*****Batters for Deep Frying

*****Batters for Deep Frying

To be clear, while I still own a deep fryer, it is honestly the biggest, messiest most annoying kitchen appliance that I have owned. It smells and when I used it,it was always greasy on the outside no matter what I did. Now, use my wok, (or I also have a large heavy cast iron frying pan) that I use to deep fry in; let’s face it, deep frying isn’t really something that we should be doing so often that any home cook needs a deep fryer.

I was told the secret for a proper, crispy batter for deep-frying fish a long, long time ago by a chef friend. Indeed, not only a friend, but the head of a culinary arts program at a local post-secondary school (The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, where I took my initial commercial cook training, is a polytechnic institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. SAIT as it is better known offers more than 100 career programs in technology, trades and business).

The secret; it’s so very simple.

It’s corn-starch.

While I sadly lost the exact (Billingsgate Recipe he gave me in his cooking class that day and truth be told, he told me it was an old fisherman friend who gave it to him) I have always remembered that secret.

This batter is awesome for deep frying anything! Onion rings, mushrooms, zucchini spears, fish, chicken, shrimp, etch. It is light and thin so you can actually, still, taste the food you deep fried. This recipe doesn't seem like it would make a lot, but it's so thin that it really covers a lot of food. Being rich in protein and healthy to boot, fish is always one of my top choices. Haddock, since it’s a nice milder fish, holds up well and cooks fast, is one of the best choices for deep frying battered fish. Fresh fish is always, always, and always, better, especially when you are deep-frying it in batter. Frozen fish will have extra moisture no matter how you defrost it!

There are a few secrets that you have to adhere to in order to make great battered fish. How to make the best battered, deep fried fish at home!

1. The oil temperature MUST be at 375 degrees. Hotter and it will burn on the outside and you will have raw fish inside. Cooler will make the batter soaked in grease.

2.  No milk and no egg in the batter. This is as plain as you can get. You can sub in half beer, and half water, for sure, if you want.

3. Use only thin and fresh fish filets. Do not use frozen.

So, who’s in for giving this recipe a shot? I am so excited. These are great recipes!

Happy cooking everyone! Love you more than chocolate!

Basic Ingredients Nutrition

SERVINGS: 6-8

YIELD: 1 1/2 cups batter

UNITS US

1⁄2 C. all-purpose flour

1⁄4 C. corn-starch

1 tsp. baking powder

1⁄4 tsp. salt

1⁄2 C. water

1 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp. egg, beaten

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

THE BEST DEEP FRIED BATTERED HADDOCK

The Best Deep Fried, Battered Haddock

Prep Time: 3. Cook Time: 8 minutes.

Total Time: 11 minutes. Course: Dinner

Servings: 4

Batter Ingredients:

1 C. of flour

3 Tbsps. Corn-starch

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 C. cold water or half beer!

1 Tbsp. dill optional but amazing-highly recogmended!

Dash of pepper, to taste

2-4 Fresh Haddock Filets patted dry with a paper towel

For Flouring:

1/2 C flour

2 Tbsps. Corn-starch

Instructions

Combine the batter ingredients and mix until smooth, using piano wire whip.

Preheat 2-3 inches of oil in a heavy sauce pan, or wok, to 375 degrees F.

Combine the "flouring" ingredients together in a small bowl.

Dredge the fillets through the flour, then the batter until covered with a thick coat of batter.

Cook two at a time in the hot oil, for approximately 4 minutes per side or until a medium golden brown.

Remove and drain on paper towels.

Serve and enjoy. ~~~Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan.

The Main VARIETIES and SHAPES of “Deep- Fried” Potato Dishes

Allumette 

Match Stick

  

   French-Fry 

      Pont-Neuf 

    Long-Branch

         Shoe-String   

                       

     Crisp

                                                           (Game Chips)

 And contrary to popular North American belief, as can also be clearly seen in the above illustrations, the French-fry is not a method of cooking; but, as the illustration and the next few recipes show a very specific method of cutting the potato in preparation for cooking

Deep Fried Varieties

In order to obtain a crisper, much more satisfactory product; deep-fried potatoes should first be blanched; and then finished; at a higher temperature.

