Beer Batter Fish and Chips (Classic British) - Gordon Ramsay

Right, the most amazing fish and chips, which is my go-to comfort food, served with incredible fries and the most delicious mushy peas

For me, fish and chips screams cod. Highly sustainable, delicious, but the secret is in the batter

This is a beer batter, double zero flour, eggs and beer. It sort of makes it lighter, crispier, and it's an amazing flavor

The secret is to make that batter the night before. The more you can let it rest, it becomes so crispy

Take your cod, run it through, into seasoned flour, salt pepper. You could jazz this up a little bit with a touch of paprika

Lightly season your fish. Too wet of fish can destroy the batter. So I like to season my fish first with salt

That extracts the moisture from the fish, which keeps the batter even more crispy

Then from there, just brush off that seasoning and just pad down the fish

That way, it stays nice and firm. Into the flour, and then nicely rolled

Make sure you get the ends done. Tredge the fish in the flour in order to make sure

the batter sticks. Really important. And then next, into the batter. Make sure you don't

off any excess flour. Otherwise, you get these white clumps of flour underneath the batter

into the batter. Let it sink. I like topping tailing my fish. I trim the top, trim the base

I've got an even piece of fish. If it's cut evenly, it's gonna cook evenly. Shake off the excess

flour and in to the batter Roll that fish round and let it sink in there Now oil comes up to 300 It takes about six to seven minutes to cook beautifully But here the secret Keep that fish coated This is where it gets messy but exciting

Lift up your fish. Go left to right, dredging it, and then very quickly

get a point of the fish. Let the batter run down, shake off any excess flour

and then in to the friar, and just sort of taunt it first

and just let it lay away from you. Shake the pan gently. That starts to cover the top of the fish

Take a spatula and just gently base the top of the fish. Once you've had the fish in there for two minutes

flip over the fish, and that way you see it evenly coated. Look at that. It's beautiful, golden brown

Now, take that out, shake it. Well, let that sit. They're like these perfect parcels

And literally, let that sit there. Now, as it's piping hot, you salt and just lightly season the top

And what happens to the fish now, it just gets even crisper. But the batter season underneath and on top

That's really important. Right, fries. These are Yukon Gold potatoes. And basically just peeled, not washed

because I want the starch to get really nice and crispy. I start them off at a very low temperature

in a way that I blanched them. And that is literally in the oil first

for two minutes at 3.30. In. Blanching basically means cooking with no color

And the secret here now is the blancher for two minutes at 3 Take them out let them rest crank up the heat go from 320 to 385 Great Now the temperature risen fries back in second time cooking and this time it getting them really nice and crispy A great indicator cooking in cooking in the fryers is that when it starts to float it a confirmation that it cooked whether it fish chicken or fries Cooking fries twice blancheing them first and then put them back in hot oil at the end It so much more healthier because they don sit in the oil for anywhere near as long as frozen fries

so it's really good to cook them twice, super healthy. Fries are done, shake

You can hear how crisper they are. Out onto a tray, drain them really well

lightly rub off the excess fat, let them sit there. I love placing them into a bowl, fresh parsley on top

a touch of paprika, and then a touch of salt and pepper

and then from there, just roll them around. You can hear how crisp they are. Beautiful

Fish and chips would not be complete unless we've got peas. I use frozen peas all the time

so don't be scared. A splash of oil. Just a splash. Peas go in. Beautiful. Such a salt, such a

pepper. A little hint of shallots, minced in, and garlic. It's a great way of elevating mushy

peas from there, a little knob of butter in. And then you just toss those peas. Once that butter's evaporated

we turn off the gas and then just crush Beautiful And that where you take this frozen pea into a mushy pee And we sort of trying to break it up almost like a sort of just like a puree But I don want to refine them too much

because the flavor is when you burst them. Touch more butter in there. The butter gives it the really nice glossy finish

One more little finishing touch, some fresh mint. Just bring your leaves down, lay them on top of one another

Get your largest leaf on the bottom. Roll it really tight, and then just shred

Let the knife do the work. Look, beautiful, fresh mint. Now sprinkle that over your peas

and that just lifts the peas beautifully. When I serve lemon on a plate

I take these bits off. These are like the posh parts. It's just like the perfect wedge or slice of lemon

And now we're ready to plate. Fish comes over. Here, how crunchy that is

Fries, place them there. You know, crispy there. Beautifully done. And then, from there, this beautiful mound

of mushy peas. Place to the side. Finally, the sort of of the sort of... the sort of Roll Royce of sauces with fish and chips

tartar sauce, and mayonnaise with gherkins, onions, and the most amazing capers in there

That goes on the side, and that just cascades off. And how can you serve fish and chips without lemon

I get my lemon here, and I just squeeze it over the fish

onto the salt, and then a fresh one there, literally for seconds

And there we have, fish and chips. Alla Gordon