What type of local fish would you recommend for making traditional style 'fish and chips'?

[RickG16]

3 hours ago, delgarcon said:

I use frozen tilapia from Macro,

I agree with you 100% Barry, pangasius is <deleted>. I've been very happy using the frozen tilapia, much better quality.

Tilapia you say?

 

• Tilapia in China's fish farms, are fed pig and goose manure — even though it contains salmonella and makes the tilapia "more susceptible to disease."

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/disgusting-truths-about-asian-aquaculture-2012-10

 

[CLW]

I tried Tilapia (Pla Nin/Pla Tubtim) and Asian sea bass / Barramundi (Pla Krapong). I found the sea bass more delicious.

I would buy it fresh and let it fillet at the shop. Most supermarkets offer this service. In my opinion freshest seafood is at Makro.

[tifino]

I agree with the various Yesses top SeBass/Barra/Flake

 - an with the NOs to any variant of the Basa ish

 

 

But asides from all that I had for decades shied away from deep fried battered fish in favour of the spruiked health benefits of Grilled... 

 However; over the past decade I will now vote in favour of a fully battered fish, as the 'healthier' choice... 

 - my logic in the above stems from a theory the fish inside the batter has been 'steam cooked' inside a sealed batter 'protection layer' against the pool of fatty cooking oils.

 

    My Method upon receiving the cooked battered fish on my plate; is to immediately Operate on it; by cutting a neat'scalpel' cut end to end,

and performing a 'batter'ectomy 

 

The batter itself is then discarded.., (or passed to someone who likes oiled batter) 

 

The meat on its own is basically a cleanly steamed fish ????  

 

[Eindhoven]

4 hours ago, recom273 said:

We can say the same for every farmed fish and seafood Thailand or Asia.

 

I think I am correct in saying, Songkhla lake is the worlds biggest exporter of Barramundi or Pla Krapong, they are often sold as sea bass.

Its the largest area of intensive aquaculture in the world. The fish is held in the market as a premium fish, yet it’s just another farmed fish full of processed food steroids and antibiotics.

 

We eat a fair bit of Barramundi, bring so close to the source its very fresh, sometimes we get wild fish, it’s ok in yellow curry or doused in fish sauce and deep fried, but I don’t rate it as a battered fish. I feel it’s a dry fish and also a waste being battered.
 

Shark might be nice, don’t we have that back home - it’s called rock? Which is a dog fish or some kind of small shark, or am I getting confused with conger eel.

 

Rock salmon is right. Used to get that at our local fish and chip shop in London.

[Eindhoven]

Cyprus Dave appearing on this post reminded me. They do a bang up fish and chips on Cyprus. I mean seriously. The battered cod was hand to elbow length. Huge. We had no idea and ordered a portion each. We didn't leave hungry.

Also my local chippy in London was from Cyprus, so there is definitely a connection to good fish & chips there

 

The Fisherman's House Στο Σπιτι Του Ψαρα in Limassol.

 

 

 

[LosLobo]

4 hours ago, recom273 said:

We can say the same for every farmed fish and seafood Thailand or Asia.

 

I think I am correct in saying, Songkhla lake is the worlds biggest exporter of Barramundi or Pla Krapong, they are often sold as sea bass.

Its the largest area of intensive aquaculture in the world. The fish is held in the market as a premium fish, yet it’s just another farmed fish full of processed food steroids and antibiotics.

 

We eat a fair bit of Barramundi, bring so close to the source its very fresh, sometimes we get wild fish, it’s ok in yellow curry or doused in fish sauce and deep fried, but I don’t rate it as a battered fish. I feel it’s a dry fish and also a waste being battered.
 

Shark might be nice, don’t we have that back home - it’s called rock? Which is a dog fish or some kind of small shark, or am I getting confused with conger eel.

Pla Krapong (ปลากระป๋อง) is generic canned fish.

 

Pla Kapong (ปลากะพง) is barramundi .

[unblocktheplanet]

Most of the fish others have mentioned are farmed fish therefore not as flavourful & of questionable value, same as catfish or farmed prawns. There are some awesome online sources which advertise here (can I mention Paleo Robbie?) which feature frozen wild fish. Far better choice & not expensive.

[sandyf]

5 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Where are the chips??!!

Without them, you are in the wrong thread. Security! Eject this man!

I don't have chips very often but when i do I make them myself.

About 4 years ago when I was in UK we rented a chalet on the Norfolk coast. Got there quite late so planned to walk to the pub, but when we got there live music was on and standing room only. Rather than go back for the car against my better judgement decided on the fish and chip shop and go back to the chalet. Cost about £30 for the 4 of us and unfit for human consumption. Chips were soggy and fish oil logged, most of it went in the bin.

As a child my mother worked in a fish and chip shop so we had them several times a week, usually haddock, fortunately in those days they were superb but I think now long gone.

[RocketDog]

Any kind whose flesh is not saturated with toxic chemicals will do.

Good luck.

[sandyf]

6 hours ago, recom273 said:

Shark might be nice, don’t we have that back home - it’s called rock? Which is a dog fish or some kind of small shark, or am I getting confused with conger eel.

All the "Rock Salmon" I have seen was eel. I like it and used to have it after cod got quite expensive.

[Tropposurfer]

9 hours ago, lockyv7 said:

I see on the news they been catching a lot of Black Tipped Reef Sharks, in Australia i like Battered Flake as my fish from the fish and chip shop and thats just another name for Shark.

