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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Landlord's Fish Bites


Beer-battered Fish is a beercooking classic – and rightly so. This isn’t an original recipe by a long shot but is easy and tastes great. Cook in as large quantities as you need for guests at a gathering. Serve –of course – with handcut, beef-fat fried chips.

You will need (to serve four):
Three large fillets of white fish, cut into hearty chunks – (Cod,Haddock or Pollock are good)
250g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
¾ pint of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord Pale Ale (well chilled)
Pinch of salt
3 tsps of baking powder
A pinch of chilli flakes, a pinch of black pepper and a good sprinkle of paprika
Sunflower oil to fry in – I mix half oil with half dripping or even goose fat!

1. To make the Batter, simply sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the beer and stir well. You want a thick emulsion – but not too thick. You’ll know when it’s ready.
Heat up your oil – it needs to be good and hot – about 160c. To test, simply fry a chunk of bread. If it fries cleanly and floats to the top, you’re done.
2. On another plate, sprinkle some of the flour and season this with pepper, chilli flakes and paprika. Dust the fish in this before dredging through the batter.
3. Drop the fish into the oil (away from you) and fry for about 5-6 minutes, or until golden brown. Don’t overcrowd the pan – only do a couple of pieces at a time. Take care not to overcook – you want the fish to stay moist.
4. When ready simply leave to drain for a minute or so on some kitchen paper. Serve with slices of lemon and a good dose of salt and vinegar!


I've used Timothy Taylor's Landlord here because it's an assertive beer that punches through the batter. However, any beer that you feel fits this bill will do. Experiment! I can also recommend Moorhouses's Pendle Witches Brew for good beer-batter, too.

2 comments:

Ale Louse said...

Are pale ales preferable to dark ones for this exercise then Leigh? I don't want to make a bollox of this but only have stouts, porters and strong milds in my cupboard (which I have no intention of drinking!) and need some way of using them up. Incidentally do you use your own photos to illustrate your cooking or pinch them from books/other sites etc? I know that's a rude thing to ask but they always look so mouthwatering that I just had to!!

Leigh said...

hi mate - yeah, i would always go for pales. Stouts would be too much in my opinion and would not work. basically you're looking for something sparkling, but with good flavour, as anything too weak can get lost. The carbonation is important as it makes the batter light and crunchy. And as for the photos - all my own work! Photography is somewhat of a litle hobby of mine but i'm using nothing more than a digital camera and a lot of patience! Thanks anyway!