Go to the Recipe: Fish and Chips
Just a comment that the video says to use cake flour and the recipe indicates bread flour.
Fixed. Thanks for spotting the error.
You ruined a Deja Vu free admission coupon!
You should not use newspaper at the end because of inks...
- originally posted by JY
LMAO! It gives me such a kick to watch @Grant Crilly eat his creations. I just don't understand how he can be so thin!
Have heard both that newspaper is OK to eat off of and not OK to eat off of or use as a liner.....what is the truth? Web site is GREAT! My students really enjoy it. Thanks Joe
What does the Methylcellulose do? How important is it? Is there an acceptable substitute? Thanks!
The methocellulose helps to bind the batter, but it also gels as it heats up in the fryer to help minimizes moisture migrating out of the fish after it comes out of the deep fryer, which keeps the crust crispier. You can skip this step if you want.
Can you freeze the battered fish and fry later?
- originally posted by Hint
I would expect a very different result. Although, now that I think about it, if you plunged in to liquid nitrogen and then kept frozen until frying, that might work really well. Worth trying.
Ok, tried this out yesterday, only with chicken instead of fish. Worked pretty good, but had to do without the Methylcellulose, and I'm not sure we have what's called cake flour here in Norway, so I made my own (flour + cornstarch, is this the correct way?). The fried chicken seemed to turn out very crispy in the beginning, but not long after they sort of turned soggy and soft. Any tips on how to keep the crispness for longer after frying? Thanks
Hi John — That's what we use the methocellulose for, it helps keep the batter crisp for longer.
Chris, is the cake flour (not available in the UK) a form of wheat dextrin?Could I turn ordinary AP flour into it by heating in the oven/microwave to 130c?
Cake flour is specially modified via the chlorination process in a way that allows the starch to absorb higher levels of fat and handle high levels of sugar. Unfortunately, this product is not available within the EU, although when I lived in the UK I was able to order it from the US via the internet (look for Soft as Silk cake flour). Sadly heating flour will not do the job. I would recommend you look for a low-gluten, soft wheat pastry flour as a substitute.
Thanks for this recipe! We used large-mouth bass we caught today with this, and even the non-fish lovers in our party raved about it. Perfect crust!
Glad it worked well for you.
I tried the recipe today, but since I didn't have F50, I used Mecel from DCDuby. I ended up with a big gelatinous blob in the bottom of the container when I took out of the fridge. Any ideas why?
Yes, the various cellulosic gums have extremely different properties and are often not at all interchangable. This is the case with the F50. I believe Modernist Pantry sells F50.
what does the pre-batter do?
- originally posted by Guest
i think 510g of prebatter is a bit too much for 8 portion of fish. cutting down the prebatter by 1/2 would be fine i think? correct me if i am wrong please
You are right, you can if you can measure the smaller amount of ingredients and dip into 255 ml of liquid.
- originally posted by Grant Lee Crilly
Can I use the brine for shrimp???
- originally posted by moyonut
I had a decent go of this but unfortunately made a few mistakes. Learn from me!
1. Mixed beer batter too early. I should have mixed right before using, but I did it about an hour and a half before. This meant the batter was thicker upon application. Not the worst thing in the world but not great.
2. I fried in small batches (about 2 pieces at a time). This is ideal, but it meant with one pot of oil and about a pound of fish, the entire frying time for the fish alone was about 12 - 15 minutes. Add to that the time to fry the chips and all but two pieces of fish were soggy by the time we actually ate.
3. Methlycellulose prebatter: I realized after the fact that I hadn’t iced down the methylcellulose after it came off the stove and I definitely didn’t wait overnight. Could this have been a factor in losing crispiness after a short period?
4. If you are going to follow the thick cut chips recipe, actually cut them thick! I thought I was cutting them thick, but when I went back and looked again, they really weren't that thick. This would have been fine if I had followed the thin cut fries recipe, but I didn't. The fries were actually pretty good (although not crunchy) after the first fry (second cook). I cooked them for 3-4 minutes subsequently in the final fry and I must have overcooked them with this method because they became very dense, hard packed, and gross. Not so much crispy in the desired way. Very depressing given all of the work involved. It was almost like you took mashed potatoes and put them in a mold and pressed until extremely compacted
5. I tried to use the ghetto sous vide cooler method and I found that even in the short 20-25 minute time, I lost ~15 degrees of heat (I also wrapped the cooler in towels). The cook took closer to 40 minutes
Question: Should the fish have gone soggy so quickly ~30 minutes? How did you do so much fish and so many fries in such small batches and still get crispy results for both? The video of grant eating the fish looks straight from the fryer, not one of the final plated pieces. Is the only way around this to cook less / get another pot?
