Outstanding Beer Battered Grouper

I’m still freezer diving and this time I came up with a package of Caribbean Grouper that we had purchased from Joe Patti’s during our last visit to Pensacola, FL.  It just so happened that I had a recipe for Fish And Chips that came from The Red Door in Seattle, WA via Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives that I wanted to try.  Battered and deep-fried fish is a favorite of all of us, especially Pat who usually orders it at Florida seafood places.

The batter has way more ingredients than any beer batter that I have ever used, so I’ve been looking forward to trying it.  My one change was to season the fish with S&P and add only a little to the batter (I always prefer seasoning the meat rather than the breading).  Red Door also provided their recipe for Tarter Sauce which I halved to get the one below.

Beer Battered Fish – Adapted from The Red Door

1 1/2 pounds fish fillets

2 2/3 cups pale ale (Yuengling for me)

2 eggs

8 teaspoons garlic powder

8 teaspoons onion powder

2 1/2 teaspoons seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for coating fish

Oil for frying

Tartar Sauce

1 1/3 cups mayonnaise

1/3 cup dill relish

1/2 tablespoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 cup diced celery

1/8 cup diced yellow onion

1 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco

Directions:

1. Portion fish into pieces of desired size.

2. Pour beer into a large bowl. Add egg, garlic powder, onion powder, seafood seasoning, baking powder, salt, pepper and cayenne, then add cornstarch. Whisk in flour until batter is smooth and thick (like pancake batter).

3. Heat oil in a fryer to 350 degrees F.

4. Lightly flour each piece of fish, then dip in beer batter and fry until crispy and golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

5. For the tartar sauce: Combine mayonnaise, dill relish, parsley, pepper and salt in a large bowl. Process celery, onion, lemon juice and hot sauce in a food processor until onion and celery are very finely chopped. Add contents from the food processor to the bowl. Mix together until well incorporated.

We served the fish with tartar and remoulade sauces and sided it with Bev’s coleslaw.

The Verdict:

It was delicious and this will be the go-to fish batter going forward.  The batter was light, crispy, and tasty and the fish was melt-in-your-mouth moist and tender.  But this recipe makes way too much batter and I would only use a 1/3 recipe for this much fish.  I thought the tartar sauce was good but I prefer other versions we’ve made - I actually prefer remoulade sauce.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

03/12/23 meal date