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 There was an oil crisis in my house a few weekends ago.
The debate was nastier than what I suspect goes on at an OPEC meeting. Should we use vegetable, olive or canola oil for our fish and chips? Believe me, this was a serious matter.
Fish and chips is a serious matter.
Not only is it great pub fare, but I'm an Anglophile and it brings backs warm memories of my year in London. Whenever my wife Izabela wants to entertain my love of most things England, she makes fish and chips. Sometimes she'll even give a "Go Gunners!" shout. (She doesn't make me steak and kidney pie even though I like that, too.)
Fish n' chips has made an easy transition to this side of the Atlantic. We might not serve it wrapped in newspaper, and we reserve the name "chips" for something else, but go to any pub-style restaurant that serves them here and you'll get that same cod or haddock encased in a thick, doughy sheath.
After all the holiday indulgence, fish and chips seems down right homey.
Now, homey doesn't mean healthy, and that's where the oil debate comes in. I figured that if we're embarking on this greasy mission we might as well try and be a little conscientious.
We consulted a recipe in James Peterson's book, "Fish & Shellfish." He recommends olive oil or vegetable oil. Typically, cheap vegetable oil is the choice. But in the spirit of a more health-conscious diet I wanted to use canola oil, which, according to an article by Bill Sardi on his Web site knowledgeofhealth.com, has the lowest amount of saturated fat (7 percent) of all the cooking oils.
I thought olive oil (15 percent), would taste funny, and vegetable oil — specifically safflower (10 percent) — just seemed unnecessary since canola had less saturated fat, and the fat it does have has a lot of the latest trendy good-for-you omega-3s, according to a study on WebMD (http://www.webmd.com/content/article/13/1728_55672.htm ) .
Izabela preferred the olive or vegetable — that's what was in the house. We used canola.
Peterson uses olive oil because he doesn't like the smell of hot vegetable oil. He objected to my claim that fish and chips with olive oil is just wrong.
"I use the olive oil because basically it's been stripped of all its aromatic compound. It would take somebody being very analytical to notice it," he said. "I don't think people are going to say this is Provençal fish and chips."
Whatever, mate.
The thing about fish and chips that I don't like is how the restaurant version is usually too heavy on the oil-soaked dough, too light on the fish. And that's what we set out to address.
Our goal: every bite should include a taste of a light, crispy crust and flaky fish.
Peterson knew exactly where I was coming from: "The thing that terrifies me about frying is the oil getting absorbed into whatever it is that I'm frying so I tend to make the batter very, very light."
So he recommended his club soda batter or baking powder batter — he also offered a more involved yeast concoction, which I lost interest in at "more involved."
We chose the baking powder batter because Izabela made the club soda version once and it was too light and fell off the fish. So disappointing.
Anyway, when baking powder hits water it becomes carbonated so the two are similar. Some people say using a beer batter works well, too. Peterson disagreed.
"I tested every type of batter you can think of and I couldn't find really any difference between beer and water," he said.
You'll need a candy or fry thermometer to get the oil to the right temperature, which is essential. Our thermometer is idiot proof. It has markings for frying potatoes and fish. You also should get cooking chopsticks or long tongs to turn and remove the fish from the very-hot oil. A fork will pierce the fry and let oil in, ruining the crust.
For the fries — err, chips — you can use store-bought, but we figured we've got a pot of oil so why not go all out. What's one more burn?
It took some experimenting with techniques to get our homemade fries right. One thing I hate about ordering diner fries is that they're often soggy. That was our problem, too, at first. Here's how we corrected it:
One: We started with wedges, like steak fries, but there's just so much frying you can do before they become fossils and the insides of our chips were still wet (potatoes have moisture). So we cut the fries into thin matchsticks (about triple the size of a McDonald's fry).
Two: We soaked them in cold water to help bring out some of the starch. Pat the potatoes dry after removing from the water.
Three: We double fried the taters. Peterson endorsed this technique, saying that you want to blanch the potatoes for a minute or two in oil 325-degree oil. They don't look like french fries, yet. It's the second dunking — let the potatoes sit for about 30 minutes before this step — that makes a crunchy fry and it's done at 375 degrees. We left them in the oil for approximately 5 minutes. After a couple of batches we cold tell when they were ready by the color — a delicious golden brown.
Now, all you need is some tarter sauce, a pint of lager, a good debate, and you're right back at your local.
Cheers.
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Baking powder batter
From "Fish & Shellfish," by James Peterson (William Morrow, $40).
- 3/4 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup cold water
Sift together the flour and baking powder. Stir the mixture thoroughly so the baking powder is distributed throughout the flour.
Just before deep-frying, use a whisk to quickly stir 1/2 cup cold water into the flour to obtain a paste. Stir in 1/2 cup more water and use immediately.
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Frying the fish
Makes about 6 servings
- 1 quart canola oil
- 3 pounds cod, bones and skin removed, cut into 3-inches long pieces.
- 1 baking powder batter (see above)
- salt
Heat the oil to 370 degrees in a large heavy sauce pan or deep fryer. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Fry the cod small batches so the pieces do not overlap. Dip the chunks of cod into the batter using tongs or chopsticks and carefully place them, one by one, in the hot oil.
Deep-fry for 3 to 3 1/2 minutes — turn the fish after about 1 1/2 minutes — and transfer to a paper-towel covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
Keep warm in the oven until all the frying is done.
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Kitchen Idiot Howie Rumberg is an asap reporter based in New York. You can e-mail him at
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