Rick Stein’s Fish and Chips Recipe

Ingredients 

For the fish and chips:

240g Plain flour

3 1/2 tsp Baking powder

270ml Ice-cold water

900g Floury Potatoes

Sunflower oil (for deep frying)

4 x 175g Thick cod fillets

Salt and pepper (to season)

For the mustard mayonnaise:

1 or 2 egg yolks

2 tsp White wine vinegar

1/2 tsp Salt

300ml Sunflower or olive oil

For the tartare sauce:

1 tsp Green olives (finely chopped)

1 tsp Gherkins (finely chopped)

1 tsp Capers (finely chopped)

2 tsp Chives (chopped)

2 tsp Parsley (chopped)

Mustard mayonnaise (half the prepared quantity)

Method

1. To make the mustard mayonnaise: put the egg, vinegar and salt into a liquidiser or food processor. Turn on the machine and then slowly add the oil through the hole in the lid until you have a thick emulsion.
2. To make the tartare sauce: mix half the mustard mayonnaise together with the olives, gherkins, capers, chives and parsley.
3. To make the batter, mix the flour, 1 tsp of salt and the baking powder with the water. keep cold and use within 20 minutes of making.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 150C/gas 2. Line a baking tray with plenty of kitchen paper and set aside.
5. Peel the potatoes and cut them lengthways into chips 1 cm thick. Pour some sunflower oil into a large deep pan until it is about a third full and heat it to 130C. Drop half the chips into a frying basket and cook them for about 5 minutes until tender when pierced with the tip of a knife but not coloured. Lift them out and drain off the excess oil. Repeat with the rest of the chips and set aside.
6. To fry the fish, heat the oil to 160C. Season the cod fillets with salt and pepper and then dip into the batter. Fry, 2 pieces at a time, for 7-8 minutes, until crisp and golden brown. Lift out and drain on the paper-lined tray. Keep hot in the oven while you cook the other 2 pieces.
7. Raise the temperature of the oil to 190C and cook the chips in small batches for about 2 minutes, until they are crisp and golden. Lift them out of the pan and give them a shake to remove the excess oil, then drain on kitchen paper and keep them hot while you cook the rest. Sprinkle with salt and serve them with the deep-fried cod.

Top Tips

1. Deep fry in beef dripping to make the batter really crisp.
2. Choose a fresh fish, clear of slime, bright in colour and without smell.
3. Use fluffy potatoes such as Maris Piper or Golden Wonder.
4. If you can, use a large fryer and really clean oil or fat.