What does a Russian know about English cuisine? Oatmeal, five o'clock tea, roast beef and steak, whiskey and ale, pudding and... Fish and chips. Everything is simple and everything is very complex. As is known, simple dishes They turn out delicious under one condition - the impeccable quality of the product. What could be simpler and tastier? Neapolitan pizza or a hot dog in New York's Central Park? The same applies to the famous fish and chips - batter-fried fish with chips - an old English fast food.
What it is
Since the mid-19th century in London and the surrounding area, fish and chips have been unmatched in popularity by any other dish (not to mention whiskey!). It was eaten by students and rural priests who came to London on business, bohemians and members of parliament, workers and tourists. In Oliver Twist, Dickens writes: “Narrow as the boundaries of Field Lane are, it has its own barber, its own coffee-house, its own alehouse, and its own shop for fried tongue-like fish.”
What distinguishes fish and chips from all other fast food options in the world is its commitment to periodicals. By English tradition, fish"n"chips must be wrapped in newspaper or magazine paper (gourmets prefer the Sunday Times - it is believed that it best fights off the fishy smell). IN Russian conditions I would recommend Kommersant.
Today, fish"n"chips can be eaten in Moscow and other cities of Russia - the dish is royally simple to prepare. Let's try to make it at home English recipe.
Product characteristics
Firstly, the fish. The quality of fish for fish"n"chips must be excellent. None fatty varieties- cod and sole. Do not use pretentious trout, salmon or salmon. To nothing.
Potato. It should not be small or crumbly. After all, we need to cut it into bars, right? Flour for batter. Highest grade and always sifted.
Dark ale. Just a little bit, but it should definitely be included in the grocery list.
Oil for frying. There should be a lot of it, so the recipe does not insist on using expensive olive oil. Corn will be enough. The British sometimes fry with margarine.
Culinary secrets of fish"n"chips
Batter
The main problem awaiting the brave cook who decides to make fish"n"chips is the batter for the batter. Everyone agrees that good dough It should be light and crisp, which means there should be some bubbles in the mixture. There are two main ways to achieve this: adding baking powder, baking powder or yeast, or preparing the dough with a carbonated liquid: water or beer. The batter retains the taste of the fish and makes it soft.
They don’t make this batter with anything! WITH different varieties beer, with raising agents, with vinegars of various origins. Experiment with flour varieties. Moreover, not only chefs from different countries, but also English chefs. Rick Stein, owner of two chippies, uses for batter baking powder- 3 ½ teaspoons per 240 g flour and add ice water. The batter turns out beautiful and clear, but quite hard and does not have enough volume. British gastropub legend Trish Hilferty uses fresh brewer's yeast in her batter recipe, rather than half a pint of beer. In this case, the dough should be left for several hours to better work yeast.
In fact, the whole secret is in the temperature of the ingredients for the batter. You need to keep the flour cold and use ice-cold ale. Plus, you definitely need to dry the pieces of fish before putting them in batter.
The same goes for French fries. You need a crust on a potato block - fry it dry in large quantities oils
Degrees
Great wars are being waged in Britain between recognized masters of fish"n"chips over the container where the actual frying of fish and chips takes place. Some are in favor of deep fryers, others are staunch supporters of deep frying. cast iron frying pan. Try and choose for yourself what you like.
But the main thing in both the deep fryer and the frying pan is the temperature of the oil. Experts say that the batter should be very cold, say 6C, so that when it gets into the fat, heated to 185C, an excellent result is obtained.
English recipe for fish"n"chips
Needed for 4 servings
Oil for frying (margarine can be used), 400 g wheat flour, place in the freezer for 15 minutes before using 3 tsp. baking powder 0.5 tsp. salt 550 ml very cold beer (you can use ale), 4 fish fillets (cod, pollock, sole)
Preparation: Heat the fat in a deep fryer or frying pan to 185C. Stir baking powder into cooled flour, along with salt, and then quickly add cold beer until consistency thick paste. This should be done just before frying the fish.
Place the bowl of batter next to the fryer or frying pan. Place parchment on a plate. Dip the fish into the batter and then carefully lower it into the hot fat and after 4-6 minutes place it on the parchment. The fat should drain off. A piece of fish should have a clear golden color, without any burnt marks. Serve immediately.
Can I not tell you how to fry French fries? Absolutely, you can do it.
Judging by the name alone, then fish end chips are just fish fried in batter and served with French fries. But in reality it is more than that. In fact, fish and chips are a pillar of English cuisine, its pride and shame, one of those markers that make it possible to determine a person’s social, cultural and national identity, to separate friends from strangers. There are countless times that fish and chips have been mentioned in popular culture. Often it was irony, even more often self-irony, and despite the pitiful sobs of nutritionists and supporters healthy eating, residents of Foggy Albion continue to proudly confess their love for their national treasure. Of course, you and I don’t have to include fish and chips in our daily diet, but sometimes try this delicious, junk food Can.
