HELP,HELP,HELP Need some clues on the perfect batter. Dosnt matter what i do, iend up with a soft soggy mess.
how do you make yours? Does the type of oil make a differance?
cheers davo......
HELP,HELP,HELP Need some clues on the perfect batter. Dosnt matter what i do, iend up with a soft soggy mess.
how do you make yours? Does the type of oil make a differance?
cheers davo......
Here are few off the net
Gabriel Gate’s Recipe
1 3/4 cups self-raising flour
1 good pinch of salt
a generous amount of ground black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 cup beer
100 ml water (approx)
Method:
Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the beer and water, and whisk together to make a smooth batter. You may need to add a little extra water to adjust the consistency.
Allow the batter to stand for 1 hour if possible (it will thicken a little).
Fill a saucepan, wok or deep fryer with about 1 litre vegetable oil to a depth of about 5 cm and heat to 160° C (or until a small piece of bread browns within 1 minute).
Dry fish with paper towel, to minimise spitting.
Coat fish lightly in flour and dip in batter. Drain excess onto rim of bowl before very carefully lowering into hot oil. Cook until golden brown, then remove from oil onto absorbent paper.
Fish batter
Making a good batter is probably what most people find a challenge but
obtaining the right thickness and consistency is vital to protect your fish and
ensure its quality taste.
Ingredients:
1 medium sized firm flesh fish – Rockling or cod is great
100g plain flour
100g self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
280ml milk or a dark beer
1 tbsp of oil
2 stiffly beaten egg whites
1 egg yolk
Water
Salt and vinegar to finish.
Method:
Sift the flours and a pinch of salt into a basin. Add the egg yolk and liquid and beat the mixture together until it’s smooth. Leave the batter to rest for 30 minutes. You can add a little cold sparkling water to your rested batter to give it a lighter finish.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites until they are light and fluffy. Fold them into
the rested batter mix and you are ready to go.
If you like, you can use beer in your batter instead of milk as it can give it a bit
more flavour as well as more bubbles for a lighter covering. Dark beers such
as Guinness work well.
Cooking the Fish:
Coat the fish lightly in seasoned flour. When ready, carefully hold the fish at the
tail end and dip it into the batter.
Cook in a deep fryer or a deep frying pan generously filled with oil. You know when your oil is hot enough because it will start to spit.
The perfect batter – plain flour and self-raising flour
The combination of flours is good for batter. The self-raising flour contains
raising agents, mostly bicarbonate of soda and tartaric acid, which start to
produce little bubbles of carbon dioxide gas, once some liquid is added. The
bubbles keep the batter light and fluffy. But you also want the batter to be able to
hold together and keep the fish wrapped up. That’s where the plain flour comes
in. It has a high proportion of protein, in addition to the starch. The proteins
interact to form gluten - long, tangled strands of molecules which effectively
glue your batter together so it nicely wraps around the fish.
From Ken Alexander
This is a recipe for an excellent beer batter that was passed on years
ago by a friend.
Ingredients:
o 1 cup of plain flour
o A pinch of salt
o 60gms of melted butter
o 2 eggs, lightly beaten
o 1 cup of beer
o 1 egg white, stiffly beaten
o Extra flour as needed
Stir flour through butter and eggs. Gradually add beer and stir until
smooth. Cover and stand for one hour in a warm place. Just before using,
fold in the egg white. Flour fish and coat with batter. Cook in 5mms of
hot extra virgin olive oil for two to four minutes on each side.
Doyle's Deep-frying Batter
There are so many different recipes for making batter for coating fish, croquettes, fish cakes, shellfish, etc. Once you find the one you like, I suggest you stick with it, as we have.
Anyway, as requested so many times and told so many times to people from all parts of the world, here is the Doyle's batter recipe. It is so simple. The "secret" is in the beating. Say, 1/2 cup to 1 cup plain flour.
1 cup cold water, gradually increasing to about 2 cups
Place the flour in a basin with the 1 cup of water, then with a rotary hand-held beater start beating. Gradually add your extra cup of water and beat until you get plenty of "body" into that batter. You may have to add more water. The result has to be a thin, smooth, well bodied batter that adheres to a wooden spoon.
