before deep frying them in duck fat, she made sure that they were very dry in order to avoid a mini explosion when you're deep frying. Patience is a virtue. She used duck fat to make her chips, which is higher in mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids compared to land animals and makes extra crispy fries. All three of our chefs salted their chips right after they came out of the oil. This is essential for a delicious chip or French fry because the salt adheres better to the fries when they're hot. Pollock also made mushy peas, which are a common side to fish and chips. She cooked and then shocked her peas with cold water to set that beautiful bright green pigment. Peas are slightly starchy and fibrous and higher in protein than other vegetables. So they're a beautiful addition visually and add nutrient density to this calorie-laden dish. Bianca made her sauce from unmeasured but generally equal parts of commercial mayonnaise, hot sauce, and mustard. Simple and delicious. Julie served her fish and chips with lemon, commercial tartar sauce, and malt vinegar. Which I'm, you know, that kind of girl. Malt vinegar is made from beer made with sprouted barley, hence the name malt, that has no hops included. It's slightly darker in color as compared to white vinegar. Pollock made her own tartar sauce by making her own mayonnaise base. Mayonnaise is a permanent oil in water emulsion that should be at least 65% oil. In reality, most commercial mayonnaises have far more oil in that, about 85%. She gets a good emulsion started with the egg yolk and a little bit of lemon juice to yield a very thick paste. She very slowly adds the oil and finally the herbs, chopped cornichons, and champagne vinegar. Champagne vinegar is made from champagne, or verjuice, and it's slightly more subtle than white wine vinegar. And it's delicious. With variations from all over the world using a wide variety of catches, fish and chips is a popular and adaptable, not to mention delicious treat. We hope you'll take some inspiration from our chefs next time you're in the mood for a salty bite.