Cooking Challenge 2013: Beer Battered Fish: How I Impressed My Boyfriend With My Mad Skills

My fish looks pretty damn good

I am still on my quest to actually eat fish.  This is a very long road for me--I am not a huge fish fan and probably never will be. I like to eat things that eat grass.   Bud loves fish, and I love Bud.  So, I have been making fish every other week or so for us--but pretty much just by sticking it in the oven with some kind of topping/sauce and baking it.

This time I went crazy and got a wild hair on my day off.  I called Bud and asked him if he wanted beer battered fish for supper.  Let's just say he was a bit excited and after hanging up, I thought "Shit!  What have I got myself into this time?"  

Enter  Paula Deen.  I figured if anyone knows how to fry something, it's her.  I found her recipe on Food Network, and it's so easy I had to keep rechecking it to make sure I wasn't missing something.  Nope:  beer, flour, seasoning.  Hot oil.  Fish.  Done.

What does make this a little different from other recipes is that you dip the fish into the batter, then into flour before frying.  The flour makes it look all crispy and ridgy looking--like something you'd get at a restaurant.  

Needless to say, Bud was bowled over by the fish.  He inhaled it.  Keeping it warm in the oven worked wonders--every piece I brought out of the oven--even 15 minutes after we started eating--was piping hot and steaming.  And it stayed crunchy.  

I used malt vinegar on my fish and I liked the taste.  I will definitely have to make my own tartar sauce; the stuff I bought tasted horrible.  Ick.  

Here's another look at my first--and certainly not last--attempt at beer battered fish:  I know my mad skills don't extend to camera work, but you get the idea:

By the way, I used cod.  And I made red potatoes seasoned with butter, garlic powder, oregano, salt & pepper.  I decided we had enough fried food with the fish.  

This would also make some tasty fried chicken strips and onion rings, too.