Advertisement

Light and Crispy Fish-n-Chips

One of my favorite seafood dishes to eat has always been Fish-n-Chips with a lot of tartar sauce. I grew up in suburban New Jersey, and my mom would always bring home some cod fillets, bread them in Italian bread crumbs, and then pan fry them off.

I later moved to Boston in 1982 and started to have Fish-n-Chips in a variety of preparations. Sometimes the fish was dredged in buttermilk then coated with a fish fry-flour coating mix; other times it was breaded with assorted dried breadcrumb or even the Panko style crumbs, but of all the ways I tried it from Newburyport to Providence, my favorite place was a small joint in a North Attleboro, Mass., strip mall called Norm’s Seafood.

Norm’s used fresh-caught, local schrod, which most of the time is a market-sized codfish fillet. They fried the fish with what I thought at the time was his “top secret” batter mix. It was the crispiest battered fish I had ever seen, and it stayed crispy even after if had cooled off! I was working at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, where our preparation was the buttermilk-and-seasoned-flour dredge method, which I did not care for very much. So one day, I asked Norm if he cold at least tell me the brand of batter he used or how he made it so light and crispy.

Advertisement

“No,” he said.

“Well I’m just a cook in a hotel 50 miles north of here,” I said, “and it would not hurt your business to explain your process.”

“No,” I can’t tell you,” he said. “I’m a businessman, and how do I know what your intentions are?”

Advertisement

Well, I never did get Norm’s recipe, but a few years later I discovered a few secrets that uncovered ways to make any store-bought tempura batter the crispiest it can be.

I will say the average box of tempura batter mix you buy in the stores is 14 to 16 ounces. To make your batter super crispy follow these tips:

  • Add ½ to 1 cup corn starch
  • Add 1 tbsp baking powder
  • Use cold beer
  • Always save a small amount of the dry mix to dredge your fish fillets so the thin batter can adhere well.
  • Most important is to not make the batter too thick. You want the batter to be on the loose side.
  • Make sure the oil is at 350 degrees.

Thick batter means excess on your fillets, which will only puff up into a soft pillow. Start with thin batter that fully covers the fillet, and if you have to fry a large amount, you will have to thin down the batter as you cook. I have also seen cooks use seltzer water, but I prefer the beer.

Advertisement

Corn starch, beer and – above all – baking powder will work together to give you a well leavened, light and crispy tempura batter. The next time you are in the mood for fried fish, gives this recipe a try.

Advertisement
Advertisement