Not cooling the methylcellulose solution properly before using will definitely be a factor in the fish remaining crispy. Unfortunately, yes when it comes to frying so many different things, timing is always going to be an issue. Using two fryers or a larger fryer(so your batches can be larger) will always help. Im curious about your fries? What type of potato were you using? Do you know what dimensions you cut them? Also, did you use the density test? Cheers
I think the methocellulose will also act as a barrier against fat absorption, similar to the way you can create a skin for sausages with sodium alginate solutions. The Burger King lower fat "Satisfries" are most likely to be dipped in a methocel blend coating
oh yeah.
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your reply! I posted pictures of the outcome (not sure how to properly permalink): https://d3awvtnmmsvyot.cloudfront.net/api/file/7gA...
I was using standard russets from the market. I tried to research the difference between standard supermarket idaho russets from Russet Burbank potatoes.
I'm not sure on the size exactly but you can see it in the picture above. I'd say I got ~6 fried per potato (I'd call them medium size). Looking at the thick cut fry video it looked like you got closer to 4 per potato. Also, something not clear in the video, when you show the sous vide step you show one bag which supposedly contains all 1200g of potato in one layer. Was this one of many bags? I had two bags with ~double layer, which may be a sign I cut them WAY too small.
I did do the density test as well, although I couldn't find any of them which legitimately passed both tests. Some seemed to pass one of the tests, but I'm not sure any of those really passed the second test (as another user commented on one of the vids).
I'm less concerned about these steps as the potatos seemed great on the inside when I tested them after the second step. But there was something in that process that ruined it at the end. Would overcook on either fry cause the inside to compress like a log?
I really should try the fries again, especially once I get a proper Sous Vide setup.
Alternative: Delete methylcellulose. Know how to deep fry things. Use a good recipe for the batter.
what would be your advises for the steps of minimizing cooking time in case you are making a huge amount of portions? for how long would it be possible to keep the fillets after brining; and would it be better to just keep them in the brine in the chiller; i doubt because the salt and sugar in the solution will surely eventually make them tough; or brine the fillets remove and store them in the chiller, or perhaps remove from the brine and store them in plain distilled water in the chiller? ... Thank you so much for all sharing your experience and knowledge guys!!!!
I just noticed that too!
Tried this and had very good results. My glitch was leaving the potato in the sous vide about 1 minute too long. All good but a few broken fries that would have been cooler - if they were full length. I used Halibut for the fish and Russets for the spuds. BTW this was a 1/2 recipe as there are only two of us. For me the fish was super light and crispy. it cooked for 3 min +- 10 sec. The cake flour was from KAF.
I am interested if similar technique could be used for chicken - say if we par cook sous vide and then quick fry for the crispy texture using a similar pre-batter. comments?
Is it possible to leave out the Methlycellulose? Can't find it anywhere in Perth Australia. And if I did leave it out would it make a huge difference to the final product? Thank you
I don't have the Methlycellulose but do have something called Batter Binder which is a modified starch refined with maize and Crisp Coat which is a high amylose corm starch with tapioca dextrin. Both were purchased from Modernist Pantry. Would either of these work as a substitute or should I add lengthy M word to my kitchen?
Try it with Crisp Coat.
You should be fine, must brine the fish a touch longer and dry off with a napkin before battering. You can also sub more vodka for water. The fish will be amazing, just wont stay as crispy for as long
yes they are supposed to be wrapped in white paper before wrapped in newspaper.
I make Chicken Katsu all the time and I brine the chicken for ~30 minutes, after pounding the breast to ~2cm thickness and coat with panko instead of batter; it's cooked in oil at ~300f for roughly 5 minutes. I think the extra step of pre-cooking the chicken is unnecessary as the katsu comes out juicy and tender already. I would be interested to trying this method out with chicken and batter as well.
If you eat right away are you ok not using the methocellulose?
Anybody know how long I can keep the Methylcellulose solution around for? must it remain refrigerated at all times?
Killer.
What type of oil are you using in this recipe?
I've had my best results subbing cornstarch for half of the flour, increasing the vodka to beer ratio to 35/65, and dispensing to order from a soda siphon. No notable difference in flavor, and the fish will stay crispy for a couple of hours.
I made a similar dish for Christmas eve but I ran a simple ( not beer) batter through a cream whipper first - AMAZING results- try it Pieces of fish dusted in plain or spelt flour then dipped in the whipped batter and then fried- Light - delicate crisp beautifully cooked fish
Anyone else notice the "newspaper" they are using to plate with at 1:52 shows a blow up dolls' tit on it?!?! HAHAHA
Get your heads outta the gutter Chef Steps!!!!
Not sure where I went wrong but fish came out saltier than if I ate it right out of the sea. Unfortunate since the texture (fish and batter) was amazing. I think I'll try skipping the brine next time.
Why did you guys use cake flour and not bread flour? Won't the cake flour absorb more oil and get soggy sooner than the bread flour?
How would you modify this recipe if you wanted to make British style fish and chips where the fish is a full fillet of fish rather than small pieces?
@Johann Thorsson How long did you brine them for, and how much fish did you use?
Where can I purchase the fry thermometer you are using here?
