Battered Blue Hake or Whitefish Pan Fried

Submitted by Montana Heart Song

"Blue Hake is from New Zealand. I cut the loins in chunks and batter. Pan fried is quick, easy and does not require a lot of oil. I love to use paprika in my batter. Everything is a golden brown to deep brown and very light tasting.NOTE: DO NOT FORGET THE WATER IN THE EGGS AND YOU MAY HAVE TO USE MORE MILK IF YOU WANT THE BATTER THINNER BUT IF YOU DO IT MAY NOT COVER THE FISH, IT MAY RUN OFF. DEPENDING ON YOUR ALTITUDE IS DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF TIME TO COOK. If you want more spicy then add caynne pepper to the batter or other peppery spices."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 - 2 lbs thick blue hake fillets or 1 1/2-2 lbs white fish fillets
• 1⁄2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon mccormick adobo seasoning (without Peppers)
• 1 teaspoon salt or 1 teaspoon salt substitute
• 1 1⁄2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons milk (MORE MILK MAY BE NECESSARY FOR THINNER BATTER)

directions

1. I use 3 long thick pieces of fish. I cut it in 3 inch chunks. Dry the chunks of fish with paper towels. Set Aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, water, salt and paprika.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, add flour, cornstarch and baking powder. Mix well.
4. Add egg mixture and beat in, if too thick, add milk 1 tablspoon at a time. The batter should be thick to hold on to the fish, not runny.
5. Preheat frying pan to medium high heat with 1/4 cup vegetable oil.
6. Use tongs to dip the fish chunks into batter. Use a spoon to place batter on the top of the chunk after it is in the pan.
7. After bottom is golden brown, turn once, press down on top slightly with spatula to insure heat distribution.
8. Fry fish in two separate batches using the balance of vegetable oil for the second batch.
9. Keep warm in the oven until all fish is cooked.
10. The batter is very light tasting, not soaked with oil.
11. Use a dipping sauce of your choice.
12. If you use this batter on thin fillets, use a slotted spoon to dip the fish into batter.

Reviews

[B P.2914]

Worst recipe ever. The "batter" is thick, hard dough. The cooking temp is way too high - burning the batter, leaving the fish raw. (This was after adding more liquid so I could dip the fish in the batter at all.) We resorted to frozen pizza for dinner after throwing this out. I've never had such a bad experience with an online recipe till now.

 

[ItalianMama]

I'm not going to give a star rating because I can't be 100% sure that I didn't make a mistake and I did not get to try the results. The batter was SO thick that I could barely incorporate all the flour mixture and had to add way more than a couple of tablespoons of milk. I thinned it with more milk and extra water to the point that I didn't feel comfortable adding more, but it was still very thick. When I put the dipped fish into the pan (with plenty of oil), it immediately stuck to the bottom, and when I tried to turn the fish, all the batter just peeled off. Sadly, it made enough of a mess that I couldn't keep cooking the fish, and the entire batch was completely ruined (really makes me want to cry - all that fish wasted). I don't know, maybe I would have had better luck if I'd used my deep fryer instead.

 

[warrencooker]

Maybe I missed something here. The batter was way too gluey. Had to add a lot of water to thin it out to the point where it was usable. Dish looked pretty, but was bland as could be. Tasted like a piece of fish wrapped in a pancake, which is basically what it is. This is my first time working with hake. I think next time I'll use one of my tried-and-true tilapia recipes substituting hake.

 

[Candy bar]

I think this batter is way too thick for my liking. It has a lot of pancake ingredients and that is kind of what it tastes like. Pancake on top of fish. Needs Repaired!!

 

[Feather10]

It was light and flaky and browned nicely. My girls loved it. But it lacked seasoning. Maybe next time I would salt and pepper the fish before hand. A good recipe for the batter though. Thank you