My Grown-Up Fish Sandwich Recipe

I used to love those fast food fish filet sandwiches. I mean, how else could you get a kid to eat fish? But as I got older, I just couldn't do it any longer. They kind of grossed me out, to be honest. So I figured it's time we make a proper grown-up version using fresh ingredients, toppings, and a homemade sauce for my never again fast food fish filet sandwich recipe. I have a feeling you're gonna love this. Let's start off by knocking out some prep. Sound good? Let's cook. I have four six ounce each fresh cod fillets on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. You can use any firm white fish for this recipe such as haddock, sea bass, halibut, mahi-mahi, you be the judge. Now if you are using frozen fish just be sure it's completely thawed before breading and frying. Now what we want to do at this stage is using some paper towels is completely pat the fillets down on both sides. Doing this will help ensure our batter really coats and sticks to it. Next, we want to give each filet a gentle season with coarse salt. It's always a good idea to pre-salt your fish. During this process, the salt binds to the liquid in the fish, giving it a firmer texture and making it easier to work with when cooking. We're just going to set this to the side for about five minutes, and next, get started on our batter. In a medium-sized bowl, I'm adding in three-quarter cup of all-purpose flour, And ¾ cup of cornstarch. Now when you pair up cornstarch with flour, this helps prevent gluten from forming, which makes the flour coating crispier and absorbs moisture, which also means a crispier coating, which is exactly what we want. Next, for another little chef tip, we're adding in 2 teaspoons of baking powder. This will act like a salt as it helps to draw out even more moisture to the surface, resulting in an extra crispy coating. We want fish that's just too crispy and just too delicious. Now these next four ingredients are completely optional but I highly recommend them. Two teaspoons of granulated garlic. Next two teaspoons of granulated onion. Two teaspoons of sweet paprika. You could use smoked paprika as well. Then one teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper. Now of course we want to generously season it with about a tablespoon of coarse salt and about a half teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper. We're going to mix it together until it is combined. Now I know this seems like a lot A lot of salt. We're not using. All of this flour, we need it to be seasoned though to help add more flavor to our fish because remember, that was only gently seasoned. Now what we're gonna do is take about 2 3rds cup of that seasoned up flour mixture and add it right to a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and we're just gonna slightly flatten it out and spread it out. I'll tell you why in just one sec. And homies, we don't wanna whisk in the liquid for our batter until right before we're ready to dip and fry. If it sits too long, gluten will start to form, and this will become a thick mess and won't properly coat our fish. We'll have more batter than fish. However, we can have some good time management here, and we're going to start by heating up some oil. I have a 5-quart pot here. Anything above 4 quarts will work. You can also use an enameled Dutch oven as well. We're going to fill it about halfway with any neutral-flavored oil. I prefer avocado oil. Then what we're going to do is turn the heat up to low-medium. And get it until it reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm going to return to my countertop and continue to knock out some prep. So I'm going to bring out my pre-seasoned cod fillets, and what we're going to do is dredge it right in that flour mixture on our sheet tray. Doing this is going to do two things. It's going to further season up our cod fillets, and also it's going to help for our batter to completely stick to it before we fry it. Do not skip out on this. Give it a quick dust off, and then just set it to the side on the sheet tray where there is no flour, and this can sit up to 10 minutes, which is excellent time to get started on our topping mise en place. I'm going to be making a simple tartar sauce, the same one I made in my fish fry video, but a quick recap. We have one cup of mayonnaise in a medium-sized bowl. Next, I'm adding in a third cup of small diced dill pickles, two tablespoons of roughly chopped capers with a little bit of brine from the jar, A quarter cup of small diced yellow or white onion. Then two tablespoons of finely minced fresh parsley and of course last but not least let's season it up with some coarse salt and fresh cracked black pepper and give it a mix until it is combined. A few other things you could add in here are Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce or even a little bit of finely minced fresh dill. However, I don't think this needs any of those. It's delicious on its own. Be sure to try it and adjust any seasonings with salt and pepper. Next up, a little chef tip. I absolutely love the combination of fried fish and cabbage. Something magical happens. A little bit of that sweet crispness from the cabbage combined with the salty fish. Oh, great combo. Now, you can use just red or green cabbage. Just be sure to shred it. I think I'm going to just do a combination of both since I have two heads here. If you don't want to use cabbage, you can also keep it simple with butterleaf lettuce or even green leaf or iceberg. You can also use sliced tomato or even a sliced up red