Golden Ale Battered Fish & Chips

Jeordy and I very recently climbed to the top of Mount Snowdon, the tallest peak in England and Wales. The experience was tough, wet and bitterly cold. However, the icicles on my eyelashes reminded me that winter is the perfect time to get back in touch with nature and embrace the cold. What better way to do so than through cooking? I decided to attempt the traditional English favourite of Beer Battered Fish & Chips from scratch, using whole natural ingredients.

Ingredients:

-2 whole Sea Bream

-Flour 50g

-Corn flour 50g

-Baking powder 1tsp

-Golden Ale 75ml

-Sparking water 75ml

-1 Litre of Sunflower oil

-Potatoes

-Mint leaves

-Garden peas.

First, I started with 2 scaled and gutted Sea Bream bought from the fishmongers at our local Morrisons, though any fish -caught or bought- will do. The next logical step was to cut fillets from the fish.

To fillet the fish I cut at an angle under its fin. I cut down to the bone on one side and then the other. Once the cuts were made I severed the head with my hands using a twisting motion.

Once rid of the head, I cut down one side of the spine all the way to the tail with my blade flat. This fillet came off with some ease. I then removed the tail before dealing with the other side of the fish. Using a smaller blade I cut the second fillet away from the main body, gently stroking with the blade of my knife. The ribcage/body should separate from the fillet in one.

I collected all the fish heads, bodies, and tails together and left them in our garden for the foxes. We heard them fighting over the pieces later that night.

I repeated the process with the second fish until I had 4 fillets. Using a sharp knife I cut off any rough bits of skin, or fins. I then embarked on the trickiest part of the whole experience. Using small pliers and tweezers I removed all the bones from the fillets.

~ Fun Fact/Tip: using pliers is a good technique as it pulls the bones straight out without removing too much of the delicious fish. ~

Although fiddly, this process is relatively easy as you can almost always feel the bones. If I ran my hands over the fillet I could feel the points of the bones sticking up like feathers through a pillow.

A good thing to remember is that these fillets do not have to look beautiful; after all they are going to be covered in batter!

Meanwhile, I heated the oven to 200 degrees celsius, chopped 4 very large potatoes into long thin strips and put them in a pan to boil. I left them for roughly 10 minutes until they had softened slightly but retained their shape. I placed them onto a large baking tray, dripped them in oil, and seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika and rosemary. Once the oven had heated up I put them in to bake for 25 minutes, turning them every 10 minutes, until they turned golden brown.

The time had come to make the batter. Putting the fillets to one side, I added the flour, cornflour, baking powder and 2 tablespoons of Paprika to a mixing bowl. I seasoned well with salt and pepper before setting one tablespoon of the mix aside on a separate plate. I then gradually poured in the 75ml of Golden London Ale and the sparkling water in small, steady lots, stirring it into the mixture. The mixture should become thick and gloopy but without any lumps. I left it to rest and thicken for half an hour.

Once the mixture had thickened I placed a large pot on low to medium heat and filled it with the litre of sunflower oil. Once the oil was bubbling I tested it by dropping one drop of batter in. When it crisped and floated to the top it was hot enough. If the batter stuck to the bottom it was not quite ready.

I dabbed the fillets dry with a paper towel and then patted on the flour mixture I reserved onto them. Once all the fillets were covered in flour I dipped them into the mixing bowl of batter so they were covered all over and then dropped them into the oil one at a time.

To avoid injury and oil splashes it might be worth lowering the fillets in gently.

I watched the pot as each fillet bubbled and bounced to the top.

I left them for about 5 minutes and removed them from the oil with a spatula. They should come out looking a crunchy golden brown. If you want to you can place the cooked fillets on a paper towel to drain off some excess oil while the others cook.

While I monitored the fish frying process I began making the mushy peas. I used fresh garden peas. After boiling them I fried them in butter with chopped up fresh mint leaves. I left them for roughly ten minutes before mashing them with a potato masher. Jeordy does not prefer hers mashed to I set about half aside to serve whole. The creamy butter and mint flavour gives a delicious twist to this classic side.

With the fish fried, the peas mashed and the potatoes crispy, all that was left to do was serve the delicious meal and enjoy the dish with a mug of beer.

The result was an extremely wholesome and traditional homemade Fish and Chips. The overall process, although mildly challenging with the fish, was extremely easy. I feel that nowadays there can be a disconnect for so many people between nature and the food on their plates. I think it is hugely important for everyone to understand and experience where our food comes from. This process not only helped me feel closer to nature but it was very rewarding to see the whole fish at the beginning transform into a dish we all know and love.

I greatly enjoyed the experience and hope to do more of this 'cooking with nature' in the future. If you'd like to see more of this or have any suggestions please let us know!