Fish and chips with deep fat fryer

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Caslon

Executive Chef
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
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Ring of fire. So. Calif.
I own one of those Presto 2 qt. fryers, variable temps to 375F. I can fry up chicken drumettes fine using egg wash and Dixie fry coating mix. However,
I've still not got the hang of frying battered fish. Things I probably did wrong was too thick a batter after flouring and too high a cooking temp (max). The oil isn't too old. I would prefer just using a packaged beer batter mix for convenience.

Does anyone make fish and chips using a fryer? How do you get your fish to fry up right? I think 375F was too high a temp, but I wanted crispness.
I also try and keep the fish pieces not too large. Do I need to flour the pieces? That seemed to have made things worse. Anyways, I'll keep trying.
 
Define "fry up right".
How are they not coming out? Batter falling off, fish overcooked, batter too brown/fish undercooked...? And how thick are your pieces? 375 is going to cook the outside pretty quick. Just fine for a thin piece of fish, but a thicker piece would need more time and the batter would brown too much... provided it's staying on.
 
I slice the pieces lengthwise, so I don't they are too big. I fried 3 or 4 pieces for a good 8 minutes and they still looked not golden at all. Parts were crisped up, but most of it wasn't. I'd rather not have to add corn meal to crunch them up, but maybe that would help. Also, some recipes for the mix add yeast and let it sit and others don't. I figured the store beer batter mix would be sufficient.
 
Great Video - for "not being from England" you did mighty fine! :)

This is very similar to how my family has done them forever.
 
I have a feeling my $49 Presto CoolDaddy fryer may not be the best to use for proper fish frying. I've tested it with a candy thermometer and it gets near 375F. It works pretty well frying chicken drummetts. I'll try again using the mix in that video.

If it fails again, I'm going to look into buying a frying pan like the one he has in the video. What is that thing btw? It looks like a shallow wok. Looks good for frying. I suppose I also should try frying the fish with my CoolDaddy at less than 375F too, maybe 350F.
 
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Another great video!

Caslon, A wok is great for frying, but before you run out and buy one try using a pot similar to the one PPO used to boil his potatoes in. I like them because they have a wide bottom for stability and are deep enough to insure that the oil will not splatter or boil over and start a fire. Still only use a couple inches of oil in the bottom of the pan and clip your thermometer to the side of the pan.

Also, being a Yankee, I never have self rising flour on hand. You can make a pretty decent substitute as follows.

For each cup of self rising flour needed in your recipe use.
1 cup AP flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Good luck!
 
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I have also found that you if want to fry a thicker fish do not fry it directly out of the fridge. let it come close to room temp and that will help not burn the coating as you are trying to get the fish to the proper temp.
 
If you are battering and frying previously frozen fish, gently squeeze the the pieces of fish to drain them of excess water. I, then, lay them on a good layer of paper towel to continue draining a bit. This will dry the fish out, preventing the excess moisture to leach out causing the batter to be soggy from the inside.....
 
As I was going through the freezer looking for my chicken for last night's meal, I came across a bag of frozen cod fillets. I thought I could make fish and chips but never having done them before, I went with my standard chicken nugget meal. Then to my surprise, here is a thread on doing just what I was wanting to do! I've bookmarked the video and hope to attempt this this week. Tonight is a little soon to try since we just had fried chicken. Can't have fried food too often.
 
Since your fryer doesn't have a large oil capacity, you may consider frying less fish at one time. When you put the battered fish into the fryer, the oil temp will drop and that effects the frying. Also, if you're cutting long strips of fish now, consider cutting the strips in half across the length so they will cook more evenly.
 
PPO, questions about the video. What temperature do you figure you are using to fry the fish? How do you determine when the oil is at the right temperature?
 
If you are battering and frying previously frozen fish, gently squeeze the the pieces of fish to drain them of excess water. I, then, lay them on a good layer of paper towel to continue draining a bit. This will dry the fish out, preventing the excess moisture to leach out causing the batter to be soggy from the inside.....

+1. Gotta be dry for sure.
 
Since your fryer doesn't have a large oil capacity, you may consider frying less fish at one time. When you put the battered fish into the fryer, the oil temp will drop and that effects the frying. Also, if you're cutting long strips of fish now, consider cutting the strips in half across the length so they will cook more evenly.

I was thinking that, too, but if the chicken is coming out... ???
 
This is how I do it to get a very crispy crust.

For the batter:
1 cup self rising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup beer (carbonated water also works)

All ingredients need to be very cold.

Beer and flour ratio will need to be adjusted depending upon your flour.

Crispy Fish and Chips Recipe / World of Flavor - YouTube
Oh yes, just like us Brits like our chips - nice and soggy - NOT!

What is this bloke faffing about at? Boiling the potatoes? Leaving them to stand in the cooking water for 2 hours? Either he's having a laugh at the viewer's expense or the joke's on him.

Chips are made with RAW potatoes. Normally peeled but ok with the skin on if that's the way you like 'em. Cut into chips, rinsed thoroughly (at this stage you can soak the raw chips in cold water for an hour or so if it suits your timetable but it isn't totally necessary if you don't have time) then patted dry in a cloth or kitchen paper.

Here is the way to make chips properly:-
BBC - Food - Recipes : The best chips you have ever tasted

Some people think the best chips are fried in beef dripping but oil is more usual these days. Any lightly flavoured veg oil with a high temperature tolerance (so not olive oil) wll be satisfactory. Personally I don't like anything fried in corn oil but that's just my preference.

After seeing him make chips I need to go and lie down in a darkened room before I can tackle his fish frying antics.

(NB I have made F&C at home for most of my life and also worked in a fish & chip shop when I was a student.)
 
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Oh yes, just like us Brits like our chips - nice and soggy - NOT!

What is this bloke faffing about at? Boiling the potatoes? Leaving them to stand in the cooking water for 2 hours? Either he's having a laugh at the viewer's expense or the joke's on him.

I'm sure our friend powerplantop appreciates your no-holds-barred opinion, Mad Cook!

My, you certainly do live up to your name! :mrgreen:
 
I'm sure our friend powerplantop appreciates your no-holds-barred opinion, Mad Cook!

My, you certainly do live up to your name! :mrgreen:
Powerplantop is quoting a "You Tube" video which is giving him inaccurate information.

It points out the need for scepticism when looking at "You Tube" as anyone can put any old unsupported rubbish on there.
 
Powerplantop is quoting a "You Tube" video which is giving him inaccurate information.

It points out the need for scepticism when looking at "You Tube" as anyone can put any old unsupported rubbish on there.

That is PPO's video...he is doing the teaching and his methods may not be yours, but he turns out really good food.
 
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