Your Fish And Chips Will Fail To Be Crispy If You Make This Cooking Mistake

More than many other dishes, fish and chips relies on texture to make it great, and that means avoiding some classic frying mistakes. Made with mild white fish and a good beer batter, fish and chips aren't usually packed full of flavor themselves, that's what tartar sauce and vinegar are for, but they do have that heavenly combo of a tender, flaky interior and an airy, crispy crust. That means not only prepping your fish and chips properly but, more importantly, it means managing your frying oil, and if you make fish frying mistakes, like overheating your oil, your fish is doomed. And when we were talking to Roberta Muir about expert tips for the best fish and chips, she told us that another big mistake is trying to fry too much fish at once.

The big problem is that crowding your fish while trying to fry them messes with the temperature of the oil. Muir told us that when you add food to hot frying oil, the temperature drops. She explained, "If you add too much food at once, the temperature takes too long to recover, meaning the food absorbs too much oil and is soggy." It is also a problem because the fish can bump into each other in a crowded fryer, and if the batter hasn't hardened, pieces can fuse together. It can be tempting to try and fry as much at once as possible to keep the fish warm, but there is a better way.

If you are worried about your fish and chips getting cool while you cook them in batches, just make use of your oven. Turn your oven to a warm but low temperature (you don't want to be cooking the fish) and then place a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment or foil. As the fish comes out, just place it directly on the rack, and slip the baking sheet into the oven. The wire rack allows air circulation, which will prevent steam from soggying up your perfectly fried fish and chips, and the oven will keep everything at perfect serving temperature until all the batches are done.

Beyond avoiding crowding, make sure your oil is at the perfect temperature for cooking fish and chips, around 375 degree Fahrenheit. You can also alter your favorite fish and chips recipe with a few simple ingredients to maximize the crunch factor. Instead of just beer, make your batter with equal parts beer and vodka. Since vodka evaporates quickly, it helps fried foods crisp up even more. Finally, try subbing out some of the flour in the recipe with rice flour. Rice flour is naturally gluten-free, and limiting gluten development helps fried coatings become more shatteringly crunchy and light. But while all of that will help, it will be moot if you get impatient and try to fry your fish all at once.