The crispiest homemade fish and chips

with tartare sauce

Eating fish is a real treat for us, but since we don’t have any friends who fish, we only buy it very occasionally. I really love snapper or barramundi. Growing up in Auckland, we used to get fish and chips once a week on Fridays and eat them at a playground or beach of our choice. Now, we cook it more at home, but recently we’ve been making it extra crispy. To do this, we use tallow to cook the chips and fish in. A little goes a long way, and it has a high smoke point, making it a good oil to shallow fry fish in. I don’t find the flavour of tallow overpowering but coconut oil works too, although I prefer the tasteless one. To complete your meal, make sure you make your own tartare sauce – it always tastes better!

I like to use a combination of dill, parsley and tarragon in my tartare sauce but any will do!

For the tartare sauce,

Mayo, 1 cup

Yoghurt, 2 big tbsp

Lemon juice, 2 tsp

Salt, pinch

Capers, 1 tbsp

Cucumber pickles, 2 tbsp

Dill, small bunch

Tarragon, small bunch

Parsley, small bunch

In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, yoghurt, a generous squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Finely chop capers, cucumber pickles, and herbs, then add them to the bowl. Stir everything together and set aside while you prepare the fish and chips.

For the fish and chips,

Feeds 4

Deboned white fish fillets, 4

Panko breadcrumbs, 2 cups

Flour, 2 cups

Eggs, 2

Potatoes , 4 large

Salt, big pinch

Tallow or coconut oil, 1 1/2 cups

Lemons, 2

Heat the oven to 160C with a fan or 180C without.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into wedges. Place them on an oven tray lined with baking paper and sprinkle with salt. Drizzle with tallow or coconut oil and toss the potatoes in the oil with your hands until evenly coated. If the oil has solidified, melt it in a small pot.

Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on the tray. Bake for about an hour, turning them halfway through. While they’re baking, prepare the fish. Keep in mind that the fish will cook faster than the potatoes. You can prepare the fish ahead of time and refrigerate it until the potatoes are about 10 minutes from being done. Then, cook the fish.

Remove the fish fillets from the refrigerator. Sometimes, I cut the fish into smaller pieces so they’re like nuggets for the kids.

In three separate bowls or plates, place the flour, panko crumbs, and two whisked eggs. Dredge the fish into the flour, then the eggs, then the panko crumbs, and place it on a clean plate.

Heat the remaining tallow or coconut oil in a pan over high heat, ensuring it’s about 1cm deep across the entire pan. Once hot, carefully place the fish inside and cook for a few minutes on one side before flipping it over. The fish will only take a few minutes on each side to cook, but you can check if it’s done by cutting a piece in half. It’s cooked when it’s opaque and flaky. If it’s still tough and translucent, cook it for a bit longer.

Once the fish and potatoes are cooked, serve them immediately with a side of tartare, a wedge of lemon, and a simple green salad.

Who doesn’t love fish and chips for dinner after a day at the beach?