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This post is sponsored by Orca Bay Seafoods | Opinions are my own
Fish and chips always seemed like a “restaurant only” type of meal. Sure, my mum used to serve us breaded fish and fries straight from the freezer—complete with a farting bottle of ketchup—but that doesn’t count as fish and chips in my mind.
Crumby breading is not batter, and mushy “white fish” is not flaky halibut.
Luckily, fulfilling your fish and chips craving isn’t a difficult task, and as daunting of a task as deep frying may seem, it doesn’t take much time.
Confession: Until this recipe, I’d never deep fried fish before. Or anything for that matter. Vats of scalding oil have always terrified me with their deep abyss of golden sizzling hell. The mention of bringing such a thing to my stovetop always resulted in a resounding NO.
That is until I realized that if I ever wanted to crank out a solid fish and chips recipe, I’d have to get over it.
So here we are. These Cumin Beer Battered Fish and Chips forced me to put my big girl pants on, and friends, it was *so* sososo worth it.
I urge you to give this recipe a go! Y’know, just for the halibut.
Cumin Beer Battered Fish With Jalapeño Tartar Sauce.
Though the technique in this recipe stays true to tradition, the flavors clearly don’t. This is what happens when the Orca “baes” and I get excited about a recipe—we get brainstorming and end up taking things to a whole new level of awesome.
Adding cumin to the beer batter brings warm notes to the dish, and since I was using cumin, I figured I’d switch things up and replace the usual ketchup and tartar sauce with salsa and a kicked up tartar sauce that brings punchy and briny pickled jalapeños to the mix.
It. was. awesome.
The jalapeño tartar sauce was my creation, but the salsa pictured is Kelp Salsa from Barnacle, a company based in Juneau, Alaska.
Just imagine a wholesome, textured, and flavorful salsa made with fresh bull kelp harvested from the pristine waters of Southeast Alaska. Pretty nifty, amirite?
As for the beer batter, I used a wit. But any pilsner or lager will do.
Orca Bay’s Wild-Caught Halibut.
When choosing fillets for your fish and chips, you want a species that provides a mild and clean flavor with a moist and flaky texture.
Orca Bay’s wild-caught halibut is perfect for this. The portions are robust, skinless, and boneless, so the tedious work is already done. All you have to do is dip those bad boys in batter and (carefully!) place them in your fryer.
These sustainable fillets are harvested from the Northeast Pacific, so you can eat well and help the environment at the same time.
If you can’t find Orca Bay’s products at your local supermarket, don’t fret. You can purchase them at Orca Bay’s online store and get 15% off by using my perk code (KillingThyme) on any $50+ order you make.
If that doesn’t make your fish-eating easier, I don’t know what will!
If you make this dish, snap a photo and tag me on the Insta @killing__thyme! I love seeing your creations.
Cumin Beer Battered Fish With Jalapeño Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 6 oz fillets of halibut
- kosher salt
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1-2 tsp cumin, adjust to your taste
- 6 oz wit beer, can use a pilsner or a lager
Jalapeño Tartar Sauce.
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 TBSP pickled jalapeños, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp pickled jalapeños brine
- 2 TBSP diced dill pickles
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
Extras.
- Salsa
- French fries
Deep frying.
- 24 oz cooking oil with high smoke point, such as vegetable oil, safflower oil, grapeseed oil, etc.
- 1 large dutch oven, wok, or deep saucepan
- 1 skimmer or large slotted spoon
- 1 thermometer
Instructions
Preparing your deep frying pot.
- Place your Dutch oven over a burner. Fill the Dutch oven with just enough oil so that your fillets will be fully submerge; don't fill it more than 2/3 of the way.
- Heat the oil over moderate heat until you reach 375° F (keep a close eye on it with the help of your thermometer). While the oil heats, prepare your fish. (Note: Stay in the kitchen the entire time you're heating and working with the oil; never leave it unattended.)
Preparing the fish.
- Take the fish out of the fridge and out of it's packaging. Set it down on a plate lined with paper towels and, with more paper towels, dab it until it's dry to remove excess moisture. Sprinkle a bit of kosher salt over top and let the filets come to room temperature.
Cumin Beer Batter.
- Place the flour in a large bowl. whisk in the black pepper and the cumin. Slowly but steadily pour the beer into the batter, whisking until cohesive. Set aside.
