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February 27 #535 Batter for Fish
A lot of weight conscious folks are trying to add a little more fish to their diets, which is a good thing. One of the more enjoyable ways of cooking fish may put a slight crimp in your regimen, but if you enjoy it, chances are you will eat more lean fish. We’re talking about deep frying fish fillets in batter. The keys are to make a light batter, use a heart-healthy oil like safflower oil, and then dry and pat the finished fish thoroughly before serving. The lightest of batters is the tempura, which mixes flour, eggs and soda water to make a thin batter which is almost translucent. A little thicker are the beer batters, which once again use a bubbly liquid to get air into the mix, and finally then heavier doughy batters which rely on baking powder and baking soda for their (relative) lightness. Jerry recommends using a large deep sided flat bottomed sauce pan for frying up the fish. Pour about 1 ½ to 2 inches of a high flash point oil (safflower and canola are frequently refined to have high flash points…the temperature at which the oil begins to smoke). Heat it up to about 350, using a candy thermometer to check. Once used, the oil can be cooled, then poured through several layers of paper towel or cheesecloth to clean it for re-use. Classic fish and chips (not much on the heart-healthy scale) uses a frothy beer batter quite frequently with such fish as plaice, haddock and cod. Incidentally, the French fries are far worse for you oil-wise, given the amount of total surface area involved. One fillet has a limited surface. But one hundred fries have an enormous amount of surface to absorb the oil, so watch out. We decided to see if we could come up with a batter that was flavorful and worked well with baking. Here it is.
Al’s Curried Batter for Baked Fish A Radio Kitchen Original Recipe
2 heaping tbs all-purpose flour ¼ level tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 1 tsp mild curry powder 1 tsp black pepper (or a black and red pepper blend) 2 whole eggs 1/3 cup milk ¼ cup flavored bread crumbs
1. In a large bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, salt, curry powder and pepper. Make a dent in the middle of the flour and add the eggs. Stir vigorously until well mixed. 2. Pour in the milk a little at a time and mix until it is well blended. Add the breadcrumbs and stir until they are well mixed. 3. Set aside in the refrigerator for about an hour. Stir again before using.
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