Batter for Fish Fillets: Pan-Fried Zander Recipe

Batter for Fish Fillets

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When I was a kid, fish in batter was the most common way to fry fish. Mind you, today’s abundance of food was nowhere in sight back then: the nation’s main fish were frozen hake or salted herring, with the occasional “live” carp from a barrel, so people didn’t agonize much over how to cook it.

It was usually fried fish, stewed fish or, on special occasions, stuffed fish. And when fish was fried, it was fried to death, as my mom puts it, even if it was fish in pastry or in a thin batter. For example, fried flounder would go into the oven afterwards as well. Fish has to be cooked through, the thinking went, or you’ll get a tummy ache. Stewing went on for ages, until the bones went soft. And for a stuffed fish recipe you went to the neighbors, for whom it was a national dish.

Once I started earning my own money, I often ate fish in the factory canteen: that same good old hake, fried in batter. Basically, a piece of fish in a thick layer of dough. I realized, to my surprise, that my mom and grandma often fried fish exactly this way at home, only their coating was much thinner. Makes sense: a canteen profits from selling dough at the price of fish. If it hadn’t been for the label on the price tag, I’d never have learned what batter was.

Batter (the word comes from the French “clair”, meaning thin) is a runny dough. Or rather, not a very thick one; the line is hard to pin down. The idea is to dip the food in the batter and fry it in plenty of very hot oil, even in a deep fryer. The food inside doesn’t so much fry as bake, keeping all its juices, flavor and texture. Fish fried in batter is always fragrant, tasty and very appetizing to look at. One important thing: eat it right away and never reheat it.

There are countless variations; you can never repeat a batter recipe exactly. The base is flour, egg and liquid. Flour is flour, but the liquid is what gives a batter its name. Beer batter is made with beer. Egg-white batter uses whipped whites. Cheese batter uses grated cheese. Wine, water, juice, milk and so on often go into the batter too.

The thickness of the batter decides how well it coats the food. Too thin and it just runs off; too thick and you end up with a bun. Dip the food in the batter and put it straight into very hot oil. Once a nice golden crust forms, flip it and fry the other side.

The viscosity of the mix is what it’s all about. Learning to balance the ingredients isn’t hard; it comes with practice. Your fish will be amazing! And remember, it’s always a creative process.

Fish in batter: tasty zander fillets fried in batter. If your fishing trip went well, this recipe will come in handy.

Ingredients

2 servings

For the fish

  • Zander 1–1.5 kg
  • Olive oil 100 g

For the batter

  • Eggs 2
  • Boiled water ½ cup (100 ml)
  • Flour 3 tbsp (29 g)

Spice blend

  • Sea salt ½ tsp (3 g)
  • Black peppercorns 3–4
  • Allspice berries 1–2
  • Ground nutmeg a pinch
  • Ground ginger a pinch
  • Mediterranean herbs (basil, savory, oregano) 1–2 pinches

Step-by-step recipe

Preparing the zander

How do you catch a zander? You could talk about it for hours and most likely get no closer to the truth. As a friend of mine says, better just buy one.

  1. Buy it and scale it. A zander is no perch; it scales easily.

  1. Cut off the head: you can make fish soup with it, and if you’ve got lots of heads, I recommend zander heads with garlic. Remove the fins and cut off the tail; all of that goes into the soup for richness.

  2. Fillet the fish. Carefully remove all the bones, as far as possible. I suggest not frying the tail end: cut off 5 cm, there’s little meat and lots of bones there. You want fillet only.

    Cleaning the fish and cutting the fillets.

  3. Lay the fillets on a plate or cutting board, skin side down.

Spice blend

Here’s how I make a spice blend for fish. Many people just buy a “for fish” packet at the store. It has lots of ingredients, including some exotic E-numbers. Keep it simple.

  1. In a mortar (an indispensable kitchen tool), combine ½ tsp sea salt (3 g), 3–4 black peppercorns, 1–2 allspice berries, a pinch of ground nutmeg, a pinch of ground ginger and 1–2 pinches of the dried herbs that usually make up a “Mediterranean blend”: basil, savory, oregano and so on.