Fish and chips
4 servings
800 g cod or haddock fillet
1 kg. potatoes for frying
for batter:
150 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
0.33 l. light beer
1 l. vegetable oil for deep frying
Cut the potatoes into cubes, soak for some time in cold water, and then fry in parts in a large amount of oil in two stages - first heating to 160 degrees, and after a while, just before serving, at 190 degrees until golden crust. The same thing, but in more detail, is written in, and it is worth reading, because in essence we are preparing two dishes at the same time, and it is necessary to synchronize our actions.
Remove any bones that may be left in the fish fillet and cut it into large strips (if you lay the fillet on the table, you will see that it is not solid, so cut based on this anatomy). Let there be 3-4 strips of fish for each serving. Season the fish with salt and pepper and set aside. Just before cooking, mix the flour, baking powder and cold, freshly opened beer until more or less homogeneous - don’t let any lumps that might remain in the batter bother you.
Dip the fish in flour, shake off the excess and roll it in batter, then send it straight into oil heated to 180 degrees. After frying until golden on one side, turn the fish over and fry on the other - no more than 3-4 minutes on each side. Serve the finished fish with chips and - and for added authenticity, when serving, you can make up bags from the morning edition of the Times.
PS: To keep things from getting cold, fish and potatoes should be cooked in parallel, but if you still decide to cook them together, for obvious reasons you need to first fry and fish out the potatoes, and only then put the battered fish in oil.
Description
“Fish and Chips” (fish and chips) – a traditional dish English (British) cuisine. The combination of fish and potatoes is quite common for us. It would seem that there is something surprising here. And yet the British managed to come up with original recipe, in which both fish and potatoes have a very special taste.
Cooking Fish and Chips at home will not be difficult, especially since you can follow our step by step recipe with a photo in which all processes are described in sufficient detail. We offer two options for preparing Fish and Chips: in one case, the dish is cooked in a frying pan, and in the other, in the oven. Decide for yourself which method to prefer. In our opinion, in both versions both fish and potatoes turn out amazingly tasty.
Well, in order to understand this issue, it’s time to start cooking and try both methods, so that you can then choose the ideal one.
Ingredients
-
(1 PC.) -
(1-2 pcs.) -
(2 pcs.) -
(1 glass) -
(1/2 cup) -
(taste) -
(taste) -
(taste)
Cooking steps
Let's take it fish fillet. Fish in in this case It can be anything, but in the classic English recipe it is cod. Defrost if the fillet was frozen.
Place a deep frying pan over medium heat, after pouring vegetable oil for frying.
Mix cold water(kefir or beer) with a glass of flour and two chicken eggs. Mix thoroughly until smooth, making sure no lumps form. Salt and pepper to taste.
Dip the fish fillet into the resulting batter.
Then carefully transfer the fish to a heated frying pan and fry for 4-7 minutes on each side (until golden brown).
If you do not want to fry, place the fish soaked in batter in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
Transfer the finished fish to a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
Cooking potato chips. Wash and cut potatoes into half circles (as you can see, you don’t have to peel it, but if you are afraid that the peel contains a lot of pesticides, get rid of it).
Place the potato slices in a heated frying pan with enough vegetable oil to cover the top of the potatoes. Add your favorite herbs and spices. Fry the slices over low heat for about 20 minutes on both sides (or until they acquire a golden brownish hue).
If you are preparing the dish in the oven, place the future chips on an oiled baking sheet, also sprinkle vegetable oil on top and bake at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes.
Place the finished chips on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
Now let's serve the dish. Place fresh ones on a plate lettuce leaves. We place our golden fish on top of them, and chips on the side and lightly on top of it. That's it, our delicious fish and chips according to the English recipe is ready.
Bon appetit!
Cooking instructions
2 hours Print
2. Pour the mixture into a siphon, even if small lumps remain. Charge the siphon with 3 cans and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, wash and peel the potatoes, cut into sticks one and a half centimeters thick. But it is not at all necessary to cut perfectly even bars; this has its own charm. How to wash potatoes under cold water two to three minutes to wash away excess starch. Tool Chef's knife A chef's knife is a universal and, in general, irreplaceable tool that can cope with any cutting job - from cutting a huge piece of meat to much finer chopping of parsley. Favorite of many professional chefs, Japanese Global, is not subject to rust or stains, has a very sharp blade and the only thing it is afraid of is improper sharpening, which is better left to professionals.
