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Tuesday, March 15, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Homemade
fi sh fry
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
Beer-battered cod fi lets fry in a pot of oil.
CRISPY FRENCH
FRIES
By DANIEL NEMAN
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
I
n other places, the transformation from winter to
Yield: 4 servings
spring is noted by the bloom of the first crocus or
2 Russet potatoes
Vegetable oil, for frying
Salt
the arrival of the first robin.
Around these parts, spring
is heralded by the battering and
frying of the fi rst fi sh.
With spring comes Lent, and
with Lent comes fi sh fries. It is an
annual ritual as sacred and as invi-
olate as Spring Training.
But as much as we love sup-
porting all of the local churches,
Elks clubs, and American Legion
and VFW posts, you don’t actu-
ally have to go to them to have
delicious fried fi sh. You can make
your own fi sh fry at home.
Your house may smell like the
kitchen of a fi sh-and-chips restau-
rant, but it’s easy and fun.
I fried up what is techni-
cally called a mess of fi sh, with
all the fi xings (which are techni-
cally called fi xin’s). It tasted like a
Friday night at Our Lady, Star of
the Sea.
Fish fry fi sh comes battered
and fried, breaded and fried, and
baked. I battered and breaded
mine, but I did not bake it because
it is a fi sh fry, not a fi sh bake. I
understand the diff erence in calo-
ries, but that’s not the point.
The fi sh-fry fi sh that is bat-
tered and fried is usually going to
be cod, though the technique also
works with any number of other
types of fi rm, white-fl esh fi sh:
haddock, pollock, halibut or even
striped bass.
But cod is cheap and plentiful,
which makes it the ideal fi sh for
a fry.
The problem with battered fi sh
is the batter. Under the wrong cir-
cumstances, it can be too thick
and even bready. So I turned to
the writings of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt,
who is either a science-minded
food writer or a food-minded sci-
ence writer. As I’d hoped, he had a
couple of suggestions for making
batter that is as light as air.
And you do that by fi lling it
with air, or at least carbon dioxide.
He slowly mixes beer into this
batter, which traps little bubbles of
carbon dioxide in it. If you don’t
want beer, soda water will do the
same trick.
He also keeps the beer (or soda
water) ice cold, because colder
liquid holds carbonation better.
I put my beer in a bowl of ice
water for an hour before cooking
to make it as cold as possible. In
addition, I mixed the cold beer
with ice water, instead of regular
water, because colder liquid also
keeps gluten from forming — and
gluten makes the batter thick.
It took just a little more eff ort
than the unfussy way of frying
battered fi sh, but I think it was
worth it. My fi sh was as good as
anything I’ve ever had at a fi sh-
and-chips restaurant or my nearest
VFW hall.
Breading is easier, of course, so
I also breaded some catfi sh fi llets.
I did this two ways, once after fi rst
soaking them in milk and once
without the soak.
Common wisdom holds that the
milk makes catfi sh taste less fi shy,
and, in this case, the common
wisdom is correct. I highly recom-
mend soaking your catfi sh in milk,
and it won’t even add any time to
your cooking process. Simply put
the catfi sh in the milk when you
begin to heat the oil, and you’ll be
fi ne.
I used hot oil for the side
dishes, too.
There is a simple but eff ective
trick to making french fries that
are delicately crisp on the outside
and creamy smooth inside: Fry
them twice.
It’s as simple as that. The fi rst
time, fry your hand-cut fries at
325 degrees for a few minutes.
That basically cooks the fries all
the way through, though the tex-
ture is soft. Then, fry them again
at 375 degrees for just a couple of
minutes. This step cooks the out-
side again until it becomes crispy
without overcooking the interior.
With a liberal sprinkling of salt,
the fries will be some of the best
you’ve ever had.
Good fi sh fries, though, don’t
limit themselves to French fries.
The best fi sh fries also off er hush
puppies.
Hush puppies are one of those
great American dishes: cornmeal
with a bit of onion, moistened
with buttermilk and fried in oil.
Nothing else is quite like them.
The ones I made were lighter
than most, probably because the
batter is made with both baking
powder and baking soda. They
puff ed up enchantingly when they
hit the hot oil, and they quickly
cooked into golden balls of deli-
cious fried cornmeal.
The french fries looked at them
with envy.
The natural condiment with
fried fi sh is tartar sauce; nothing
else gives a satisfyingly sharp pop
of contrasting creaminess to fried
fi sh. You can buy it in a jar, and it
will be fi ne. You can make it your-
self, and it will be fabulous.
It’s actually a complex little
sauce — complex in fl avors, I
mean. Mayonnaise is enlivened
with minced shallot and embold-
ened with the addition of capers
and chopped cornichons. Parsley
adds a rounding note, sugar mel-
lows the vinegar from the corni-
chons, and salt and pepper season
it to perfection.
It all comes together in a matter
of minutes, yet it makes your care-
fully fried fi sh taste even better.
Of course, it isn’t a fi sh fry
unless there is also coleslaw.
Without coleslaw, it isn’t a fi sh fry,
it’s just some fried fi sh.
I made a batch that emphasizes
the cabbage, not the mayo. But
the other ingredients (carrots, car-
away, mustard, vinegar and sugar)
also keep the cabbage from tasting
too cabbagy.
It was just the way I like it. If
you want more mayo, by all means
add more mayo.
After all, it’s your fi sh fry.
BEER-BATTERED
FRIED COD
Yield: 4 servings
4 cups peanut or vegetable oil
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
Extra-tangy tartar sauce to serve with a lenten fi sh fry at home.
1. Peel potatoes if desired, and cut into
fries ¼-inch to 3 / 8 -inch thick, keeping the
size as uniform as you can.