NB: The larger (more volume) the potato is, the lower the fat temperature for this first blanching must be to avoid over colouring the surface before the potato is cooked inside.

·        Shoe String-This style of potato is very slow to produce and requires a special cutter, used mostly for making ”potato nests” as containers for other foods. The Shoe String potato is very long, about a quarter of an inch wide, about one-eighth of an inch thick, and as the name suggests, looks like a shoe-string.

·        Allumette- matchstick (the American shoe-string). In recent years this style of potato has become very popular as a snack food, originally, like the shoe string potato it was used to make “potato nests” or as a garnish.

·        Crisps –game chips (the American Saratoga chips) - Have become extremely popular as a snack food-originally they were usually crushed and the crumbs used to bread game, fowl, other foods. Using a mandolin, cut potatoes 1/16 of an inch thick; like all deep fried varieties, this type should be first blanched, and then finished at a higher temperature.

·        Gaufrettes Potatoes (Latticed Wafer)-Used as ordinary crisps

·        Pommes Frits (FRENCH FRY POTATOES)1/4x1/4 x3 inches long, with blunt ends were considered to be the perfect size and shape for deep frying-French fry refers to the size and shape of the cut potato-not to the cooking method. Used mostly to accompany sandwiches and lighter meals.

·        Long- branch Potatoes (random length)-were considered to be the mark of a low class, poorly run, car-less establishments. This is the deep-fried potato so common to the fast-food industry. McDonald’s Restaurants, who use this cut exclusively for their deep- fries, have recently been forced to admit that they also use a small amount of milk product in these in order to improve flavour and crispness; this practice can be potentially deadly to people, who are lactose intolerant, or who, like my son suffer from a form of Acute Acrodermatitis Antipathica (As a baby he was inadvertently poisoned (came very close to death) by a nurse-while being treated for an outbreak of this condition-who gave him a Popsicle; which too; often, contain small amounts of milk product. Sandy, my son, would break out in what looked very much like severe second degree burns after the ingestion of even very small amounts of milk or milk products) or other similar diseases.

·        PONT-NEUF (1in.x 1in. X3ins.). This slightly larger size is used primarily with steaks and larger meals.

·        Bataille 3/4 inch dice) - Really a fast and less acceptable variation of Parisienne or Noisette and usually, like Long-branch; usually, considered the mark of a lower class establishment.

©Al (Alex-Alexander) D. Girvan. All rights reserved.

Croquette Potatoes: presently very popular in “American” Fast Food Chains

      Croquette Potatoes: presently very popular in “American” Fast

    Food Chains

The mix can be chilled and rolled into a broom stick shape (or balls, pears, or whatever shape you like); placed on a floured board, and cut into 2 inch lengths, then dipped into beaten egg and then bread crumbs (3 slices of very stale bread coarsely cubed) corn flakes, corn meal, or slivered almonds and deep-fried at 350 F. till golden brown. Makes 12 pieces.

Note:-If you add 6 ozs. pate a choux per pound of Duchesse Potatoes and mix well, you can bag this out into deep fat for

Pommes De Terre Lorette (Potato Puffs). As you squeeze the pastry bag with one hand, use a knife dipped in the fryer to cut lengths off as they exit the bag. Pommes Lorette has become very popular in some American fast food chains on recent years.

Pate a Choux

1 tsp. butter          

1 egg

2- ½ tsps. milk

Salt

¼ cup flour

Heat butter and milk together. When at the boiling-point, add the flour and a pinch of salt, stirring constantly. Remove from the fire, beat in the unbeaten egg, and continue beating until the egg is well mixed with the other ingredients.

Note: the mixture must be the correct ratio or potatoes may break up in the fat. If the choux paste is too wet (too much egg) it will also affect the potato shape and frying process.