Food - Drink
The Absolute Best Batter For Travel-Ready Fried Fish
By TALIN VARTANIAN
When in the Midwest in the cooler months, you can expect friendly locals, chilly temperatures, and perfect platters of fried fish at restaurants. Crispy, tender, and served up with butter, coleslaw, French fries, and tartar sauce, there’s nothing like a walleye, cod or perch that’s been coated in beer batter and fried to perfection.
One downside of fried fish is that it doesn’t travel well, since it’s meant to be eaten fresh out of the fryer. However, you can make a sturdier batter using a little tapioca starch, rice flour, and club soda, plus powdered seasonings; after two coatings of this mixture and a thorough frying job, your fish filets will travel much better as a portable meal.
Club soda weakens the gluten in the batter to make it lighter and airier, and tapioca starch and rice flour not only help to make the fish ultra-crispy, but create a longer-lasting crunchy crust. Unlike other types of flour, rice flour doesn't absorb much oil, which results in fish that doesn't get soggy as quickly.