beer batter for fish

[helenjp]

Just when everybody in the US is fast asleep...quick, quick, wake up everybody, and tell me whether I should add an egg to my beer batter for fish.

I used to make it with just flour and beer and seasonings, but I see some recipes out there with an egg or two added. Whaddaya say?

(We've gone way too Japanese at our house, the fish is salmon and shark, because they're cheapest, and the chips are a mixture of potato and sweet potato...)

[PCL]

As an Aussie, my answer is simple, "No."

We were out fishing on a boat yesterday. Caught whiting. Made up a batter with water, flour and beer. Then dipped the bastards into a loose beaten egg mixture... there you go, the egg component, then into the batter. Then wham, in the fryer.

Technically, the answer is no, cause the egg doesn't go into the batter.

I've also done it so that the fillets get dredged in sifted fine flour then into said batter, with no egg. Both work well.

[Kevin72]

This is probably too late to help you but I never can get the whole egg in the batter thing. The batter comes out too heavy or leathery and, well, eggy tasting, even when I use only whites. I freely allow that this could be due to my own frying incompetence, though.

[helenjp]

Well, in the interests of experiment, I went ahead and used an egg. I also thought that egg might make for a thick, leathery batter...so I borrowed some ideas from tempura, and used the beer cold from the fridge, rather than room temperature, and also dredged the fish with cornstarch before dipping it in the batter. The batter was fairly thin - roughly equal parts of beer and flour by volume, a little heavy on the flour side. Could go to nearly 1 part beer: 2 parts flour if you wanted a thicker batter.

That did make a thin, crisp coating, with more flavor than a tempura batter, but nothing like the normal "fish in a spacesuit" battered fish!

I did fry the fish at a higher temperature than normal though, which made for a crisper batter. Thought the beer batter might burn, but had no trouble...possibly because it was that Japanese fake beer!

The salmon in beer batter was great, especially as the salmon had sat in ginger/garlic and thyme for a while before battering and frying!

[WolfChef]

If you use egg then use just the white. Have always heard that the yolk will cause the batter to be greasier. I never use egg in my batters, mainly because the seafood chef i worked next to for for years(i was the broiler chef and worked the saute line) said egg in batter was a no no.

[helenjp]

I'll be very interested to try an experiment with an eggwhite added to half of the batter next time!

[PCL]

I got slapped once when making family meal with salmon in batter.

[Toliver]

I recall my sister-in-law making a beer batter for a fish fry. The recipe called for whipping the egg whites and then folding them into the rest of the ingredients and dipping the fish into that mixture. It turned out quite well. If anyone is interested I can try and get the recipe from her.

[lovebenton0]

I recall my sister-in-law making a beer batter for a fish fry.  The recipe called for whipping the egg whites and then folding them into the rest of the ingredients and dipping the fish into that mixture.  It turned out quite well.  If anyone is interested I can try and get the recipe from her.

←

Always interested, Toliver, in trying a different approach. I love beer batter for fish. This sounds like something I need to try. Thanks if you can get it.

[culinary bear]

Personally, I don't add eggs to frying batter, either yolks or white.

Although the protein (albumin) content of the egg white will give some elasticity to the batter (and, I've found, make the fish slightly easier to coat) you sacrifice crispness of the final product. I have found in the past that the battered item will go soggy very quickly.

For the last few years, I've used this very simple (and bomb-proof) recipe :

9oz self-raising flour

1 bottle (330ml) beer - I use Nastro Azzuro, but any fizzy lager will do

salt

freshly ground white pepper

1tbsp lemon juice.

Make sure the beer's cold, and that if the batter's hanging around, it's kept on ice. It must be cold or it won't crisp up so well. Mix everything together and beat until smooth.

Take your fish, and with more salt, pepper and lemon juice, season it thoroughly. Be generous with the seasonings.

Place the fish into flour, and coat thoroughly.

Hold the floured fish by the thinnest end, and coat with the batter. Allow the excess batter to drip off for a few seconds, then place the tip of the piece of fish in the hot oil, and lower down GENTLY. Aim for an inch of submersion every three seconds. Once you're half-way submerged the batter will have souffled up and the fish will want to float. Gently submerge the rest of the fish at the same rate and leave for three to four minutes. Turn the fish over, give it another three to four minutes, and drain thoroughly.

Eat! :)

Edited November 24, 2004 by culinary bear (log)

[Suzanne F]

I don't know: to me a beer batter is just equal volumes of all-purpose (plain) flour and beer, mixed well and left to sit for about 3 hours. Temperature of the beer doesn't matter, nor whether it's fresh or flat; the batter can sit in the fridge or out on the counter. No matter what, it always works. I've been using this for onion rings for close to 30 years (don't worry, I make a fresh batch each time), and it makes for a light, crunchy, golden crust.

I vaguely remember that we had a discussion of beer batter sometime in the past. Anyone care to look?

[bleachboy]

The beer batter I use is indeed freakin' awesome (I have never served anything fried in it without getting raves) and it does contain an egg.

Here's the recipe

I am gonna be using this, in fact, on Thansgiving Day to do fried cod and onion rings -- no sense wasting all that hot oil from the turkey frying!