I have this rule in my kitchen. Well, okay, it isn’t so much a rule as it is a loose guide that I occasionally follow. This loose guide that I occasionally follow is to use the classics to make classic recipes. What does this mean in practice? It means that if I want something that is good old home cooking, like biscuits or pancakes or fritter batter (?) I go straight to an old-fashioned cookbook. In my house that means that I might look in my first edition (1961) “Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cook Book.” Or, more likely, I will go to my Joy of Cooking cookbook (1964, sadly not a first edition). These old cookbooks got some things very right. Like I said, when I’m making a classic, I like to use a classic.
When I first decided to make a low sodium battered fish, I sat down with my Joy of Cooking cookbook and read. And read. And read. There is a lot of information in there about frying foods, making airy batters, and getting things cooked perfectly. After reading, I went ahead and adapted one of their recipes (“Fritter Batter for Vegetables, Meat, and Fish”). I kept it very similar to the original – omitting salt, reducing flour, and switching the order in which I mixed the ingredients. The result is a light, crispy, very low sodium batter that works great for fish, but would make a spectacular coating for vegetables if you are into frying those.
You start with what many good things start with… egg yolks, flour, butter, and beer.
After you mix your batter, refrigerate it for several hours. Then you whip up your egg whites and gently fold them into the batter. This helps create that nice airy batter that we are after.
(Yes, I use my Halloween scraper year-round. Don’t judge.)
From there, you just batter and fry the fish. We like to use cod, but you can use whatever white fish you like best. Lucky enough to have walleye? Use it! We serve this fish with a splash of malt vinegar and a side of low sodium Easy Baked Fries for a classic dinner of fish and chips.
Beer Battered Fish
This classic is remade without added salt, but with great flavor.
SODIUM COUNT: 97.7 mg per serving; 390.6 mg in the whole batch
- Yield: 4 people 1x
Ingredients
For the Batter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 Tbsp butter (melted)
- 3/4 cup flat beer ((I prefer ale))
- fresh ground black pepper
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
For Frying
- oil (for frying (peanut oil works great because of its high smoke point))
- 1 lb white fish ((such as cod))
Instructions
For the Batter
- Separate the eggs. Place the yolks in a medium bowl and place the whites in a small bowl in the refrigerator. You will use the egg whites later.
- Whisk the melted butter into the egg yolks. Once combined, whisk in the beer and black pepper. Stir in the flour. Do not over mix. Put the batter in the refrigerator for 3-12 hours.
To Fry
- Fill a large pot with oil so that the oil is about 3” deep. Heat the oil to 375°F.*
- While the oil is heating, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter.
- Cut the fish into strips and pat dry with paper towels. Dip the fish into the batter and immediately place into the fryer. Fry the fish for 2-3 minutes per side.
- Serve the fish with lemon wedges and malt vinegar.
Notes
*If you are baking fries to go with the fish, you will probably want to get them in the oven before you start heating the oil. Once the fish is frying, it gets done very quickly.
The nutritional information below was calculated based on an assumption that the fish will absorb a total of 2 ounces of oil.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION Yield: 4 servings
Sodium: 97.7 mg, Calories: 437.0, Total Fat: 23.5 g, Saturated Fat: 11.6 g, Cholesterol: 169.8 mg, Carbohydrates: 25.7 g, Fiber: 0.9 g, Sugar: 0.3 g, Protein: 26.8 g.
A happy ending?
Hi Kathy!
This looks delicious – Thinking it will be just the thing to cure the April-snowstorm-blues.
I’m hoping you can answer a question about the quantity of eggs. The ingredients list says to use one egg, but in the instructions, you mention “eggs” and “whites” in the plural. I’m assuming this is if you need to increase the amount of batter?
Thanks so much!
Good catch! The recipe should ask for 2 large eggs. In fact, I am going to adjust the recipe now. Thanks so much for letting me know and I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!
Just wanted to say, thanks for a great recipe! Turned out deliciously! I cracked some fresh pepper and lemon juice over as soon as the fish came out of the oil! Your site has been an absolute godsend after my boyfriend recently received a very limiting cardiac diagnosis. Best meal he’s been able to have in weeks!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the comment! I’m really glad to hear that you liked the recipe. I’ll keep them coming. 🙂
I go to see every day some web sites and sites to read posts, however this web site gives feature based
posts.
I made this using Cod. It was fabulous. I did deep fry it and it had the most wonderful coating. Had some coating left at the end and made some onion rings. Feast for a king.!!
★★★★★
So glad this turned out for you. I’ve not used the batter for onion rings but now I might have to!
Hi Kathy,
Thank you for posting this recipe. I made it last night, along with the easy bake fries and both turned out great! I had never attempted to make fish and chips before…I have specifically been looking for lower sodium recipes to help with my husband’s high blood pressure 🙂
So glad to hear that!