    Grinding spices in a mortar.

  2. Grind everything thoroughly with the pestle into a powder. The blend is very fragrant, and it isn’t worth storing, as it loses its aroma. Make just as much as you need for one go.

  3. Set aside half of the spices in a separate bowl, and sprinkle the rest over the fillets and rub them in. Let the fillets sit with the spices for 10–15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the batter.

    Zander fillets sprinkled with spices.

Making the batter

  1. In a deep bowl, lightly whisk two eggs. Add the remaining spices.

    Eggs whisked with spices, ready for flour.

  1. Add half a cup of boiled water (100 ml) and keep whisking.

  2. Gradually add the flour 1 tbsp at a time. How much flour depends on the situation. What matters is that the batter comes out like thick honey: it should flow, but not pour.

    Batter in a bowl.

Frying the fish

  1. Heat the olive oil in a deep sauté pan or skillet. When the oil is good and hot and starts to crackle, you can start frying the fish.

  2. Using a fork, dip a piece of zander fillet into the batter so it’s submerged and completely coated. Lift the fillet over the batter with the fork and quickly, in one motion, lay it in the hot oil.

    Zander fillet dipped in batter.

  3. Fry over high heat until a nice crust forms. The fish should turn golden.

    Battered fish frying over high heat.

  4. Then flip the fillets and fry until done. If the fillets are very thick, you can keep the fish covered over medium heat for 5–10 minutes, but the crust will get a bit soft. Usually there’s no need: the fillets cook through very well.

    Golden crust on battered zander.

  5. Arrange the fried battered zander on plates, garnish with sliced vegetables and be sure to add a lemon wedge. Lemon juice and fish are a perfect match.

    Battered zander on a plate

Calories and macros

890 kcal

Serving ≈ 380 g

  • Protein74 g34% of kcal
  • Fat59 g61% of kcal
  • Carbs11 g5% of kcal

100 g232 kcalProtein 19.2 gFat 15.4 gCarbs 3 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

Which fish to use

Besides zander, any boneless white fish fillet fries well in batter: hake, pollock, cod, tilapia, pangasius. Thaw frozen fillets in the fridge and be sure to pat them dry with a paper towel — batter slides off wet fish.

For a crispy batter

Use ice-cold water for the batter and well-heated oil: in oil that isn’t hot enough, the batter soaks up fat and goes soggy. You can replace some of the flour with starch, 1 tbsp for this amount. And don’t cover the fish with a lid — under it the crust turns soft.

Semolina version

A reader shares her Hungarian friend’s recipe for a fish coating: salt the fillets, sprinkle with spices, and after half an hour coat them in a mix of flour and semolina (about 1:3), with a little cornmeal if you have it, then dip in egg beaten with 1 tbsp water. The crust comes out pretty and tasty.

Sauce for the fish

Readers serve battered fish with a sauce of sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, dill and a pickled gherkin, blitzed in a blender. And some add two more cloves of garlic to the fish.

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Questions and answers

How long to fry fish fillets in batter?

Over high heat, about 2–3 minutes per side, until the batter turns golden. Thin fillets cook through completely in that time.

Which comes first, flour or egg?

In this recipe the flour and eggs are mixed into one batter, and the fillets are simply dipped in it. If you coat the fish in egg and flour separately, dredge it in flour first, then dip it in egg, so the egg doesn’t slide off.

How do you make fish batter without eggs?

Mix flour with ice-cold water and a pinch of salt until it’s as thick as thick honey. Without egg the batter holds less well, so pat the fillets dry first and lightly dust them with flour.

Can you make fish batter with beer?

Yes: use the same amount of cold lager instead of the half cup of water (100 ml). The batter comes out puffier, with a light bready flavor.

What oil to fry battered fish in?

I fry in olive oil, but refined sunflower oil works too, as it has no smell. You need enough oil for the fillets to be at least half submerged.

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