The exact unqualified answer is ... this recipe is superior to any other recipe I have tried ... and I've tried quite a few, looking for the ideal batter for fried fish, shrimp, chicken, etc. This recipe has exactly the right ingredients to produce a thin and crispy and tasty coating on your fried fish, shrimp or chicken.
Note that the rice flour contains no gluten and will not form gluten so the batter will tend to be thin and that is good. Too many recipes create batter that is too thick due to gluten formation during and after the mixing. You can buy white rice flour from www.bulkfoods.com in five pound bags inexpensively. By all means do exactly that.
Even with using the rice flour in combination with all purpose flour you may need to add a bit of additional beer or some ice water to get a thin batter consistency.
A good batter should allow about 1/16" or perhaps a tiny bit more of coating to remain all over each fish piece dipped into it and briefly held with tongs above the batter bowl to allow excess batter to run off.
I have included an optional recipe for making a special tartar sauce to serve with the fried haddock. You can make that or plain tartar sauce, or serve the fish without any tartar sauce. The choice is yours.
Before making the fried fish be sure you have prepared the other items you intend to serve at your meal, like coleslaw. One exception is if you plan to make French fries. Do the preparation of the potato pieces before frying the fish, then fry the potatoes immediately after frying the fish so they will be fresh and hot when you serve them. And remember to serve a nice ice cold beer.
Ingredients: (Serves two to four adults)
2 pounds of boneless, skinless haddock fillets
Peanut oil for deep frying
For the Fish Batter:
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 cup of rice flour plus more in a shallow bowl for dredging
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, freshly ground
1 extra large or jumbo egg, whisked
12 oz. bottle of cold lager beer
2 oz. of ice cold vodka
For a Lime and Caper Tartar Sauce:
1 cup of mayonnaise
2 tsp. of capers, chopped
2 tsp. of sweet pickle relish
1 tsp. of honey
1 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. of lime zest
The juice of 1/2 lime
A pinch of black pepper
Directions:
To Prepare the Lime and Caper Tartar Sauce:
Stir all of the ingredients together in a bowl until they are well blended.
Let the sauce sit in the refrigerator for an hour or more, covered, to let the flavors meld before serving it with the fried fish.
To Make the Crispy Fried Haddock:
Fill a deep fryer with the peanut oil to the indicated depth and preheat it to 375 degrees F. Alternatively, you can use a one gallon pot only half filled with peanut oil and heated on medium high heat, using an instant read thermometer to monitor and then control the temperature by varying the level of heat.
Combine and whisk the dry ingredients together in a one quart bowl.
Cut the fillets into 8 pieces. Season them with salt and pepper on both sides.
Dredge the haddock pieces in the bowl of additional rice flour to later help the batter stick to the fillets when they are dipped. Put the dredged pieces on a plate, not stacked.
Combine the egg and beer and vodka in a chilled two quart bowl and whisk them together.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients while slowly whisking, just until the batter is formed. Small lumps in the batter are not a problem.
If the batter is too thick you can add small amounts of more cold beer or ice water and whisk the mixture.
Dip four of the dredged pieces of haddock into the batter one at a time and carefully drop each piece into the hot peanut oil.
Fry for a few minutes, noting that 5 minutes is typically fine depending on the thickness of the fillets. Fry just until the batter is golden brown on both sides.
Remove the fried fish to a wire rack placed over a cookie sheet and salt the fish immediately.
Hold the fried batch in a 200 degrees F oven on the wire rack over the cookie sheet to provide air circulation all the way around the fried fish pieces. That keeps the fried fish hot and prevents the fried fish coating from getting soggy while you fry the second batch of haddock pieces.
Repeat the dipping and frying steps for the other four pieces of fish, remembering to salt the second batch immediately after frying.
Serve the fried haddock immediately along with whatever other meal items you have prepared.
Enjoy!