Fish N' Chips


Ingredients:
Potatoes (two medium sized potatoes per serving)
White fleshed fish (4-6 1oz strips per serving and frozen is fine, just thaw them beforehand)
Vegetable Oil (a lot)

Batter (enough for two servings):
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Old Bay
1/4 tsp Salt
1 can or bottle of Beer

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour (separate)

Hardware:
Large Pot
Medium Pot
Salad Spinner or (Paper Towels and a Colander)
Wire Strainer or Tongs
Cake Cooling Rack
Baking Tray (larger than the cake cooler rack)


Instructions:

1. Fill the medium pot with cold water and set aside

2. Peel and cut potatoes into fry-like strips and place in the medium pot of cold water.

3. Pour the vegetable oil in the large pot (the more the merrier, but no more than two inches from the rim) and put on medium-high heat. (The starches from the potato slices will come out while the oil is heating up)

4. Using your hands, take the potato slices out of the pot of cold water and into the the salad spinner or colander. Just don't dump the whole pot of water in the colander or else the starch will just stick to the potatoes, which is bad, mmmkay? If you have a salad spinner, spin the slices until pretty dry; if not, just some paper towels and pat them dry.

5. When the oil is hot enough (if spritzed with water, it should dance), carefully, using the wire strainer, place about a potatoes worth of slices in the oil. If you do not have a wire strainer, use your hands and gently place them in. Give them an occasional turn and move around to prevent clumping. Let these cook in a rolling boil of oil for a good 5 minutes or until they've barely started to wrinkle and still limp.

6. When the batch is done with their first fry, place them on your cake cooling rack, which is sitting on top of the baking tray. If you don't have the cake cooling rack, use a large baking tray and some paper towels; however, your fries won't turn out as nice because the fries will just sit in the oil. The point of this step is to let the fries cool and, more importantly, drain away the oil.

7. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.

8. After all the fries are done with their first fry and have fully cooled, turn the heat up just a little bit and, once again, place in about a potatoes worth of slices at a time and let them cook for about 4 minutes or until a light golden brown.

9. When a batch is done with their second and final fry, lay them out, again, on the cake cooking rack. Lightly season with salt and put them in the oven, immediately. Keep taking them out and adding more as more batches are finished. You want to keep the fries crispy and warm. Turn the stove down ever so slightly and keep it on while you prepare the fish.

Okay, now lets go on with the fish.

10. About 15 minutes ahead of time, while half your fries are fully done, prepare the batter. In a large bowl, combine the 1 cup flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, old bay and salt. Finally, pour the beer on top of the dry ingredients and give it a mix. You don't want this batter sitting out for more than an hour or else it will go flat.

11. Put the 1/2 cup flour in a large plate.

12. Lightly coat about 4 pieces of fish in the flour then shake off the excess. Next, batter up the coated pieces, one by one, in the batter and then gently place them in the hot oil with your hands. You'll want to get your hands a bit batter-y so you don't burn yourself.

13. When the batter is starting to set and is a bit stiff, give the pieces a gentle roll with a pair of tongs. Fish doesn't take too long too cook, probably 4 or 5 minutes but if the batter is starting to burn, take the pieces out and place them in the oven with your fries.

14. Repeat steps 12 and 13 until finished.

Serve with ketchup, tartar sauce, or a vinaigrette.