Copy Gordon Ramsay's Easy Last-Minute Trick For The Crispiest Fried Fish
Until the 1950s in the United Kingdom, take-out was pretty much restricted to one meal: fish 'n' chips (known to my excitable brood as a "chippy tea"). Over on this side of the Atlantic, there are several chains offering the best fried fish, but for home cooks giving the recipe a go in their own kitchens, it can be a minefield. Fried fish should be easy: dip fillets in batter and fry until crispy and golden. So why does it end up a soggy mess — for this writer included — so often? Thankfully Gordon Ramsay has a neat trick that can help us achieve a delicious, crispy coating, and all we need is a little salt.
He featured this hack in an episode from Season 1 of "The F Word," and rest assured, no Ramsay-level skills are needed! Before plunging the fish fillets in batter, the renowned chef sprinkled a generous helping of salt on them, extracting some of the moisture in the fish. Fillets that are too wet generate steam when they hit the oil which makes the batter soggy and prevents it from sticking. The salt only needs to be on the fish for a couple of minutes, so when you're ready to fry, gently wipe it off and pat the fillets dry before either lightly flouring them or popping them straight in the batter. When they're cooked, the coating will be shatteringly crisp and utterly yummy!
There are other ways to get crispy batter for your fish, but you still can't air fry it
Salting your fish to draw out moisture is one way to ensure the crispiest fried fish, but it's not the only method out there. We've previously showcased how the key to impossibly crisp fish is also in the flour. All-purpose flour is great if you want a thicker, heavier batter, but blending rice flour with tapioca starch produces a lighter, thinner batter that's outstandingly crisp. There are many reasons why restaurant fish and chips taste better than home made, but that doesn't mean we can't employ a few of their professional tricks to create crispy coatings at home.
As well as mixing up the flours for the batter, play around with the liquids that go into it too. Some chefs add a dash of vodka for a crispy coating and others insist ice-cold water is the way to go. We say try a few out to see what you like best. The oil is another important factor in getting crispy fried fish. Something neutral is best — lots of people favor canola, which also has a high smoke point — but coconut oil is also worth trying out, as is tallow if you want that old-school flavor. Whatever you use, make sure your fish fillets hit an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. At the time of writing, nobody had figured out a way to air fry wet-battered fish (not without it all falling off or making a big mess), but it's ideal for the breaded version. If you decide to turn the stove off for the night and order a chippy tea, check out our sure-fire way to make sure your fish stays crispy.