Birthday fish and chips

Don't let the greasy looking, not very exciting pictures dismay you. Beer battered fish is good. It is not healthy. Yes, there is grease involved. And beer. But it still isn't healthy and it still tastes good!

My birthday boy turned 10. Double digits, that's a big one. And we've made it a tradition that for a birthday dinner, whomever's birthday it is gets to choose dinner. Usually the kids want to go out somewhere, so when my boy said he wanted fish and chip, I figured he wanted to go out and knew of two places he could choose from. He very quickly corrected me and said he looooooooooved the beer battered talapia I'd made a few weeks before from the Nintendo DS recipe, even though it was not crispy, and wanted me to make it for him at home.

And yes, I should buy myself a deep fryer for his birthday. Please.

How terrible is that? "Please, Mom, I like your cooking better than a restaurant, won't you cook for me for my birthday, and please go buy yourself something for your kitchen so it will be easier for you to cook it?" So I did, I bought this one here, on sale.

And here is the recipe I used for his birthday dinner. I didn't have that much pastry flour, so used all purpose, and increased the cornstarch slightly. I found that 3/4 of a cup of beer was not enough, the batter was thick, thick, thick, so I added more beer, and the batter was thick, thick. I probably should have just used the entire bottle instead of leaving the last 1/4 cup in it. This made plenty of batter, enough for over 2 1/2 pounds of fish, and I had batter left over, probably enough for at least another 1 1/2 pounds.


Beer Battered Fish
from Allrecipes.com

3 eggs
3/4 cup beer (use the entire bottle)
1 1/2 cups milk
4 cups pastry flour (or all purpose)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons cornstarch (increase by 1 tablespoon if using ap flour)
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (I didn't have any so skipped it)
1 1/2 pounds cod fillets (I used nearly 2 pounds of haddock and close to 1 pound of talapia, for 4 adults and two children)
2 quarts vegetable oil for frying

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cornstarch.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs and milk. Mix in beer. Stir in flour mixture. Season with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.
In an electric deep fryer or a heavy saucepan, heat oil to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Coat fish in batter, and submerge in hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Serve.