Beer-Battered Fish and Chips

Made the fish portion of this recipe for a fish fry dinner for guests, they were so easy to make up so I wasn't spending too much time in the kitchen away from guests and and everyone loved how crispy the breading was.  The only change I made was to pre-flour the fish before dipping in the breading. This is a definite keeper.

Yuck!. I don't know what I did wrong! Made exactly to the recipe, which wasn't cheap. The batter seemed weak and watery. While browning, the fish made a ton of liquid, and pretty much took the batter off the fish. I'm a fish lover, but the whole batch went down the disposal. Only caveat, the chips were fine.

This is the best beer battered fish I've ever had!! I normally don't like beer battered fish because it is so greasy but this was light and crispy and wonderful!! The chips we're great too!!

I liked this recipe, but only after following the previous reviewers tips. Missed the part about adding the corn starch, though, so my breading did slip off a little, but was mostly good. I've never cooked fish before and was worried about it being under cooked so some of my thinner strips started falling apart, but the thicker strips (about 3 in by 1 in) were fine. I used their chips recipe also except that I coated the pan with cooking spray, added the chips, then sprayed them. They were good! I actually liked them better that way than Cooking Light's Garlic Fries recipe. All in all, the recipe's fine and the flavors are good, but I would have appreciated more direction from the actual recipe itself.

If your fish are coming out soggy you are cooking them wrong. Make sure that the heat of the oil is hot BEFORE you put the fish in. If the oil is not hot it will make the fish soggy. It should probably be stated in the instructions but it is a common cooking fact for fish and chips or really any type of frying that the oil should be hot before adding your fish.

A little altering is needed here... Batter won't stick unless you do a dry dredge first - basic frying rule! Also try mixing in some cornstarch to dredge (flour & spices) mixture. So dredge, dunk (in batter), drain (excess batter) then fry. Also, the beer-flour mixture needs to be a bit thicker to work well. Finally - oil in pan MUST BE HOT! Or you turn everything to mush.

Very tasty, especially if you have a craving for a good ol' Brit-syle fish and chips fry-up. I always pat the fish dry first before dipping in the batter--makes quite a difference in getting the batter to stick. Also, make sure that the fish is well-defrosted first. I often make this with tilapia loins, because they are cheap and easier to find than cod. And ALWAYS serve with malt vinegar-yum!

Don't even think about it. I love fish & chips but never make it because of the mess and calories associated with deep frying. But this is not a satisfying alternative. The breading doesn't get nice and crisp before the fish starts falling apart. I used my own recipe for oven fries instead of this one after reading the comments here. Please go back to the drawing board on this one, Cooking Light.

This was a very good recipe and was by far the best "fried" fish recipe I have tried. I did a some trouble with the fish sticking, but that was only because the pan wasn't hot enough. Once it was fully heated the fish cooked perfectly. The fries (chips, but not really) were very good as well, though they did take longer to cook than stated. In fact, they were popular enough that they have been made along with other things as well. Definitely worth repeating.

I really thought the fish was spectacular. It was my first experience cooking fish and I thought it turned out delightfully. The batter is a bit loose, but did crisp up nicely and I didn't have problems with it falling off. I noticed the more batter I let drain off before putting it into the oil the better it worked out. I also blotted my fish dry with paper towels, and I think that helped. I even used the batter to make onion rings. I didn't have any luck with the chip portion of this recipe. The potatoes stuck to my pan and were hardly in a state to be eaten. They were also very soggy, which is why I chose 3 stars instead of 4. It didn't look quite as good as the photo but it has become a special Friday Lenten dinner in our home every week. My very picky DH really enjoyed this dish also. I served it with homemade tartar sauce, onion rings and vegetables.

The chips took a lot longer, but were edible. The batter didn't stick to the fish very well, was easy to pull off the fish (luckily) to salvage some fish - it had lots of beer flavor. Will not make again

This was by far and away the worst recipe I have made from Cooking Light. I was so excited to make it and it was disasterous and inedible. What a waste of time. The "chips" were soggy and the batter didn't stick to the fish when cooking. You should remove this from your website.

I cook with cooking Light recipes all the time, this has to be the worst I have ever made, from the magazine or cookbook. Stuck to the pan. Awful!!

After twelve years of cooking light recipe use, and never writing a comment, I am compelled to write a review. This was terrible!

This was great. This was the second cod recipe from the Dec. 2009 issue I have made and both were very good. My husband loved the fish (although he didn't want me to make it at first because he thought I was going to deep fry it). The fish wasn't as crispy as shown in the photo, but after reading the other reviews, I think I probably didn't have the oil hot enough. I used a splatter shield when cooking and didn't have a messy cook top to clean up.

I've never made beer-battered fish before and I was really happy with the way this turned out. The batter had a great flavor with the dark beer, and I made sure the oil was really hot before putting the fish in it. Very crunchy. My picky husband even liked it. A definite keeper.

We really liked this recipe. It was easy, and most of our fish came out golden brown and crispy. Instead of simply draining the beer off the fish, I pulled the fish onto separate dish while I preheated the oil in the pan. Getting the oil good and hot before starting and then letting the fish go a little longer (about 4 minutes on each side) helped with getting it brown and crispy. We'll make this again.

I thought this recipe was okay but needs a bit of tweaking. The batter for the fish was too wet and so didn't adhere to the fish so next time I would add more flour. Maybe it would have been better baked, so next time I will probably lightly fry on one side and then put in the oven for that nice crunch. My potatoes were a bit soggy after even 25 minutes in the oven so I turned on the broiler and crisped them up that way. I served with steamed green beans tossed in a lemon vinaigrette.

The fish was terribly soggy. Yuck. Potatoes are yummy cooked this way but I'll never make the fish again.

Easy recipe. I made extra batter because I like it crispy and it turned out well. Nice crunch.

This recipe was the occasion of my worst kitchen disaster since I blew up the fig preserves. The fish was soggy, and oil spattered all over my freshly cleaned cooktop. It was so nasty, I threw it out and called Dominos. YUCK!