Making fried fish at home is hit-or-miss

Here’s an obvious fact, but I had to learn it firsthand through experience: If you’re going to make a beer batter, use a light-colored ale or plain old Bud or something. If you use a dark beer to make the batter, the end product will be almost black, which isn’t very appealing. When I dipped into the deep fryer to pull out the fish I’ve been hungry for for weeks, it was a big black clump. Good thing I made plenty of slaw.

This might not be an obvious mistake that rises to the level of the time I put Dawn liquid in the dishwasher, but it’s close.

There are lots of variations on beer batters out there with many using seltzer water in addition to beer. Some call for pickle juice, many for a little malt vinegar. Making fried fish at home has always been hit-or-miss for me and never comes up to the quality of a standard fire department fish fry, which is usually the best to be had.

Whatever you are deep frying, you can get good results from either an enameled cast iron pan or an electric deep fryer. Either is a mess of spatters, but I move the little deep fryer outside where I don’t care about the mess.

If you make fries, the secret to perfect results is double cooking. I either get frozen fries and get them pretty much done in the oven before quickly deep frying them or fry them for a few minutes until soft, take them out of the fat and let them cool and drain, then fry them again until they’re golden. If you cook them only once, you get mushy fries.

Drain everything on a rack set over a paper towel for the same reason. Anything deep fried then allowed to rest directly on paper towels will lose the crispy texture you worked hard to achieve, especially fried chicken.

You also have to choose the right oil. Vegetable or canola oils have high enough smoking points to withstand the temperature requirement for good results. You can’t deep fry things in olive oil because it will start to burn at about the point when it gets hot enough. Deep frying requires oil that is between 350 and 375 F; extra virgin olive oil has a smoking point of about 370 F while canola oil is around 400 F.

Hot oil is quite dangerous, by the way, so be extra careful about skin burns and a possible fire. This is why paying attention to an oil’s point of burning is important.

I find it best to wait until after deep-fried foods are finished to season them. Make up a spice mix that works for whatever you’re cooking and dust everything when it comes out of the oil. It’s very hard to get flavors to come through when you add herbs and spices to the batter or dusting mix. Dropping dried oregano into 375 F fat is just gonna kill it right off.

Here is Gordon Ramsay’s recipe for beer-battered fish. You can make a simple tartar sauce of mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, salt and pepper.

BEER BATTERED FISH

4 small cod filets

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

3/4 cup rice flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup soda water

3/4 cup beer, lager or ale

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

In a good-sized bowl, mix the flours, baking powder and sugar. Mix together the soda water, beer and salt. Preheat enough oil to cover the cod pieces to 350-375 F.

Lightly dust the cod pieces in flour, then dip into the batter. Shake off the excess, then gently lay the cod into the hot oil. Fry for 8-10 minutes, remove and drain. Season with salt while still quite hot.