onion as well. You can totally be the judge here with these toppings. And now it's time to make a decision for which liquid we're going to add into the leftover batter. Now you can use dark beer like a stout or a porter or a light beer like an ale or pilsner. Now if you like those deep yeasty flavors, I recommend using the darker beer. For me, I just like a good seasoned up breading and I want to taste the fish. So I'm going with the light ale Now if you do not drink alcohol some other great substitutes would be club soda or even sparkling water or you can even use milk or just water or even a combination of those two. Regardless if you use something that has carbonation in it, it will aid in the browning and the puffing up of our breading. So I highly recommend using it. What we're going to do now is just slowly pour it into the bowl with our seasoned flour mixture until it is completely combined. Now it's going to be pretty thick at first because that's how corn starch reacts to liquid, but it will absolutely begin to smooth out. Now the consistency you're looking for in the batter once it is combined is that it should be a little bit runny but also completely coat the back of a spoon just like this. I'd say it's pretty close to almost like a pancake batter. This looks excellent. Now it's almost go time. Okay our oil is at that perfect 350 degree fahrenheit mark and if you don't have a thermometer just sprinkle a little flour in there. If it fries quickly and doesn't burn we're good to go. Also This is a great time to make sure our batter is delicious. So just add a little spoonful right into that oil, cook it until it's done, and taste it. Does it need more salt? Does it need more pepper? Does it need more garlic? You be the judge. Remember, this should be extremely flavorful because it's also going to season up our fish. Okay, it's now time to get cooking. This is going to move really quickly, so make sure you watch carefully. Okay let's bring our floured up fish along with the batter right over to our cooktop so we can go from station to station. Let's start with our fish. Give it a quick last dust off of any flour then we're going right into our batter. We want to completely coat it on all sides. Make sure it is covered in this batter. Then as we lift it off we're going to give a little shake get rid of any Then we are going to slowly add in just about an inch to two of the fish, waving it slowly back and forth for about five to ten seconds so that it begins to fry to prevent it from sticking from the bottom of the pot. And for another really quick chef tip, as soon as you add that fish in there, turn the heat up a little bit from low-medium up to medium because that cold fish and batter are going to drop the temperature of the oil by as much as 25 degrees. Which may prevent our fish from turning that beautiful golden brown color we're looking for. These six ounce fillets will take anywhere in between five and seven minutes to finish cooking or until they're golden brown on the outside and cooked throughout. And fish is finished cooking once it reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit internally. Once the fish is finished cooking, we want to remove it from the hot oil and set it on a rack over a sheet tray. to let drain off any excess oil. Now, a few quick things here, you can absolutely fry two fish at the same time, just as long as they're about an inch apart from one another so that they don't stick. And after you fry each filet of fish, you're going to want to skim out any of the fried breading just to help keep the oil as clean as possible to prevent it from clumping to the fish or even turning the oil dark. Now, because I always get this question regarding the leftover oil, Now, you can absolutely keep it as long as the oil is not too dark or burnt in any way. You cool it, you strain it through a fine mesh strainer like a chinois, and then you store it covered at room temperature, and you can use it three, four, or even five more times over the next four to six weeks. These look fantastic. And if you aren't trying things along the way like the batter or the tartar sauce, you're completely missing out. It makes the prepping and cooking process so much better. Plus, the experience you will gain by knowing exactly what things should taste like at every single step is immeasurable to you being a better cook. It's always about those fundamentals. Let me show you how I plate this up. I'm going to brush my hamburger buns with some melted butter. You can use any bun here. I've got an awesome recipe for you. Then we're just going to toast them until golden brown on my flat top or even a cast iron or nonstick skillet will work over low to medium heat. Next, I'm going to add on about a third to a half cup of my shredded red and green cabbage. And for another chef tip, always put your lettuce or tomatoes or vegetables on the bottom of the bun. To help prevent that bottom bun from being too saturated in any oil or juices from your protein. Then we're gonna add on a big old cod filet. This looks so good. Then of course, a few tablespoons of that tartar sauce, and then let's smash it down with that top bun. Oh yes, this looks incredible. And I love serving this fish sandwich up with my sweet potato fries. You can get that recipe on my website at billyparisi.com. Got step-by-step images and you can get it in U.S. customary or metric measurements. And if you dig seafood as much as I do, you are going to love my halibut with three different sauces. I've got a great recipe video. I'll see you on there.