Ahh.... Fish, chips and mushy peas! There is nothing more English than Fish & Chips. Freshly cooked, piping hot fish and chips, smothered in salt and soused with vinegar, wrapped in newspaper and eaten out-of-doors on a cold and wintry day - it simply cannot be beaten!
So how, when and where did this quintessentially British dish come about?
The potato is thought to have been brought to England from the New World in the 17th century by Sir Walter Raleigh although it is believed that the French invented the fried potato chip.
Both Lancashire and London stake a claim to being the first to invent this famous meal - chips were a cheap, staple food of the industrial north whilst fried fish was introduced in London’s East End. In 1839 Charles Dickens referred to a “fried fish warehouse" in his novel, 'Oliver Twist'.
The populace soon decided that putting fried fish and chips together was a very tasty combination and so was born our national dish of fish and chips!
The first fish and chip shop in the North of England is thought to have opened in Mossely, near Oldham, Lancashire, around 1863. Mr Lees sold fish and chips from a wooden hut in the market and later he transferred the business to a permanent shop across the road which had the following inscription in the window, “This is the first fish and chip shop in the world".
However in London, it is said that Joseph Malin opened a fish and chip shop in Cleveland Street within the sound of Bow Bells in 1860.
In 1999, the British consumed nearly 300 million servings of fish and chips - that equates to six servings for every man, woman and child in the country. There are now around 8,500 fish and chip shops across the UK - that’s eight for every one McDonald’s outlet, making British Fish and Chips the nation's favourite take-away.
In this recipe haddock is coated in a marvellous beer batter accompanied with tartare sauce, crushed peas and chunky potato chips. This recipe is full of flavour and you won’t have to queue at the chippie!
Information
- Serves 4 as a main course
- Cooking time 45mins
Equipment
+ Deep fat fryer
+ Blender
Ingredients
Haddock
4 x 170g haddock fillets
100g of plain flour, seasoned
Fish batter
200g of plain flour
150ml of lager beer
5g of salt
5g of pepper
150ml of ale
5g of mild curry powder
Crushed peas
2 banana shallots, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
50g of butter
400g of peas
Mayonnaise
3 eggyolks
200ml of pomace oil
100ml of nut oil
1 tsp of English mustard
½ garlic clove, crushed
½ garlic clove, roasted
1 dash of lemon juice
Salt
Black pepper
Chips
6 Desiree potatoes
1.5l of groundnut oil
1 pinch of rock salt
Lemon tartare sauce
2 shallots, diced
1 egg, hard boiled
50g of cornichons
50g of capers
10g of tarragon
1 lemon, zested
Instructions
1. Ensure you buy the right fish, checking it has no scales when you buy it. Smaller fish works well for fish and chips as you get more texture from the batter.
2. Begin by making the batter; combine all of the ingredients; flour, lager beer, salt, pepper, ale and curry powder in a bowl. Whisk until it is smooth and as thin as possible so that the batter is light.
3. For the mayonnaise; make sure all the ingredients are at the same temperature. Add the egg yolks to a blender along with the mustard and garlic. Blend this for 30 seconds.
4. While the blender is on, add both the oils very slowly. This is critical to creating an emulsion with the oil and the egg mixture. Once the emulsion has formed you can add the rest of the oil in a slow steady stream. If it becomes too thick, use lemon juice and a tablespoon of water to thin it out again.
5. Once all the oil has emulsified, season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
6. For the tartare sauce; chop up the herbs, cornichons and the capers. Grate in a hardboiled egg; add the diced shallots and the mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. For the crushed peas; sweat the garlic and shallots in a pan with the butter. Add the peas and toss them in the butter.
8. Once the peas are mostly soft, add to a blender and pulse for 10 seconds. Return the mushy peas to the pan to keep warm.
9. For the chips; cut and peel the potatoes into even-sized batons, making sure they aren’t too thin. Run them under cold water to remove any starch. Drain well and pat dry with an absorbent cloth.
10. Heat the oil, groundnut is preferable, in a deep fat fryer to 130°C. Fry the chips in the oil for about 7-8 minutes until they are soft. Lift them out of the oil and drain.
11. Reheat the oil to 180°C. Return the chips to the oil, and keep them cooking until they are crispy and brown. Drain them again and season with rock salt. Put to one side, keeping them warm, while you are cooking the fish.
12. Set the deep fat fryer to 180°C. Coat the fish in the seasoned plain flour, pat off any excess. Dip the floured fish into the batter, remove and allow most of the batter to run off the fish. You only want it to be lightly coated.
13. Hold each of the fish fillets halfway in the oil for approx. 30 seconds before you lower it the whole way in. This is because if you drop it in straight away it will sink to the bottom and stick.
14. The fish should take about 4 minutes and 30 seconds to cook. Make sure that the batter is golden and crisp. Take the fish out of the fryer and drain thoroughly on some kitchen paper. Leave them in a warm oven to maintain their heat while you cook the rest of the fillets.
15. Serve the fish and chips with the tartare sauce, a wedge of lemon and the mushy peas.
For this and more great recipe's please head on over to here.