Gordon Ramsay Demonstrates How to Make Fish & Chips - Extended version - Season 1 ep. 6 - The f word

- Right, the most which is my go-to comfort food-- served with incredible fries and the most delicious mushy peas. For me, fish and chips screams cod-- highly sustainable, delicious, but the secret is in the batter. This is a beer batter, double zero flour, eggs, and beer. It sort of makes it lighter, crispier, and it's an amazing flavor. The secret is to make that batter the night before. The more you let it rest, it becomes so crispy. Take your cod, run it through into seasoned flour, salt, pepper. You could jazz this up a little bit with a touch of paprika. Lightly season your fish. To wet a fish can destroy the batter, so I like to season my fish first with salt. That extracts the moisture from the fish, which keeps the batter even more crispy. Then from there, just brush off that seasoning and just pat down the fish. That way it stays nice and firm. Into the flour, and then nicely rolled-- make sure you get the ends done. Dredge the fish in the flour in order to make sure the batter sticks, really important. And then next, into the batter. Make sure you dust off any excess flour, otherwise, you get these white clumps of flour underneath the batter. Into the batter, let it sink. I like topping tailing my fish. I trim the top, trim the base-- you've got the even piece of fish. If it's cut evenly, it's going to cook evenly. Shake off the excess flour and into the batter. Roll that fish around and let it sink in there. Now oil comes up to 300. It takes about six to seven minutes to cook beautifully, but here's the secret. Keep that fish coated. This is where it gets messy, but exciting. Lift up your fish. Go left to right, dredging it, and then very quickly get a point of the fish. Let the battery run down, shake off any excess flour, and then into the fryer. And just sort of taunt it first, and just let it lay away from you. Shake the pan gently. That starts to cover the top of the fish. Take a spatula and just gently baste the top of the fish. Once you've had the fish in there for two minutes, flip over the fish. That way you see it evenly coated. God, it's beautiful, golden brown. Now take that out. Shake it well. Let that sit. They're like these perfect parcels, and literally let that sit there. Now as it's piping hot, use salt, and just lightly season the top. And what happens to the fish now, it just gets even crispier, but the batter's seasoned underneath and on top. And that's really important. Right, fries-- these are Yukon gold potatoes and basically just peeled. Don't wash, because I want the starch to get really nice and crispy. I start them off at a very low temperature, in a way that I blanch them. And I have literally in the oil first for two minutes at 330-- in. [sizzling] Blanching basically means cooking with no color. And the secret here now is to blanch them for two minutes at 330. Take them out, let them rest. Crank up the heat. Go from 320 to 385, great. Now temperature's risen, fries back in. Second time cooking, and this time, it's going to be nice and crispy. A great indicator cooking in fryers is that when it starts to float, it's confirmation that it's cooked whether it's fish, chicken, or fries. Cooking fries twice, blanching them first, and then putting them back in hot oil at the end is so much more healthier, because they don't sit in the oil for anywhere near as long as frozen fries. So it's really good to cook them twice, super healthy. Fries are done. Shake-- you can hear how crispy they are. Out onto a tray, drain them really well. Lightly, rub off the excess fat. Let them sit there. I love placing them into a bowl-- fresh parsley on top, a touch of paprika, and then a touch of salt and pepper. And then from there, just roll them around. You can hear how crispy they are, beautiful. Fish and chips would not be complete unless we've got peas. I use frozen peas all the time, so don't be scared. A splash of oil, just a splash-- peas go in, beautiful. Touch of salt, touch of pepper, a little hint of shallots minced in, and garlic-- it's a great way of elevating mushy peas. From there, a little *** of butter, in, and then you just toss those peas. Once that bus is evaporated, we turn off the gas, and then just crush-- beautiful. And that's where you take this frozen pea into a mushy pea. And we sort of trying to break it up almost like it's sort of a puree, but I don't want to refine them too much, because the flavor's when you burst them. Touch more butter in there-- butter gives it that really nice glossy finish. One more little finishing touch with fresh mint. Just bring the leaves down, lay them on top of one another. Get your largest leaf on the bottom, roll it really tight, and then just shred. Let the knife do the work. Look, beautiful, fresh mint. Now sprinkle that over your peas, and that just lifts the peas beautifully. When I serve lemon on a plate, I take these bits off. These are like the posh parts. It's just like the perfect wedge or slice of lemon. And now we're ready to plate. Fish comes over-- hear how crunchy that is. Fries, place on there-- look how crispy they are-- beautifully done. And then, from there, this beautiful mound of mushy peas. Place to the side. Finally, this sort of Rolls Royce of sources with fish and chips, tartar sauce. It's a mayonnaise with gherkins, onions, and the most amazing capers in there. That goes on the side. And that just cascades off. And how can you serve fish and chips without lemon? I get my lemon here, and I just squeeze it over the fish onto the salt. And then put a fresh one there, literally for seconds. And there we have fish and chips a la Gordon.