Heston's perfect Fish and Chips

In search of the perfect fish and chips, I have decided to give Heston's perfect fish and chips a go. Thank God I already have the special equipment that is need on hand, well at least something similar. The recipes call for a soda siphon but I do have a cream whipper which is basically the almost the same.

To ensure that the batter cook fast enough not to over cook the fish, this recipes calls for the use of vodka instead of water as water based batter takes a long time to go brown because the water have to first evaporate before it can starts to brown. Vodka is more volatile hence it evaporates more quickly and it also does not develop the gluten in the flour the way water does. This will result in a crisper crust. And the beer and charging the batter with CO2 enchances the batter's crunchiness by introuducing more bubbles.

The chips for this recipes call for a 3 steps process, allowing the chips to cool right down between each steps gets rid of excess moisture that would otherwise escape from the chips as steam during frying causing soggy exterior. The dry air of the fridge helps to remove the excess moisture from the chips.


Recipes (Serve 2)

For the chips

500g of potatoes

Method

• Wash and peel potatoes. 
• Cut into chips about 1.5 to 2 cm thick. 
• Place chips into a bowl of cold running water for about 5 min to rinse off some of the starch. Drain and set aside. 
• Bring a pot of salted water to boil. 10g salt per liter of water 
• Add chips and bring back to boil, once it is back to boil, lower the heat so that the chips will not break apart before they are cooked through. Cook till the chips have almost broken up. 
• Carefully remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and place on a cake rack. Leave to cool then put in the fridge until cold. 
• Heat oil to 130 degree C and plunge the chips into the oil. Cook until they take on a dry appearance and are slightly colour. 
• Remove from heat and drain off excess oil. Cool on cake rack and return to fridge until cool
• Heat oil to 190 degree C and plunge the potatoes into the oil for the final fry. Cook till golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. 
• Drain and season with sea salt to serve.

For the batter and fish 

2 large fillets of firm fish (I use halibut but recipes calls for turbot)

100g         plain flour
100g         rice flour
1/2 tsp      baking powder
1/2 tblsp    honey
150ml       Vodka
150ml        beer (chilled)

Method

• Mix the different flour into a bowl and stir to combine. 
• Add honey, vodka into the flour, stir to combine. 
• Open the beer and pour 150ml into the mixture, stir to combine. It is fine if it is a little lumpy. 
• Pour the mixture into the siphon or cream whipper.
• Charge it with 2 CO2 charger and put in fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. 
• Rinse and dry the fish fillet with paper towel
• Coat with rice flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Shake of excess flour
• Heat oil in a large pan to 220 degree C. 
• Remove siphon from the fridge, shake vigorously before ejecting the batter onto a medium sized bowl. Don't eject all at once as the batter will lose its bubbles once it leave the siphon. 
• Dip the batter into the foamy batter and into the hot oil. 
• As the fish fry, drizzle a little extra batter over to give it a lovely crusty exterior. When it starts to brown, turn the fillet over and drizzle more  batter on that side. 
• Cook till a golden brown and remove from oil.