Fish and chips: cooking recipes. How to cook a real British Fish and Chips

Everyone knows that fast food was invented by Americans. But this does not mean that if the dish includes French fries, it certainly refers to the American cuisine. This statement can be given a complete refutation. We offer to prepare an unofficial national English dish, which includes fish, deep-fried, and French fries. Fish and Chips is a dish that combines the culinary traditions of different countries and at the same time is an integral part of English cuisine. On how to prepare fish with potatoes, we will tell in our article.

History of the dish

It is not known exactly where the french fries came from, and the fish in batter. It is assumed that the tradition of frying deep-fried potatoes came from France, but fish is a local product, there were a lot of ways to prepare it at that time. But it is known for sure that this dish became national in the XIX century. At this time on popularity with Fish and Chips could not compare any other dish.

Initially, instead of potatoes, the roasted bread was included in the composition of the dish, but by the beginning of the First World War its reserves were significantly reduced, as a result of which this ingredient was replaced with more affordable potatoes. The popularity of the dish declined only towards the end of the 20th century, but today only 60,000 tons of fish and 500,000 tons of potatoes are used for its preparation in London.

Snack bars, offering its visitors this dish, there are many in different countries around the world. And in the Italian city of Barga in August, a special festival Fish & Chips is held every year as a sign of friendship with the UK.

How to prepare original English fish-end chips

Despite the fact that the fish-end chips are included in the menu of almost every diner, this dish is still considered a type of street food that can be bought in special mobile trays. In the English version, pieces of fish and potatoes are necessarily wrapped in newspaper or magazine paper. If desired, and at home, you can cook no less delicious fish-end chips.

The recipe for cooking involves the use of fresh fish of very good quality. The most suitable is cod. You can also use other varieties of fish with white meat: flounder, haddock, saithe. Fatty fish - salmon, trout and salmon - will not work. Potatoes must also be of a certain type - large and unrestricted, which retains its shape when fried.

Particular attention is paid to the batter. It adds a dark English ale and sifted flour exclusively of the highest grade. But the butter can be used most common, sunflower or corn. But it should be a lot. When preparing a quality meal, the savings will be inappropriate.

How to fry fish in the batter for fish and chips

The main secret of a tasty fish batter is to cool all the ingredients well before kneading the dough. To do this, sifted flour (400 g) is sent to the freezer for 15 minutes, and ale or beer (550 ml) for at least 1 hour.

While the ingredients for the batter are cooled, the fish is prepared. The fillet of cod or pollock is cut into long pieces 2-3 cm thick and dried on a paper towel. Vegetable oil is heated in a deep fryer or in a frying pan up to 185 ° С. To prepare batter in a deep bowl, mix flour, baking powder (3 tsp) and salt (½ tsp). Then add the ice ale and knead the dough for the fish-end chips.

The dish can be started to cook. The pieces of fish are dipped in cold claret and laid out on a heated frying pan with a lot of oil. Fry fish about 5 minutes from two sides, then immediately shifted to a plate covered with a paper towel, so that excess fat absorbed.

Recipe for potatoes in English recipe

Potatoes for fish-end chips are well washed, peeled and cut into long blocks with a thickness of not more than 1.5 cm. After that, potatoes are poured into cold water for 15 minutes. This allows you to get rid of excess starch, because of which the brusochka will develop and lose shape. Then the potatoes are dried and then they begin to fry.

The cut pieces of potatoes are rolled in starch and spread in one layer on a grate or in a sieve. Then it is lowered into boiling vegetable oil (temperature 185 ° C). The potato is fried for about 5 minutes, after which it is laid out on parchment and allowed to drain excess fat.

Garnish for fish and chips

In restaurants and fast food establishments a potato with a fish is necessarily served with a side dish. The choice of the buyer can be offered pea puree, stewed in tomato beans, marinated cucumbers or onions. But as a drink in the UK traditionally served tea, because the British snack bar licenses to sell alcoholic beverages are not issued.

