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I love fish & chips. I tried the stuff while visiting family in England, and I've had a taste for it ever since. So why didn't I make my own before now? It simply didn't occur to me. That's how much of a cook I ain't. Without this site, I still wouldn't have tried it! I just had to cook this typical British food on July 4th, so if I disappear suddenly, you'll know I've been jailed for unAmerican activities.

Here's what you need:

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
fish fillets
russet potatoes
vegetable oil for deep-frying
a million paper towels to drain all this stuff on

(I'm leaving the amount of fish and potatoes, and the type of fish, open. I used two pounds of cod and two large potatoes. That used up the batter pretty well. I could easily have made more potatoes, though. The original recipe called for ale instead of water, but I never have stuff like that, and the heck I'm going to buy a six-pack just for a few ounces to cook with.)

So - preheat oven to 350. Mix the flour, cornmeal, and salt together, then add the water and mix well. The batter should be thin. Cut the potatoes into steak fries.

Heat up the oil to medium high. Cook a batch of potatoes until they turn golden brown which takes about five minutes. Drain them on paper towels. Repeat until you've fried all the spuds.

Now cut the fish into whatever size chunks you like and roll the chunks in the batter, and fry them in batches until golden brown, which takes about five to eight minutes. Drain them on paper towels.

Eat with whatever condiments you like - tartar sauce, vinegar, or good ol' ketchup.

A note: if you have a chip basket, use it with the potatoes, but not with the fish. The batter will get into the mesh and attach itself firmly, so to get the fish out you'll have to tear the batter off! Learn from my mistakes.