"Irish" Fish & Chips

Last weekend was St Patty’s Day.  Naturally, I wanted to make an authentic Irish meal so great it would make Mr. Guinness roll over proudly in his grave.  I could have made Shephard’s Pie or a Beer Braised Irish Stew, maybe some Soda Bread to dunk in the stew, but, no, instead I decided on the traditional fish and chips.  Wait a second.  Yes, fish and chips.  The British name for it is…fish and chips.  I’m not sure what I was thinking or not thinking.  It took me a long time to come up with what I’d cook for dinner that night and after I realized my traditional Irish menu lacked traditional Irish-ness, it was too late.  I had a plan of attack and a bag full of expensive cod- and as Mario Batali says about Italian food, shopping is half the battle.  If you have good ingredients, it’s not hard to put them together.  I was already halfway there, so there was no turning back.    

I had never made fish and chips before, but, man was I confident.  I can pretty much fry anything.  I could fry yogurt if I wanted.  So I figured frying a few strips of cod and potato would be a nice diversion from the ambitious recipes I’d been trying lately.  I opened my Calling All Cooks cookbook, Vol. 3 and there it was: the simplest homemade fish and chip recipe I’ve ever seen.  Too simple, actually.  But you’ll see in a moment.

First, the potatoes.  For a long time I’ve wanted to make my own chips.  Not the shy, dainty slivers of fried potato they’re always making on Food Network necessarily-but the thick, hearty chips you aggressively dunk into a mayo aioli or thick, lemony-dill tartar sauce.  Delish!  So, needless to say, my expectations were high.

Place 4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced thin (about 1/8 of an inch thick.  I used a mandolin.)  Preheat about a quart of peanut oil in a large pot to 350 degrees.  Fry the potatoes in the hot oil until they are tender.  Remove from the oil and drain them on paper towels.  The recipe calls to fry the potatoes again for 1-2 minutes after the fish is fried for added crispness.  I guess crispy is a subjective word, but c’mon.  Well, it’s not a great picture and definitely not a great picture.

Moving on to the fish, or as I refer to it, the place things took a real turn for the worse.  For the batter, in a separate medium size mixing bowl, mix together the following:
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper
Then stir in the following into your dry ingredients:
1 cup of whole milk
1 egg
Stir until the mixture is smooth and let the mixture stand for 20 minutes.
Liberally season 1 1/2 lbs of fresh cod fillets with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  I added a little garlic powder for a little extra flavor.  Dredge the fish in the batter.

Place filltets in the hot oil.  1 or 2 at a time.  Don't overcrowd.  Fry until the fish are golden brown.  Remove the fillets and drain well on paper towels.

Piece of cake, right?  They don't look so bad, but looks aren't everything.

I mean the components were fine-fish, potatoes, salt, oil.  But something got lost in translation and next time I make fish and chips, or even just chips, I’ll use a more meticulous cookbook.  This often happens with Calling All Cooks cookbooks.  They’re so casual about everything that you never know how something is going to turn out.  I normally appreciate this casualness, but not so much this time.  When you cook for other people, you want more pizzazz.  Also, less wilted potatoes.  So this recipe gets a C- in my book.