Fish Dishes
Fish and Chips
Chip-shop fish and chips at home: lightly salted haddock or cod in a crisp, ice-cold beer batter, with fluffy-centred chips that are simmered, then fried twice. Finished with salt, malt vinegar and lemon.
- Serves 4
- About 1 hr 30 min
- Includes 30 min salting
- Deep-fried
- British
Method
Peel the potatoes (1.2 kg) and cut them into chips about 1.5 cm thick. Rinse them in several changes of cold water until it runs clear, to wash off the surface starch.
Put the chips in a pan of cold salted water, bring to a simmer and cook gently for 8–12 minutes until they are tender right through and the edges are just starting to break up. Lift them out carefully on to a rack or a tray lined with a clean tea towel and leave to steam dry, then chill for at least 30 minutes. The cracked edges make extra-crisp chips.
Meanwhile, sprinkle the fish (600 g) evenly on both sides with the fine salt (1 tsp) and leave on a plate in the fridge for 30 minutes. This seasons the fish and draws out surface moisture so the batter sticks. Pat dry with kitchen paper.
Heat the oil (2 litres) in a large, deep, heavy pan or deep-fat fryer to 130°C; never fill the pan more than a third full. Fry the chips in batches for 6–8 minutes until a pale, dry skin forms but they have not coloured. Drain on kitchen paper. They can wait at this stage for a couple of hours.
Make the batter just before you fry. Mix the flour (150 g), cornflour (50 g) and baking powder (1 tsp) with a pinch of salt. Add the honey (1 tsp), if using, then whisk in the cold beer (300 ml) until the batter is like thick double cream. A few small lumps are fine; do not overmix. Keep it cold.
Heat the oven to 100°C (80°C fan) and put a rack over a baking tray inside. Heat the oil to 180°C. Dust the fish in the flour (2 tbsp) and shake off the excess, then dip it in the batter and let the excess drip off.
Lower each piece into the oil, laying it away from you. Fry two pieces at a time for 6–8 minutes, depending on thickness, until deep golden and crisp. For chip-shop crunch, drizzle a few drops of extra batter over the top in the first minute. Drain on the rack in the oven, uncovered so the batter stays crisp.
Turn the heat up so the oil reaches 190°C and fry the chips in batches for 2–3 minutes until golden and crunchy. Drain and toss with flaky salt (to taste).
Serve straight away with the lemon wedges (1 lemon), malt vinegar (to serve) and peas (400 g), if you like, and tartare sauce.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
See also
Chef’s notes
- A digital thermometer makes deep-frying much safer and more reliable. If the oil is too cool the batter soaks up oil; if it is too hot the outside burns before the fish is cooked.
- The fish is done when it reaches about 55–60°C in the middle and flakes easily.
- Never leave hot oil unattended, keep children away and have a lid or fire blanket handy. Do not use water on an oil fire.
- The cost includes the full 2 litres of frying oil. Strain it when cold and you can reuse it two or three more times.
- Sustainability: haddock is at its best from about November to April and cod from October to March. Hake, pollock and coley also work well.
A very British takeaway
Fried fish arrived in Britain with Sephardic Jewish refugees, who coated fish in flour or batter and fried it so it could be eaten cold on the Sabbath. Chips are thought to have come from northern England or Belgium.
The two were combined in the 1860s, with Joseph Malin in London’s East End and John Lees near Oldham both claiming the first chippy. By the 1930s Britain had tens of thousands of fish and chip shops.
How this recipe was developed
We compared fish and chips by Jack Croft and William Murray (Fallow, London), Heston Blumenthal and Rick Stein with the most-rated versions on Allrecipes and BBC Good Food.
- Salt the fish first. Jack Croft and William Murray dry-cure the fish with salt for about 30 minutes to season it and firm up the surface.
- A very cold, slightly lumpy beer batter. Heston Blumenthal, Allrecipes and Fallow all use a cold, light batter with beer. Rick Stein’s uses ice-cold water. Do not overmix.
- Extra starch for crunch. Heston and Allrecipes add rice flour, BBC Good Food uses cornflour and Fallow uses both plus potato starch. We use cornflour, which is easy to find.
- A little honey and baking powder. Heston and Fallow add honey for colour; baking powder (Heston, Rick Stein, BBC Good Food) lightens the batter.
- Chips simmered, then fried twice. Heston simmers until nearly falling apart, then fries low and finishes hot; Rick Stein finishes at 190°C. Fallow cooks them slowly in fat first. All aim for a fluffy middle and crisp outside.
- Drizzled batter scraps. Fallow’s chip-shop trick: trickle a little extra batter over the fish as it fries for crunchy, craggy bits.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
- Jack Croft and William Murray (Fallow) (Jack Croft and Will Murray): The Ultimate Fish and Chips (Fallow, YouTube)
- Heston Blumenthal: Fish and chips, British GQ
- Rick Stein: Rick Stein's fish and chips, Food Magazine reproduction
- Allrecipes: Crispy Beer Batter Fish & Chips (5.0/5, 81 ratings, 60 reviews)
- BBC Good Food (Sarah Cook): Golden beer-battered fish with chips (4.0/5, 77 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.