I was re-arranging the deep freeze this yesterday (looking for my speargun rubbers!) and came across a bag of pollock in need of being used. I quite like pollock but few others seem to have enthusiasm for it, so in order to increase the appeal I thought I would cave in & fry them in batter, chip shop style - seems like all Brits, even those that don't otherwise eat fish will eat battered fish. It turned out to be a great success.
I can't take credit for the SIMPLE AND EXCELLENT batter recipe. A family member found it, here is a link to it: English-Style Fried Fish Batter recipe
I just filleted the smallish pollock (keeping the heads, spines & fins for the lobster pot), leaving the skin on.
The batter recipe is inspired & for several reasons. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda (we also used self-raising flour), making the batter gassy & light (don't include milk as that would curdle)*. By including malt vinegar, you also get a real chip shop aroma as soon the fish starts cooking. The batter is light and crisp. I think we could have done with a tad more salt. I added an extra quarter cup of water but it was probably unnecessary in hindsight (but caused no problem). We don't have a deep fat fryer but so I just used a frying pan than already had just under 1cm of oil in from a recent poppadom fry, so had to turn the fish 2/3 of the time through.
I used a "vintage Tupperware" Batter Shaker (/Milk Shaker) to mix the batter. Probably would have been a useful tool with other recipes but the build up of carbon dioxide with this reactive recipe meant some care was require to allow excess gas to escape in a controlled manner
It tasted great, and I suspect it would no matter what fish was used - which is perhaps the main benefit & problem with fish fried in batter!
I can't take credit for the SIMPLE AND EXCELLENT batter recipe. A family member found it, here is a link to it: English-Style Fried Fish Batter recipe
I just filleted the smallish pollock (keeping the heads, spines & fins for the lobster pot), leaving the skin on.
The batter recipe is inspired & for several reasons. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda (we also used self-raising flour), making the batter gassy & light (don't include milk as that would curdle)*. By including malt vinegar, you also get a real chip shop aroma as soon the fish starts cooking. The batter is light and crisp. I think we could have done with a tad more salt. I added an extra quarter cup of water but it was probably unnecessary in hindsight (but caused no problem). We don't have a deep fat fryer but so I just used a frying pan than already had just under 1cm of oil in from a recent poppadom fry, so had to turn the fish 2/3 of the time through.
I used a "vintage Tupperware" Batter Shaker (/Milk Shaker) to mix the batter. Probably would have been a useful tool with other recipes but the build up of carbon dioxide with this reactive recipe meant some care was require to allow excess gas to escape in a controlled manner
It tasted great, and I suspect it would no matter what fish was used - which is perhaps the main benefit & problem with fish fried in batter!
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