Fish & Chips (gf)

Amazing gluten free fish and chips are not hard to make with a few key techniques.

Fish: rockfish, dogfish, or cod are my favorites, followed by halibut.

• Notes: Cure for at least an hour, up to a few days. Makes the fish more firm, well-seasoned. Salt + lemon zest (the zest is key to amazing/subtle flavor).

Batter: 2 parts rice flour, 1 part Caputo gf flour, salt, baking powder, very cold fizzy liquid (as fizzy as possible), high proof liquor, ice.

• Notes: Make 2-4 minutes before frying. Rice flour makes it crispy and stays crispy much longer than other flours. Fizzy water (or whatever) shouldn’t have sugar to avoid getting too brown. High proof liquor evaporates faster enabling the batter to set quickly. Should be consistency of crepe batter. Add ice and stir to make it very cold, then remove ice to avoid dilution.

Potatoes: Russet. Peel, cut into 3/4 inch wedges. Boil in already boiling salt water til almost falling apart. Cool. Fry at 300, remove. Wait til fish is cooked. Fry again at 350.

• Notes: 3 cooks gets just the right crisp exterior and creamy interior. After boiling, place on frozen baking sheet, cool potatoes in fridge/freezer. After 1st fry at 300, potatoes can sit til the fish is done: cook until edges are just starting to brown. 2nd cook at 350 once fish is done (or if you can cook simultaneously, start fries a couple minutes after fish).

Fry fish: Don’t flour dredge fish. Dry surface of fish, into batter, let some drip off but leave some excess. Submerge half or 3/4 in 350 oil, shake back and forth for a few seconds to create detached batter layer, release into oil. Drip a tbsp or so of batter on top of frying fish to create crispies. Turn as needed to evenly brown, maintain 350 temp. When removing from oil, set on paper towel, move around a few times so paper towel absorbs more oil. Paper towel is more effective than wire rack at removing excess oil. Salt immediately upon removal from oil.