4. Bring lightly salted water to a boil in a deep saucepan. Boil potatoes until soft. It is important to catch the moment when the potatoes begin to fall apart a little, so it is better to cook them over low heat. It is these small cracks that will allow the chips to become especially crispy when subsequently fried.
5. Using a slotted spoon, remove the boiled potatoes and cool. An oven rack lined with paper works great. Dry, then put in the refrigerator.
Tool Baking paper
Open pies and quiches for even baking, it is better to place them in the oven on a wire rack, and to prevent the sauce boiling from the heat from dripping between the rods, baking paper will help. For example, the Finns produce a good one - it is quite dense and is already divided into sheets that are easy to get out of the box. And nothing more is required from paper.
6. After 15-20 minutes, take out the potatoes and fry them in a deep pan with oil, preheating it to 130 degrees. As soon as the sticks begin to turn golden, they need to be taken out, dried and put in the refrigerator.
Tool Saucepan
A saucepan is both a universal and prosaic thing: you can stew, fry, simmer, and whisk sauces in it. And you can’t have too many stewpans: size and weight depend on different situations meaning.
7. When the potatoes have cooled, heat the oil to 190 degrees. Fry the chips until deeply golden brown. Dry and salt well.
8. In a deep frying pan or other container, heat a sufficient amount of vegetable oil to 220 degrees. The most convenient way to monitor the temperature is with a food thermometer. Dry the fish fillet and roll in rice flour, this will help fix the batter on the carcass. Shake off excess flour. Tool Cast iron frying pan The crust on cast iron turns out right away, it holds and releases heat perfectly, so it copes with stewing, simmering and other long-term tasks perfectly. From the Soviet cast iron frying pans modern ones (for example, French Le Creuset) - are distinguished by the fact that their inner surface is covered with enamel, which means they do not need to be calcined.
9. Shake the siphon well and squeeze a little batter into a deep bowl. Do not squeeze out too much - the batter will immediately begin to lose bubbles. Dip the fish in the batter and lower it into the boiling oil.
10. During the frying process, the fish can be turned over several times and poured with batter so that it acquires a dense crispy crust. As soon as the fish has acquired a rich golden color, it should be removed and transferred to a paper napkin so that it absorbs all the fat. You can check the readiness of the fish with a food thermometer - the internal temperature of the finished fish is 40-45 C.
1. The batter is easy and quick to prepare, but it needs to sit in the cold for about 30 minutes. Then you need to work quickly so that the bubbles do not disappear. For an ideal result you will need a siphon. Mix a little rice flour, regular flour and baking powder, add honey, vodka and the rest of the flour, leaving about 50 grams of rice flour for preparing the fish. The most important thing at this stage is to open the beer just before it goes into the batter to ensure it is as carbonated as possible. Pour in the beer and stir again.
Crib How to prepare batter
INGREDIENTS
- 4 large potatoes
- vegetable oil for deep frying
- 600 g white fish fillet (haddock, cod, pollock, stingray, flounder, sea bass, snapper)
- 2 tbsp. l. starch
- salt, freshly ground black pepper
For the test:
- 1.25 cups flour
- 300 ml light beer
STEP-BY-STEP COOKING RECIPE
Sift the flour into a large bowl, make a well in the center and pour the beer into it in a thin stream. Knead with a whisk homogeneous dough, cover and set aside.
Cut the potatoes into triangular slices 1.5–2 cm thick. Place in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes. Drain in a colander and dry thoroughly.
Pour vegetable oil into the deep fryer; it should be 1/3 of its volume. Preheat it to 160°C. Fry the potatoes in batches for 5 minutes.
Dry the fish very well, cut in large pieces. Roll each piece first in starch with salt and pepper, then dip in beer batter, shaking to remove excess batter. Fry in batches in the same deep fat for 5-7 minutes. each piece, depending on its thickness. Place on paper towels.
Use a slotted spoon to catch small pieces butter dough. Increase the heat and heat the oil in a saucepan to 180°C. Fry the prepared potato chips in batches until crispy. Using a slotted spoon, place them on paper towels to drain off excess oil. Serve hot with fish.
Note to the hostess
Fry fish and potatoes not only in the same pan, but also in the same deep fryer! "Fi!" - you will say and you will be wrong. Fish'n'chips- one of the most popular English dishes. It is prepared in every pub, and takeaway too. So if you meet a gentleman on the streets of London with a paper bag in his hands, know that this bag contains not seeds or even donuts, but Fish & Chips. And those who are concerned about diet issues usually do not eat batter - the fish inside it is surprisingly tasty in itself.
