Serves four
THREE-TIMES COOKED CHIPS
250g Maris Pipers per person
2 litres vegetable oil or rapeseed oil
Maris Pipers are the best potatoes to use for chips as they’re consistently better throughout the year. If you can’t get hold of them, then use other varieties, such as King Edwards or Red Desirees. The reason that the Maris Piper is so excellent is the dry-matter content that it contains, which is about 21.5% to 23%. This is the starch content in the potato, and once the potato’s cooked, this is then turned to sugar, giving it the best even colour and fluffiness.
Peel the potatoes and then cut into 1cm-square batons the length of the potato so they’re all the same size. Wash the starch off the potatoes very well, then place them into a pan of slightly salted water and bring to a rapid boil. Drain instantly, chill them straight away in cold running water to stop them cooking any further, then drain and dry them off well with a
tea towel.
Place the oil into a large pan and heat it to 140˚C, drop the chips carefully into the oil to blanch them for 2?3 minutes, then drain onto kitchen paper. Heat the oil back up to 180˚C, then plunge the potatoes back into the oil until they’re golden brown all over (approxi-mately 3?5 minutes), then drain with a slotted spoon and season with sea salt.
BEER FISH BATTER
300g high-gluten bread
flour (T55)
60g cornflour
15g sugar
1½tsp salt
¼tsp white pepper
250ml sparkling water
250ml Heineken or other lager
30g fresh yeast or one packet
of dried yeast
METHOD
Sieve all the dry ingredients together, then sprinkle on the yeast to a fine crumble. Slowly whisk in the beer and water until very smooth. Cover this in clingfilm and leave in a warm place?just warm, not hot?for about 45 to 60 minutes to ferment.
FOR THE DISH
Four 140g fillets of pollock (or you can use gurnard or ling)
Salt and pepper
Flour
METHOD
Season the fish with salt and pepper, place into the flour, then into the batter and fry at 180˚C for about six minutes until golden brown and crisp. Serve with the chips and the tartar sauce and enjoy.
TARTAR SAUCE
4 egg yolks
¾g milled black pepper
10g English mustard
8g lemon juice
15g white wine vinegar
750ml vegetable oil
2 tbsp water
5g salt
75g chopped gherkins
75g chopped capers
10g chopped parsley
75g chopped shallots
METHOD
Whisk the mustard, salt, pepper, egg yolk and vinegar in a bowl for 2?3 minutes, then slowly pour the oil on to the egg, whisk-ing well. Keep adding all the oil you’ll need to add a little water to the mayonnaise as it may get too thick and split. Then add the rest of the ingredients. You may want to cut the recipe in half, depending on how many people you’re serving. But it will keep in the fridge for up to five days covered in clingfilm.
