Fish and chips is a staple British dish, and now one of the country’s best-known chefs has shared his secrets to the perfect meal. Gordon Ramsay is famous around the world for his cooking, recipes and television series, but has now made his fish and chips secret public.
Including a special ingredient, Ramsay has put together a step-by-step guide to his 10-minute fish and chips, which does not require a deep pan. For the ingredients, home cooks will need 120g self-raising flour, with some extra to coat, as well as 175g of their preferred white fish, such as cod. Alongside these, the recipe calls for one medium egg white, 160ml of light beer or lager, a large peeled potato, sunflower oil, salt, and a teaspoon each of curry powder and baking powder.
Once the ingredients are assembled, the cooking process begins with oiling a pan on medium-high heat for frying.
A large pan will do and a deep pan or pot is not required, according to Ramsay.
Then, chefs should whisk together flour, baking soda, curry powerder and beer, before whisking the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and folding these into the batter.
If the batter is too heavy after this process, some water can be added in to lighten it.
After this, a teaspoon of curry powder can be added if desired for more seasoning.
Next, season the fish with salt and coat with the excess flour before coating in batter. It is important that the fish is fully coated in the batter before frying.
Once added to the pan, the fish should be basted in the oil as one side cooks to golden brown.
When this is done, the fish can be flipped and process repeated on the other side. While this is done, the pan should be taken off the oil and put back on regularly so the fish does not get too hot.
In total, the fish should be in the pan for around 3 minutes, before being left on a plate with a paper towel and put into a warm oven.
The large potato can then be chopped into a square before being cut into tall skinny fries. Ramsay advises home cooks the skinnier the fries, the quicker they will cook, so feel free to cut to the desired thickness.
After rubbing in a paper towel to remove moisture, new oil can be added to the pan and the heat turned to high, before the potatoes are added and browned.
When this is done, the fries can be put on a paper towel and salted.
For Ramsay’s tartar sauce on the side, he recommends combining a tablespoon of chopped gherkins, 50g of crème fraiche, 200g of mayonnaise, ¾ of a diced shallot, a teaspoon of lemon juice and, if desired, hot sauce for an extra kick.
After adding salt to taste, the components can be dished up to serve and enjoyed.
If you need more help with the recipe, Ramsay’s website has a video demonstration.