Keep testing by dipping the spoon in and letting the batter drop slowly back into the mixture. If it drops slowly it's OK and ready to use.
Our only other "secrets" are plenty of beautiful, fresh clean oil and the fish to go with it.
Another Frying Batter
Put 125 g (4 oz) flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a basin, gradually add 1/2 cup tepid water and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or clarified butter, and mix into a smooth batter. If time permits, put batter aside for about 1 hour, then just before using, lightly stir in two stiffly whisked egg whites.
Thanx Hoges..
cleaning some KGW now. i'll try the first one
davo.....
Originally Posted by baitchuka
Yummy!
Did you catch the KGW in Port Phillip Bay?
If yes how are the whiting biting this year? (Almost poetry. lol)
Enjoy the feed!
Hi
Seems to me that it may not be the batter but the heat. Soggy batter is usually as a result of the oil not being hot enough. If I was you I'd turn the heat up.
Cheers
Derek
Gidday hoges..
getting them PPB. HAVE TO WORK HARD FOR THEM THOUGH.keep moving till ya find em. you down this way?
davo....
Yep in Brighton and used to fish the whiting beds off North Road ramp. No boat these days and no spare time.
Please report back on how your batter turns out. Remember to do the bread test to see if the oil is hot enough.
Cheers
Pete
Saw a friend do this and tasted results which were good.
Pour a can of COLD beer into a bowl.
Stir in enough self raising flour to make it into a runney texture.
Dip fillets into mixture and drop them straight into a deep pot of hot oil on the heat.
Fish is cooked quickly by the deep frying method and the batter comes out dry and crispy.
This was done at a camp site and really amazed me how quick and easy it was.
Pandas recipe is exactly what I use for batter. Flour and beer is all you need. You get a nice light batter every time.
Make sure the cooking oil is very hot. test it by dropping in a little batter. It should sizzle straight away. If it isn't hot enough the batter will be very soggy.
It is foolproof..
A quick and simple option is to use Mary Macks instant batter. This product works a treat, no mess and is very versatile for anything from a beer batter to a tepura style coating. I use it a lot especially when boating or cruising. A chef put me onto it and he told me its used in a lot of good takeaways etc.
Neil
I agree with the guru & would would like to add - thin the batter too.
my fav recipe
- 1/2 selfraising
- 1/2 cornflour (makes a lighter, crisper, tempura style batter)
- whisk in beer until it is runny like motor oil.
- (you can add an egg yolk to yellow it)
* Put in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour.
This allows the gluten in the flours to do their thing & the mix will thicken slightly & the bicarb in the SR will lighten the mix
* Dust the fish pieces in flour (you can add some powdered oregano or curry for some extra flavour.)
* Make sure you shake excess flour off, dip in the batter, when the batter stops running off & starts to drip thats when you add to the oil.
As Derek says oil must be hot - no less than 200C before the fish goes in - never put more pieces in at once than 1/3 of the pan or the oil temp drops too quick & won't recover.
Use light flavoured oils - if you are a rich bugger, macadamia nut oil has perhaps the nicest flavour & suits fish.
Do not add salt to your batter if you want to keep the oil - it breaks oil down.
chris
ps. & its gotta be XXXX
pps. use bundaberg ginger beer for something different or for a really light flavour - soda water.
thanx guys and gals, did the beer and s\r flour thing, worked a treat, made sure oil was hot. best batter icv ever had.
CHEERS DAVO.......+
I've got to aggree with the XXXX and S/R flour batter but I like to add a bit of
yellow food colouring (golden XXXX Batter)
You Buggers. I'm tongueing for a good feed now & it's all your fault!!!!!
I like a batter to be thin and crisp so that you get a real crunch when you bite the piece of fish. For that reason I usually go for the tempura style batters. Here's the one I've found to be easiest and the best (and it only takes seconds to make).
equal quantities of plain flour and rice flour, plus a pinch of salt. Then pour in ice cold soda water and whisk until the batter is the consistency of cream (or paint). Flour your fish pieces lightly, dip into the batter and allow to drain for a second then lower into very hot oil. Cook for a minute and remove and drain on paper towel, dust with salt and eat at once. This batter will not turn very brown so don't overcook the fish while you wait for it to go golden. Enjoy
Cheers Freeeedom
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