Jalapeño Tartar Sauce.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the tartar sauce into a bowl and mix until thoroughly combined; set aside.
Deep frying the fish.
- Once your oil has reached 375° F, dredge a fillet of fish into the batter and carefully place it into the hot oil and allow to cook for 2-4 minutes or until the batter is golden brown. When your fish is done, it should have an internal temperature of 145° F. If you have room in the pot, repeat with the other fillet, but don't crowd the pot. I cook my fillets one at a time. Once each fillet is done, carefully remove with a skimmer or large slotted spoon and transfer to a cooling rack or a plate lined with paper towels to rid of excess oil.
Serving.
- Serve with a pile of crispy fries, salsa, and jalapeño tartar sauce.
I so so love this tex mex twist on a British classic, definitely saving this. Glad you made the dive with the deep frying. It definitely is a commitment but so worth it. It’s really a treat, and your fish and chips looks amazing!
Thanks, Tina! I love me a classic British-style fish and chips, but sometimes it’s fun to play around :)
I’m not sure where to begin with this amazing recipe. I love the addition of the cumin, as it’s one of my favorite spices. The beer batter looks like perfection and that jalapeno tartar sauce had me singing this recipe’s praises. I cannot wait to make this for this for myself and for the family, but really, just for myself! ;)
Thanks so much, Megan! Cumin is *such* a great spice. Actually, I think it’s the spice I run out of most often. And yes! The jalapeno tartar was ridiculous in the best way. I’m so glad it worked out. It married so well with the cumin in the batter.
Haha, please do let me know if you make this for the fam (or for just yourself ;) ) <3
WHOA! Cumin Beer Battered and Jalapeno tarter sauce! This is NOT your normal fish and chips and I LOVE it. My husband would flip over this – pinning!!
I guess I should have named this something along the lines of “Not Yo Momma’s Fish n’ Chips”! Haha.
Just like you, I am terrified of deep frying. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll start deep frying any time soon. But I so wish I had a chance to try this deliciousness. The flavours of the batter and the sauce sound amazing. And the kelp salsa sounds so interesting and so unique! Did you deep fry the fries as well?
Thanks, Julia! I baked the fries, just to make things easy and to ensure things were ready around the same time. But if someone is super deep fryer savvy, they may want to go big and deep fry ALL the things.
If you do find yourself in the mood to give stovetop deep frying a shot, check out my “How to” in the Cooking Fish 101 section of my blog. I have some tips and tricks there that might ease your mind :)
Be still my heart! I love fish and chips, but like you — never wanted to pull out the deep fryer to make it. Your absolutely mouthwatering photos are nudging me into it. Actually, I just made some fried oysters today — so the fryer is already out! I’ve never thought to use cumin in fish and chips, but I think you’ve just bumped up the flavor a notch with that ingredient. Beautifully done!
Thanks, Lisa! Oh man, fried oysters sound delicious. I’m pretty sure we need to have a deep-fried seafood party ;)
We are fish and chips lovers and your recipe sounds so awesome, I need to try it a.s.a.p.! Love that you served it with tartar sauce, adding jalapeno to it is a great idea.
Thanks, Patty! I hope you love it as much as I did <3
Fish is just something we don’t do a lot of. I do love it, and this sounds like a recipe I need to start up with! I love the spicy tartar sauce, and might just make that to put on everything, LOL!
I think a lot of people pass on fish, even if they do love it, because it can be intimidating to cook. It overcooks so easily, but when people are used to cooking poultry on the reg, the idea of making sure your meat is thoroughly cooked is ingrained into your brain so cooking fish for less time seems risky. And overcooked fish is pretty much the worst. Haha.
And yes! I honestly just want to make this tartar on the reg and slather it over anything and everything because DAYUM.
Well this beats any fish and chip takeout hands down. Beer battered fish is the best, and I love the taste of cumin. Kelp salsa…now that is a new one for me. I will have to see if we have it around here in Ontario.
Thanks, Gloria! The kelp salsa was definitely awesome. Let me know if you do manage to find something like that in Ontario!
I absolutely love deep fried fish. This halibut is perfection. Add jalapeno tarter sauce to it and sweet potato fries and I am in foodie Heaven. Yum!!!
I never thought about putting cumin in the batter. That is such a great idea. That has got to taste outrageously delicious. I will do that the next time I make a batter like this.