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Fish & Chips
Britain’s national takeaway: cod in a crisp, singing batter with thick-cut chips, salt, vinegar and mushy peas. One of the few dishes spared wartime rationing — morale itself, fried.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 45 min
- Yield
- Serves 2
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Era
- Victorian (1860s)
Ingredients
- 2 × 200g skinless cod or haddock fillets
- Batter: 150g plain flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 250ml very cold lager, pinch of salt
- Chips: 800g Maris Piper potatoes, cut thick
- Beef dripping or sunflower oil, for frying
- Mushy peas, tartare sauce, lemon, malt vinegar — to serve
Method
- Cut the chips and soak in cold water for 30 minutes; dry thoroughly.
- Blanch the chips in oil at 130°C / 265°F for 6–8 minutes until soft but pale. Remove and rest.
- Whisk the batter ingredients just before frying — lumps are fine, cold is essential.
- Heat the oil to 180°C / 355°F. Dust the fish with flour, dip in the batter, and lower in gently.
- Fry 6–8 minutes until deep gold and crisp; drain on a rack, not paper.
- Refry the chips at 190°C / 375°F for 3–4 minutes until golden and crunchy.
- Salt everything immediately, douse with malt vinegar, and serve with mushy peas and tartare sauce.
Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.