Makes: 10 portions. Cooking time: 5 minutes.
Ingredients:
— 10 x 85 grams fillet of Dover sole
— 250 grams flour
— yeast batter
— 1 juice of lemon
— 5 grams chopped parsley
— 1 dl oil
— 3 lemons
— sprig of parsley
— ½ liter tomato sauce
Method:
(1) Marinate the fish for approximately 30 minutes.
(2) Pass the fish through seasoned flour shaking off all the surplus flour.
(3) Pass the fish through the batter. Drain off all excess batter: by gently pulling through the fingers.
(4) Place the fish into the hot fat away from oneself.
(5) Fry until crisp and golden turning the fillets during cooking to ensure even cooking and coloration (see Note (3) below).
(6) Drain the fillets by placing them onto absorbent kitchen paper. Season with salt.
(7) Dress on a dish paper on a flat dish. Garnish with lemon wedges and picked parsley and serve accompanied by a sauceboat of tomato sauce.
Note:
(1) If the fish is not marinated before cooking then thoroughly dry them in a cloth or absorbent kitchen paper before battering them.
(2) The cooking temperature depends upon the size of the pieces of fish — 180°C is regarded as standard.
(3) The fish is cooked when it floats to the surface of the fat and is evenly colored all over. With larger cuts such as suprêmes of cod, haddock and halibut a further test is to check the weight which appears to diminish slightly in proportion to its size with cooking. However, this method of testing requires a high degree of skill and experience and a safer test is to carefully monitor the time, allowing 8 minutes for a 120 g suprême at a temperature of 180°C.
Service and retention:
As stated before ideally this type of dish should be cooked and served to order. However, if it must be held it should be placed on greaseproof paper and retained in a hot cupboard or kept in equipment specially designed for the purpose. Even so, care must still be taken when keeping deep fried fish in batter in such •conditions as if the temperature is too high or the fish is kept in for too long it will become stale in appearance and lose its crispness, color and flavor. On the other hand, if held at a moderately hot constant temperature the fish will weep and become soft.
Deep fried items in batter should not be covered with a lid once they are cooked as the steam that arises will condense against the lid and fall back on the fish causing it to become damp and soft.
Serve on an oval silver or stainless steel flat dish with a dish paper or cloth napkin.
Assessment of the completed dish
(1) The outer coating and inner layer of fish should be hot.
(2) The outer coating of batter should be a light golden colour, and the fish should be moist and white.
(3) The flavour should be a blend of the seasoned batter, the natural flavour of the fish plus that of the fat.
(4) The outer skin of the batter should be very crisp, whilst the batter surrounding the fish should not be floury. The batter should be in correct proportion to the fish.
(5) The dish should be seasoned yet there should be no sign of seasoning on the dish paper or napkin.
(6) The garnish of lemon wedges should be neatly cut, free from excess pith, membrane and pips. The parsley sprigs should be clean and fresh in appearance.
(7) The tomato sauce should be served separately in a sauceboat.
(8) There should be no oil or fat in evidence and when presented the dish paper should be dry.
Possible problem, cause and solution:
(1) Batter will not color:
— fat was not hot enough; ensure that the fat is at the correct temperature before frying the
fish as this problem cannot later be rectified.
— too many pieces of fish fried at once; this reduces the temperature of the fat and should be avoided as it cannot be rectified later.
— fat not allowed to reheat between batches; the fat must be allowed to recover its heat before the next items are added to avoid this problem which cannot later be rectified.
— incorrect type of flour used for the batter; care must be taken that the correct type of flour (i.e. strong) is used to make the batter to avoid this problem as it cannot be rectified later.
— insufficient sugar used in the batter; care must be taken to prepare the batter correctly to avoid this problem which cannot be rectified later.
(2) Fish becomes soggy and breaks during cooking:
— fat was not hot enough; ensure that the fat is at the correct temperature before frying the fish as this problem cannot be rectified later.
— too many pieces of fish fried at once; this reduces the temperature of the fat and should be avoided as the problem cannot be rectified later.
— fish handled too much during frying, e.g. stirred too often with a spider; this must be avoided as the problem cannot be rectified later.
*Any problems found with the first items to be fried may be cleared up before subsequent items are added.
— a frying basket was used; this should be avoided as the problem cannot be rectified later.
— outer coating of batter not allowed to set before handling with the spider; ensure that the batter has set during the initial stages before using a spider to avoid this problem which cannot later be rectified.
(3) Batter runs off fish during cooking:
— batter was too thin; care must be taken when preparing the batter as this problem cannot be rectified later.
— fish not dried before coating with flour and batter; caré must be taken to follow the correct coating procedure to avoid this problem which cannot be rectified later.
— fat was not hot enough; ensure that the fat is at the correct temperature before frying the
fish as this problem cannot be rectified later.
(4) Completed item has an inner doughy layer:
— batter was too thick; care must be taken when preparing the batter to avoid this as it cannot be rectified later.
— fish not passed through flour before coating with the batter; care must be taken to follow the correct coating procedure as this problem cannot later be rectified.
(5) Batter becomes overcolored before fish is cooked:
— fat too hot; ensure that the fat is at the correct temperature before frying the fish as
this problem cannot be rectified later.
— fish pieces too thick; care must be taken when preparing the fish to avoid this as it
cannot be rectified later.
(6) Completed item lacks flavor:
— fish not stored correctly before or after cooking; ensure that the fish is of good quality and has been stored correctly before cooking and that the correct procedures are followed for storage after cooking.
— batter not seasoned; care must be taken when preparing the batter as this cannot be rectified later.