Fish with potatoes to taste perfectly match with green peas. To make this garnish at home, it is necessary to fry the finely chopped mint and the green onion in butter. After a couple of minutes fresh green peas are added to the greens. Further ingredients are fried for another 5-7 minutes. Then peas and greens are transferred to the bowl of the blender and crushed with butter until the state of mashed potatoes.

Fish and chips: recipe by Jamie Olivera

As a true Englishman, Jamie Oliver is able to cook fish and potatoes according to the original recipe, although with his own unique additions. For example, it is with the preparation of chips that his fish and chicken recipe begins.

Next, the dish is prepared in the following order:

1. Large potatoes are peeled (if desired) and cut into blocks 1 to 1 cm in size.
2. The cut potatoes are laid out on a grid in one layer and fried in a deep fryer in a lot of oil.
3. Claret Jamie Oliver prepares from a glass of flour with a volume of 250 ml, a glass of dark cold beer, a pinch of salt, a yolk of egg and whipped into a strong foam of protein. The clay is obtained to the best of dense, uniform and airy. It can be used for cooking not only fish, but also vegetables, meat and other products.
4. The fish fillet with white meat is dropped into a bowl with batter and well dipped on all sides. The famous English chef does not cut the fish into pieces, but dips it in a dough with a large piece.
5. Fish fillet in batter drops into boiling oil for 4 minutes.
6. Potatoes and fish are laid out on baking paper and sprinkled with sea salt.

Jamie Oliver to fish and potatoes serves pea puree, pickled egg and gherkin.

Fish and chips from Gordon Ramsey

In the network of Gordon Ramsey restaurants, the fish-and-chips (recipe) are served with tartar sauce, mayonnaise or ketchup. Sauce the visitor of the institution chooses independently to your taste. It turns out very tasty fish-end chips.

The recipe for cooking consists in the following sequence of actions:

1. Fish fillets of cod or pangasius are cut into long pieces 2 cm wide (in appearance, the pieces resemble the tongue), dried on paper, and then crumbled in sifted flour.
2. Potatoes are cut into slices 1 cm thick.
3. Preparing the sauce of sifted flour, beer, salt and a pinch of turmeric. The dough should turn out to be moderately dense, it is good to stretch, and not to drain off the fish.
4. Put the potatoes in the fryer with the oil heated to 180 ° C. Next is laid out the fish in batter.
5. Ready-made potato chips and fried fish are laid out on a plate and served with sauce or wrapped in a newspaper sheet.

Home-made fish chips with tartar sauce

Tourists who visited the UK and tried real English fast food, believe that it can be reproduced at home.

How to cook a fish-end-chip, we will tell you in step-by-step instructions:

1. Young potatoes are well washed, cut directly into the skin on thick blocks, laid out in a bowl and poured cold water.
2. Fish fillets are cut into small pieces.
3. Preparing the clay. To do this, 170 g of sifted flour mixed with 50 g of starch, added yolk 1 egg, a pinch of salt and poured 80 ml of dark beer. In the last turn, whipped whipped in thick foam proteins are added to the batter.
4. Preparing the tartar sauce. To do this, in a deep bowl, 4 boiled egg yolks are mashed with a fork, a mustard (1 tablespoon), lemon juice (2 tablespoons), olive oil (3 tablespoons), finely chopped gherkins and olives.
5. The fried potatoes are fried in vegetable oil. Separately fried cut into small pieces of cod in batter.

Served the dish to the table with a homemade tartar sauce.

Fish-end chips without beer

If you do not drink beer, this is not a reason to refuse to prepare a traditional English dish. Clam fish fillets can be prepared differently. Regardless of this, you will get a very delicious fish-end-chip.

The recipe for cooking batter is as follows: flour is sieved in a bowl, then a baking powder, a pinch of salt and a glass of iced soda water are added. It turns out a homogeneous and the same airy, because its secret lies in air bubbles, which are present in carbonated water, and in beer. Further, fish and French fries are prepared according to the recipes described above.