2. Pour at least 2 inches of oil into a
large pot, and heat to 350 degrees. In
batches, add potatoes; do not crowd in
the pot. The oil temperature should drop
to about 325 degrees. Stirring occasion-
ally to avoid sticking, fry at 325 degrees
until light brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove with slotted spoon to a wire rack
over a baking sheet or a plate with paper
towels. Repeat with the other batches.
3. In a few minutes or up to several
hours later (if potatoes are kept in the
refrigerator), raise the oil temperature to
390 degrees. In batches, add potatoes;
do not crowd in the pot. The oil tempera-
ture should drop to about 375 degrees.
Stirring occasionally, fry at 375 degrees
until golden brown and crispy, about 1
to 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon
to a wire rack over a baking sheet or a
plate with paper towels. Salt liberally, and
repeat with the other batches. Serve hot.
Per serving: 200 calories; 14 g fat; 11 g
saturated fat; no cholesterol; 2 g protein;
19 g carbohydrate; 1 g sugar; 1 g fi ber;
587 mg sodium; 14 mg calcium
— Recipe by Daniel Neman
HUSH PUPPIES
Yield: 4 servings
Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch-TNS
Breaded catfi sh, served with hushpuppies and cole slaw, for a homemade lenten
fi sh fry.
1½ cups all-purpose fl our, divided
½ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
Salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
¾ cup light-fl avored beer (such as
Budweiser) or soda water, ice cold
¾ cup ice water
1 pound cod fi llet, cut into
4 (4-ounce) pieces
Note: To keep the beer or soda water
extra-cold, put a refrigerated
can or bottle in a large bowl of
ice water 1 hour before using.
mesh spider or long fork, fl ipping the fi sh
halfway through cooking, until the cod
is golden brown and crisp on all sides,
about 8 minutes.
5. Transfer the fi sh to a paper-tow-
el-lined plate and season immediately
with salt. Serve with tartar sauce.
Per serving: 352 calories; 14 g fat; 11
g saturated fat; 53 mg cholesterol; 20 g
protein; 34 g carbohydrate; 1 g sugar; 1 g
fi ber; 1,010 mg sodium; 123 mg calcium
— Adapted from “The Food Lab” by J.
Kenji Lopez-Alt
1. Heat the oil to 350 degrees in a large
wok or cast-iron skillet over medium-high
heat. Meanwhile, whisk together 1 cup of
the fl our, the cornstarch, baking powder,
baking soda, 2 teaspoons salt and paprika
in a large bowl. Combine the beer and ¾
cup ice water in a small bowl.
2. Add the remaining ½ cup fl our to
another large bowl. Toss the fi sh pieces in
the fl our until evenly coated. Transfer to a
wire rack set on a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Slowly add the beer mixture to the
fl our-cornstarch mixture, whisking just
until batter has the texture of thick paint
(you may not need all of the beer). The
batter should leave a trail if you drip it
back into the bowl off the whisk. Do not
overmix; a few small lumps are OK.
4. Transfer the fi sh to the batter and
turn to coat. Pick up one piece of cod
from one edge, allowing excess batter to
drip back into the bowl. Quickly dip it into
the bowl of fl our and turn to coat both
sides, and then carefully transfer it to the
hot oil, lowering it in slowly to prevent
splashes. Repeat for all 4 pieces. Cook,
moving the fi sh occasionally with a wire-
1 pound catfi sh fi llets
1 cup milk
Vegetable oil, for frying
½ cup cornmeal
¾ teaspoon salt
1 / 8 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
BREADED CATFISH
Yield: 2 to 4 servings
1. Pour milk into a bowl and soak
catfi sh while you heat 1½ inches of oil in
a large skillet to 375 degrees. Meanwhile,
mix together cornmeal, salt, pepper and
cayenne on a plate or in a bowl. When oil
is at the proper temperature, remove 1
or 2 fi llets from bowl, depending on size
of your skillet. Dredge through cornmeal
mixture and gently lower into hot oil.
2. Fry, fl ipping once, until golden
brown on both sides and cooked
through, about 5 minutes. Drain on
paper towels and repeat with remaining
batches.
Per serving: 295 calories; 17 g fat; 12
g saturated fat; 66 mg cholesterol; 21 g
protein; 14 g carbohydrate; 2 g sugar; 1 g
fi ber; 503 mg sodium; 55 mg calcium
— Recipe by Daniel Neman
1 cup yellow cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose fl our
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne
1 medium onion
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
Vegetable or peanut oil, for
frying (about 2 quarts)
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. The
oven will be used to keep hush pup-
pies warm while you are making more
batches.
2. Whisk together cornmeal, fl our, sug-
ar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and
cayenne. Grate onion on the large holes of
a box grater into another bowl to yield 3
tablespoons, reserving juice. Add egg and
buttermilk and whisk to combine, then stir
into cornmeal mixture just until com-
bined, with some lumps remaining. Batter
will be as thick as a heavy pancake batter.
3. Heat 4 inches oil in a large, heavy
pot or Dutch oven over high heat until
a deep-fry thermometer reaches 360
degrees. Working in batches, drop batter
by the tablespoon into oil. Fry, turning
occasionally, until cooked through and
deep brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer hush
puppies to a towel-lined baking sheet in
the oven while fi nishing the batches. Re-
turn oil to 360 degrees between batches.
Serve warm.
Per serving: 370 calories; 18 g fat; 14
g saturated fat; 53 mg cholesterol; 8 g
protein; 46 g carbohydrate; 5 g sugar; 3g
fi ber; 1,447 mg sodium; 316 mg calcium
— Recipe from “Martha’s American
Food” by Martha Stewart
See, Fish Fry/Page B6