Beer-battered fried fish is pretty good on its own, but we wanted to give the batter an extra kick with the addition of garlic and herbs. Figuring out how best to add the flavors, however, took some experimentation. Here’s what we discovered:
Use garlic powder, rather than fresh garlic, for the deepest garlic flavor. Blend dried oregano and thyme into the batter. Fresh herbs burn easily in the hot oil.
Liberally season the batter with salt, pepper, and cayenne in addition to the garlic and herbs; otherwise the fish will taste bland. And use a light-colored beer, like lager, so that the hop flavor doesn’t come on too strong.
Make the batter thin. Thick batter makes for a dense coating that turns gummy once fried.
Allow as much excess batter as possible to drip off the fish before frying.
Keep the oil hot to ensure the crispest coating and moistest fish. Make sure that the oil is 375 degrees before adding each batch of fish.
Don’t overload the oil. Adding too much fish at once will drop the temperature precipitously and the coating can turn greasy.
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