Good batter for fish.

[code2d]

This is used when I make homemade onion rings but It should work great with fish.

Ingredients:salt (1tsp),flower (1cup),baking soda (1 tsp), egg (1), milk (3/4 cup), Crushed cracker crums (1 cup)
----------------------------------------------------
1.Add a cup of flower and 1 tsp of baking soda and 1tsp salt into the bowl
(All the dry ingredients not including cracker crums)

2.batter fish/onion rings
(Put a decent coating of the flour mixture on the fish/onion)

3.Add 3/4 cup of milk and 1 egg to the mix to the already semi filled bowl of flour mixture
(Role over the egg and milk into the flour with a fork until mixed in)

4.rebatter
(put fish/onion into the wet flour mix and coat the entire fish/onion)

5.use the pre-crushed crackers and role the fish into them
(I crush the crackers my-self with a cup on top of a cooking pan, rolling the cup ontop of them to crush)
(make sure to coat fish/egg entirely)

6.fry in oil till a golden brown
(I prefer Peanut but canola vegetable oil works great to)

7.enjoy
(yum,yum...yum)
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If you have spiced before try spicing the crumbs and experiment

Spices suggested: pepper (mostly), small amount of chilli powder, and cajun spice

[Oldsarge]

Hi Code2,
Your recipe is welcome but a little unclear. Do you roll the fish/onion rings in the dry mix then add liquid and rebatter then cracker-crumb them? And what flavor of oil do you favor? Peanut? Olive?
Thanx,

[code2d]

do you roll the fish/onion rings in the dry mix then add liquid and rebatter then cracker-crumb

I prefer Peanut but canola vegetable oil
works great to. I will Update the recipe with greater detail

[Mr. X]

Wot no beer?
(In truth, I'd never heard of "beer batter" until I went to the USA. Looks like Flyflicker down in Dorset has posted a recipe tho').

[spaghetti]

A couple years ago there has been a big debate in Italy about what's the best oil for deep frying, a real case of national security with celebrity chefs arguing on newspapers and telling each other to f...k off live on tv!
At the end of the day, this is what's left of the debate. Two questions:
1-which oil is healthier for deep frying?
2-wich oil makes your fry taste better?
The national debate brought to these answers:
1- Healthy- The winner is olive oil, silver medal to peanut oil, bronze medal to sunflower oil.
That's because of their lower content of linolenic acid, a substance which may have a slightly toxic reaction in the frying process. Another point for olive oil is it's higher "smoking point" (it "smokes" at 240 centigrades) and you all know how unhealthy burnt oil can be.
2- taste- personal preference. Just consider that olive oil has a stronger taste, while penaut and sunflower oil have a more "neutral" taste. So a fish fried in sunflower oil will taste of FISH more than a one fried in olive oil, wich will be a better tasting dish, but less "fishy".
PS- This is no gospel, it's just what some people say in a small mediterranean country.

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by spaghetti

A couple years ago there has been a big debate in Italy about what's the best oil for deep frying, a real case of national security with celebrity chefs arguing on newspapers and telling each other to f...k off live on tv!
At the end of the day, this is what's left of the debate. Two questions:
1-which oil is healthier for deep frying?
2-wich oil makes your fry taste better?
The national debate brought to these answers:
1- Healthy- The winner is olive oil, silver medal to peanut oil, bronze medal to sunflower oil.
That's because of their lower content of linolenic acid, a substance which may have a slightly toxic reaction in the frying process. Another point for olive oil is it's higher "smoking point" (it "smokes" at 240 centigrades) and you all know how unhealthy burnt oil can be.
2- taste- personal preference. Just consider that olive oil has a stronger taste, while penaut and sunflower oil have a more "neutral" taste. So a fish fried in sunflower oil will taste of FISH more than a one fried in olive oil, wich will be a better tasting dish, but less "fishy".
PS- This is no gospel, it's just what some people say in a small mediterranean country.

What a happy coincidence that Italy is also one of the worlds biggest producers of Olive oil! (Like French scientists periodically reporting new health benefits being found for wine?! Pity about sclerosis of the liver, impaired judgement & alcoholism. Or British scientists releasing new discoveries about the health benefits of chocolate before Easter and Christmas; pity about all the palm oil.)

I didn't realise that olive oil had a high smoking point. I heard an American scientist talking on the radio, recommending peanut oil for stir frying, as it has a very high smoking point (it actually tastes better too -- more like "authentic" Chinese restaurant food?).

Growing up, we never had olive oil. Olives arren't grown here (although its becoming quite a popular garden plant now - although with all the rain this year, you have to wonder how many will survive). Oils were't used much, fats (butter, lard, margarine, beef dripping) were more common. Maybe corn oil for frying sometimes. Over the years, the diversity of food eaten here has increased dramatically. I must admit, I found the taste of Olive oil pretty unappealling when I first tried it (heck, it was all...oily). It was an aquired taste but we use it often now -- although we probaby wouldn't if it didn't have such a healthy reputation. Surprisingly, Olive oil is a lot cheaper than homegrown flax seed oil currently too -- although that might change. (I believe olive oil is mono unsaturated - so pretty neutral healthwise. Flax oil contains Omega-3, which is pretty beneficial healthwise.)

I would normally opt for a more neutral flavoured oil for a good fresh fish. Although, having read your post, I see I will have to consider using olive oil to give a more authentic Italian/Mediterranean flavour to some dishes in future .

