Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, we are featuring one of our favorite comfort foods: fish and chips! When I was in Dublin, I ate fish and chips almost every day. During Kyle’s trip to London and Dublin last Spring – a fish and chips challenge began. They prepared to undertake (for the sake of “research”) to find the place with the best fish and chips. One of their favorites came from a food truck called Say Fish in Dublin. Say Fish used a few nontraditional methods that really elevated their fish and chips to the next level.
Instead of coating the fish in batter, they bread the fish with panko breadcrumbs before deep frying. This results in a delightfully crunchy exterior. They also seasoned their chips with ground seaweed, a unique twist on seasoning fries.
In addition to the panko breadcrumbs and the special chip seasoning, Say Fish had a wide array of dipping sauces – there was tartar, lemon Cajun sauce and a black garlic and truffle aioli. The sauces were addictive, but, let’s face it, so were the fish and chips! Kyle loved Say Fish so much, he visited twice in one day!
This particular dish was not something Kyle was keen on recreating back home. Deep-frying is not something he usually does, so enjoying the memory of his favorite fish and chips in Dublin was just fine. Well, enter Autumn 2018. Food 52 shared a genius recipe hack for Easy Chicken Schnitzel. Their process for breading basically foregoes the traditional messy assembly-line setup for breading- the time-consuming undertaking of dredging in flour and egg/milk mixture, creating a mess-o-rama. Food 52 suggests marinating the schnitzel in a seasoned mayonnaise before tossing it in panko breadcrumbs.
The mayonnaise acts as both a marinade, infusing the schnitzel with incredible flavor, and as a binder. This replaces the flour and egg steps in the traditional process. As we well know, mayo is the discreet superstar when it comes to achieving crispy, crunchy crusts – this was the lesson we learned when making the ultimate grilled cheese.
So, after several autumn months of schnitzel making – and making THE best chicken cutlets and pork chops of his life (and deep-frying more than he ever has….), inspiration came when a friend hosted an Irish-themed dinner party. He realized he should be making fish and chips using the Food 52 technique – duh! The “Chicken Schnitzel” recipe could easily be converted into a “Fish Fry” recipe. The only adjustment made was the cooking time on each side of the fish fillets. Soon enough, everyone was enjoying some crispy, yet tender, fish and chips – feeling as if they were dining on their favorite Say Fish dish in Dublin.
The next step in the fish and chips process was converting the recipe into a gluten free version. Kyle had mixed feelings about the process, even though replacing breadcrumbs with thick-cut potato chips has worked numerous times in other recipes. His apprehension was due to never having to completely coat an entire entrée with the mixture. Might I say, he was pleasantly surprised!
The key was grinding the potato chips into a very fine, almost powder-like consistency (he used a coffee grinder to achieve this, but a food processor would work just as well). The fine potato chip crumbs helped to evenly coat and adhere to the fish when cooking. You also get the added benefit of enjoying an extra dose of potatoes with your fish – it is Fish (& Chips) & Chips. Tee-hee.
On to the chips – Kyle used the same technique from our Crispy Oven Sweet Potato Fries. This is where you parboil the potato batons, then roast them at a high heat to achieve a incredibly crisp exterior and a light, fluffy interior. The boiling step can be done ahead of time, then you can just roast the potatoes while you fry the fish, eliminating the need to deep-fry both the potatoes AND the fish, with a bonus of having everything hot and ready at the same time. The chips were seasoned with some seaweed with a dried seaweed snack from Trader Joe’s. However, nori would also work great and should be more readily available. The seaweed helped to emulate that unique flavor from the Say Fish food truck.
The fish is complete, the chips are ready – time to tackle an important part of the Say Fish menu- the sauce. Kyle is still currently working on the Black Garlic and Truffle Mayo (stay tuned for that!). So, in the spirit of the delicious condiments from Say Fish he paired them with a take on fry sauce. He used a recipe from Epicureous – an actual recreation of Shake Shack’s Burger Sauce. This sauce is basically a combination of ALL the condiments (the pickle juice adds a nice touch), plus a few spices – creating a sauce that is good on everything, especially fish and chips. Kyle’s version had a little extra heat and a bunch more smoked paprika – making an addictive smoky fry sauce.
So what Kyle has created here, inspired by Say Fish in Dublin, is a truly unique AND gluten free fish and chips dish. My memories of Dublin and my love of fish and chips are reimagined in this dish, it brings me back to The Quays or, actually, any Dublin pub. In fact, it may far surpass any fish and chips dish I had there (time to travel all of Ireland to test this dish in each town). You cannot go wrong with this recipe, so, enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day – make sure you add some fish and chips to the holiday line-up this year. Sláinte!
Technique for the Fish adapted from Food52. Sauce adapted from Epicurious.
- For the fish:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 pound haddock (or any other firm white fish) filets
- 1 ½ cups vegetable oil, adjusted as needed for frying
- 4 ounces (about 4 cups) potato chips, finely ground, yielding about 1 cup of crumbs
- Kosher salt and pepper
- For the oven fries:
- 4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, about 2 pounds
- ¼ cup olive oil, divided
- Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon nori flakes
- Fry Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon pickle juice
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon chili sauce (such as sriracha or sambal oelek)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- Dash worcestershire sauce
- To make the fish:
- Combine the mayonnaise and the haddock in a large plastic bag or bowl. Squeeze the bag or stir with a spoon to mix. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 1 day. (Prep the oven fries while the fish chills in the fridge).
- When you’re ready to fry, add enough oil to a large cast-iron skillet to reach just shy of ½-inch in depth. Set over medium-high heat.
- Spread out the potato chip crumbs on a plate. Remove each piece of fish from the mayo and swipe away any excess. (No need to be obsessive but it should look mostly mayo-free, otherwise it won’t crisp properly.) Dredge each piece of fish in the crumbs, pressing firmly to completely coat.
- The oil should be about 365° F. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can test its readiness by dropping a crumb in the oil. It should immediately sizzle—not sink (too cold), nor burn (too hot).
- Fry in batches, taking care not to overcrowd (I fried two pieces per batch). Cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side until deeply browned. Transfer to a paper towel–lined plate to drain and sprinkle with flaky salt. Repeat with the remaining fish.
- For the oven fries:
- Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Scrub potatoes well and cut into ½-inch sticks. Place in a large pot and cover with an inch or two of water. Set heat to high and set timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, whether or not the potatoes have boiled, test one. You’re looking for a very “al dente” potato — one that has no crunch, but is too firm to eat enjoyably.
- Meanwhile, coat a large baking sheet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and place it in the oven for a few minutes.
- Drain the potatoes and immediately spread them on oiled baking sheet in one layer. Drizzle with last 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle generously with kosher salt and nori and roast for 20 minutes, until potatoes begin to brown underneath. Toss potatoes around to encourage them to color evenly and return them to the oven for another 5 minutes. Repeat this 1 or 2 more times until your “fries” are deeply browned and crisp at the edges.
- For the Fry sauce:
- In a medium bowl, stir together all fry sauce ingredients until combined. Season to taste with more salt and pepper.
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