Crispy Beer Battered Fish (With Tartare Sauce)

Crispy Beer Battered Fish is umami and juicy fish in a wrap with a crispy and fluffy beer batter without being greasy. The tip to keep the fish stay crispy and puffy is to use low-gluten flour, and dark beer and deep fry it at a high temperature the second time.

It’s so easy to make your mouth water, and if you eat it with tartar sauce, you won’t be able to stop.

Anna’s Tips for Crispy Beer Battered Fish

Many may wonder why my beer-battered fish is not crispy. Below you’ll find tips to avoid this problem. And these tips also apply to other fried seafood, mushroom, meats and vegetables.

• Use low-gluten flour, Low gluten flour has a lower water content and is better for frying. This allows the batter to be crispy and fluffy after frying.

• Use dark beer (I learned this from a chef), whose wheat flavor is more prominent and makes the beer-battered fish more aromatic. The bubbles in the dark beer are relatively finer than in the white beer, which makes the battered fish light and fluffy. The yeast and carbonation make battered crispy and thin, rather than thick and greasy.

• Stir the batter minimally, don’t look for lumps, but make sure that the beer mixes evenly with the flour. In this way, the bubbling won’t diminish and the batter will be light and crispy.

• Fry twice. 160°C/320°F oil temperature for the first frying to cook the fish. 200°C/392°F oil temperature for the second frying to keep the fish crispy and puffy without greasy.

• Work in batches. When you put fish in hot oil, the oil temperature will drop and get hot again as you cook. So if you add too much at once, the overall temperature will drop and the fish may stick together, resulting in uneven cooking. This will cause the batter to stop being crumbly and wet.

• After frying, it’s best to use a cooling rack so that the steam inside doesn’t cause soggy breading.

What goes in Beer Batter

• Whitefish – Any kind of whitefish you prefer. The following information will help you find the right white fish to fry.

• Milk – Soaking the fish in milk to bring out the umami and sweetness of the fish. It only takes 5 to 10 minutes, so don’t skip this step. It’s really helpful.

• Dark beer – I prefer to use dark beer. It gives it a stronger beer flavor. The bubbles in the dark beer are fairly fine and make the battered light and fluffy.

• Low-gluten flour – It contains less water than other flours. This is the key point to making battered crispy and fluffy.

• Baking powder – to make the battered become fluffier.

• Salt and pepper – They’re important to give flavor to the fish and battered.

Best fish for frying

Below you’ll find suitable and unsuitable white fish for preparing crispy beer-battered fish. You can choose your favorite and most suitable fish for this dish.

• Less expensive white fish – snapper, Bass, tilapia, catfish and ling.

• More expensive white fish – flounder, cod, halibut, grouper, haddock, whiting and plaice.

• Unsuitable fish for this dish – mackerel, sardine, tuna and salmon. They’re either too dry or too oily after frying.

Tips for cooking fish:

• The fish should first be soaked in milk to bring out the umami and sweetness of the fish. This only takes 5-10 minutes and is enough.

• And if you cut the fish against the grain, you’ll get a better texture. This is how you get the texture of sashimi.

How to make beer-battered fish

How to identify oil temperature

If you don’t have a thermometer, here are easy ways to identify oil temperature. They also apply to other fried foods.

And remember to deep-fried twice for crispy and fluffy beer-battered fish. The first time you let the fish cook. The second time you fry it at a high temperature (200ºC/392°F) to remove the excess oil so that the fish isn’t greasy, and keep the fish stay crispy for age.

• Correct temperature for deep frying. When the oil temperature is ready for frying, add a drop of batter to the oil pan. The batter immediately floats with golden color, which means the oil temperature is ready for frying.

• When it’s cooked, if the oil bubbles become less while frying, it means it’s cooked. You can put it on kitchen towel.

• High oil temperature (200ºC/392°F). When the oil temperature is high, the oil appears in lines, which means that the oil has a very high temperature. You can fry for the second time. Fry for only 2~3 minutes or when the battered turns a golden brown color. You can put it on a cooling rack.

How long will the oil keep once it has been used to fry fish?
Pour the oil into a jar or bottle where it’ll keep for weeks at room temperature.

Homemade crispy Potato Wedges on the side

Crispy potato wedges go best with beer-battered fish. You can fry these two dishes at once, so you can enjoy a good meal without wasting oil.

Besides, the tartare sauce goes well with the fish. Then it’s a perfect meal for a day.

Homemade tartare sauce

Prepare a bowl, put mayonnaise, chopped pickled cucumber, capers, Dijon mustard, and two peeled boiled eggs.
Use a hand blender to mix all the ingredients together. If you like it grainy, blend it not too fine so you can still eat some grains.

Make ahead / reheated

You can absolutely make it ahead. I made too much and kept it in the fridge overnight. I reheated it in the oven at 190ºC/374ºF and it got crispy again. 

SERVE WITH…

It’s a perfect match with…

Ultra Crispy Potato Wedges

Baked Buffalo Wings – ULTRA CRISPY!!

Pulled Pork Burger

Queso Dip (Mexican Cheese Dip) With Nachos

Pulled Pork Nachos

More seafood dishes:

Lemon Butter Sauce For Fish

Shrimp With Lobster Sauce

Kung Pao Shrimp

One Pan Whitefish with White Wine

Egg Foo Young

Watch how to make

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