[spaghetti]

Well Mr.X we have to sell our millions of tons to someone...he he.
However, I cook everything with olive oil but personally I don't like it for frying: I use sunflower for that. And for the health thing, you know medical research is not a perfect science: today they say white, tomorrow they say black. But the prevailing idea, as far as I know, is that olive oil is good for health better than any other sort of "grease".
An Irish research:
The health benefits of olive oil
A BBC report:
BBC NEWS | Health | Olive oil acid 'cuts cancer risk'
A blonde and good looking woman doctor from Minnesota:
Olive oil: What are the health benefits? - MayoClinic.com
For the taste, make sure you tried the "extra-virgin" olive oil, wich is the first choice one (which is indeed too expensive for frying). Also, they're not all the same, depending of the weather, terrain and type of olives (there's not just one olive, as well as you have various types of apples): the best ones are from Tuscany, Liguria, Apulia (the strongest tasted type: it's from Oldsarge's homeland Btw) and from Lake Garda (the "mild taste" type, very low acidity).

[Oldsarge]

That would explain my insistance on olive oil that is labeled "rich and hearty", I guess. Personally, I'm with you; don't deepfry in Olive Oil. For frying and stir-frying I much prefer peanut oil because of its higher smoking temperature. For saute', though, nothing beats good olive . . . with perhaps a 50% mix of butter in really delicate situations or good smoky bacon for real richness. Oh dear, I'm getting hungry again . . .

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by spaghetti

... And for the health thing, you know medical research is not a perfect science: today they say white, tomorrow they say black. But the prevailing idea, as far as I know, is that olive oil is good for health better than any other sort of "grease".

How true. At the time mentioned above - margarine was touted as particularly healthy ... although it is now thought that the trans-fats they contain are worse than saturated fats. In American they recommended against butter as bad for the heart and against margarine because of cancer risk; I suppose Olive oil is the next viable option! Although we were just discussing at home how lean & fit (some of) our Grandparents were, given their diets included a lot of grease (but real meat, proper eggs & fresh vegetables).

Originally Posted by spaghetti

...
An Irish research:
The health benefits of olive oil
A BBC report:
BBC NEWS | Health | Olive oil acid 'cuts cancer risk'
A blonde and good looking woman doctor from Minnesota:
Olive oil: What are the health benefits? - MayoClinic.com
For the taste, make sure you tried the "extra-virgin" olive oil, wich is the first choice one (which is indeed too expensive for frying). Also, they're not all the same, depending of the weather, terrain and type of olives (there's not just one olive, as well as you have various types of apples): the best ones are from Tuscany, Liguria, Apulia (the strongest tasted type: it's from Oldsarge's homeland Btw) and from Lake Garda (the "mild taste" type, very low acidity).

Yes we use extra virgin. In fact that was all we used for some time, it was often used for frying which I pointed out was expensive & wasteful - as the distinct stronger flavour is not really desirable in, say, traditional English bacon and eggs!

I am not surprised that there are other health benefits. Some probably still unexplored. The med. diet (specifically Southern Italian) is often held up as a particularly healthy diet here. They say food in the rawer/rougher forms is usually better too (e.g. red wine rather than white, dark beer rather than light, extra virgin rather than later pressings, green tea rather than black,...). The weather probably helps a lot too.

[spaghetti]

well let me throw two more cents in:
healthy or not, when you cook a traditional dish from a traditional recipe (english or italian or whatever) we should use the traditional ingredients.
A norwegian or dutch traditional dish cooked with olive oil instead of butter could be probably healthier, but it's not the real thing and, in result, the taste would be...unbalanced.
That's why wen I cook northern italian dishes (risotto, cotoletta, tortellini and many others) I use butter, or a mix of butter and extra virgin as Oldsarge said.
This is cause of arguments between me and my wife: she's 100% Tuscan (and 100% olive oil at cooking), while I was born form a northern italian mother whose milk tasted like butter...

[tancho]

Mr. X mentions how or our grandparents were healthy eating what they did - (beef dripping, MMMMmmmmm) and how true that is. The answer could well be use what tastes best in moderation then get off your Xrse and burn it off. Preferably in the sea but, failing that, walk or bike to your destination where possible.

[code2d]

Haha I left this post for only a day I thought and already 10 posts.....You could add Beer I would guess mr. x. I would say that peanut would be more healthly If you are not eating enough meat (because nuts are a good 2nd choose for meat) but in generel Olive Is probably more healthy. I Only use it on salid myself.

[fcallagy]

As Mr X said our forefathers and mothers may have been healthier but they had much more active lifestyles and an awful lot less snacks available. Work was usually manual and you had three meals a day.

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by fcallagy

As Mr X said our forefathers and mothers may have been healthier but they had much more active lifestyles and an awful lot less snacks available. Work was usually manual and you had three meals a day.

In the interests of balance, I probably should mention that 3 of my Grandparents were dead before I was born - the remaining one was in great shape though. (I'm pretty sure I got at least a few of his genes - here's hoping ).

[Oldsarge]

I was going to try and find a polite way of pointing that out. Before we get all drippily nostalgic over "the good old days" perhaps a quiet look at the actuarial tables of past generations might be educational. In spite of the media's hysteria over every little problem they can blow out of proportion, we live longer than ever before . . . in spite of the "obesity epidemic", Mad Cow Disease, SARS, Avian flu or (fill in the blank here). Now eat your vegetables, drink your red wine and go outside and play.