Fresh is always best I reckon. I buy ocean fish from a few local fellasm (they send me pics of fresh catch and i give a thumbs up and they pop round with the beauties ???? no complaints by me at all so far.

I'm no fish expert but some look and taste very similar to the species I mention below.  

Yep baby or small species shark is nice.  In Aussie we've been eating shark or hake for a long long time.

'Red roughy' is superb (a bright red sea fish, ugly but yummy), Coral trout superb. 

Snapper (small species called Bream) also delicious - I've seen it sold in Central Food Hall in Phuket on occasion. It's a wonderful fish for the Chinese styled steamed fish with ginger, shallots, and low salt soy sauce ... yummo ????????????

I'm not sure if there are whiting species here, never seen them in the few years I've lived here (a narrow long fillet shaped, unfilleted it has light yellow coloured lateral fins and a pure white belly) - One of my favourites, and so delicious in beer-batter or crumbed - Also seen it in Central Food Hall on occasion.

Mackerel and barracuda are nice cut into steaks (can be battered or crumbed), also on sale in Central Food Halls at Bang Tao on occasion. Damn I'm hungry again lol ????

 

 

[bangon04]

anything that gets stuck in the net.... just smother it with naam plaa.....

[Eindhoven]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

I don't have chips very often but when i do I make them myself.

About 4 years ago when I was in UK we rented a chalet on the Norfolk coast. Got there quite late so planned to walk to the pub, but when we got there live music was on and standing room only. Rather than go back for the car against my better judgement decided on the fish and chip shop and go back to the chalet. Cost about £30 for the 4 of us and unfit for human consumption. Chips were soggy and fish oil logged, most of it went in the bin.

As a child my mother worked in a fish and chip shop so we had them several times a week, usually haddock, fortunately in those days they were superb but I think now long gone.

 

Fish & Chips were a treat for me as a child. Sometimes you could only afford Saveloy.  Still enjoyed it; as Saveloy was possibly a treat too. 

[recom273]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

All the "Rock Salmon" I have seen was eel. I like it and used to have it after cod got quite expensive.

Thanks! I always used to say rock, I didn’t know why. 
I thought it was conger eel too, turns out it was dogfish, which are small sharks (as far as I know, friends used to catch loads of them off the Essex coast and get the right hump because they weren’t “real” fish.) 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_salmon

 

Wiki also says it’s called flake, which ties in with the other posters.

 

I don’t remember it being much cheaper than cod - I just remember it having more flavour than cod.

 

[superal]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

I don't have chips very often but when i do I make them myself.

About 4 years ago when I was in UK we rented a chalet on the Norfolk coast. Got there quite late so planned to walk to the pub, but when we got there live music was on and standing room only. Rather than go back for the car against my better judgement decided on the fish and chip shop and go back to the chalet. Cost about £30 for the 4 of us and unfit for human consumption. Chips were soggy and fish oil logged, most of it went in the bin.

As a child my mother worked in a fish and chip shop so we had them several times a week, usually haddock, fortunately in those days they were superb but I think now long gone.

I remember when fish & chips were a Friday night family treat , had to get in the queue and hope they did not sell out . Small , medium or large cod and small or big chips were the menu . Copious amounts of salt and vinegar applied and wrapped in newspaper . Occasionally I would buy a mushy pea . However today the UK traditional fish & chip shop has become also a pie , sausage , fritter or curry sauce shop along with often cheap disguised pollack served instead of cod . To me there is not much taste with cod and in Thailand my lady serves fish & chips in her restaurant on a regular occasion  ( at least 12 a week ) and the chips are home made and not those stringy french fries .  She has used Makro cod and also Tilapia and even gives the farang customer the choice ( taste the same to me ) and Tilapia is the most popular , served with garden peas and a wedge of lemon and the fish is fried and coated in breadcrumbs mostly .

[nahkit]

Posted 9 hours ago (edited)

On 6/16/2021 at 11:57 PM, CharlieH said:

Try the Pangasius, cheap and widely available in Big C Makro etc. Can be bought in Fillets of varying size.

And the winner of the thread is CharlieH. By far the best tasting fish on the market and no bones. It is also sold as John Dory in posh restaurants.

 

Quote

Its formal scientific name is Pangasius bocourti, though it's often called basa fish or bocourti in the United States. You may also have heard basa fish referred to as river cobbler, Vietnamese cobbler, pangasius, or swai. Its flesh has a light, firm texture and a mild fish flavor — similar to cod or haddock.

John Dory is a different fish to the Pangasius dory. They come from two different fish families _ zeidae (John Dory) and pangasiidae (Pangasius).

 

Any restaurant selling Pangasius as John Dory is ripping the customer off.

 

 

[Crossy]

49 minutes ago, superal said:

Occasionally I would buy a mushy pea .

 

Just one?

 

We use our own tilapia, they don't have that "muddy" taste that some fresh water fish have, and we know what they eat (mostly).

 

[superal]

29 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Just one?

 

We use our own tilapia, they don't have that "muddy" taste that some fresh water fish have, and we know what they eat (mostly).

 

Yes , one was enough cos they were big and I had to buy from my pocket money and had to keep some money to buy sherbet lemons on the way home 

[elliss]

On 6/17/2021 at 12:21 AM, recom273 said:

I’m with @CharlieH Pangasius fillets from big C are great in a beer batter.

 

I try to forget that they are a catfish (which I don’t eat) and that they are intensively reared, pumped full of chemicals, destroying the environment as I dip them into a bowl of home made Tatar sauce.

 

 

      May i ask. 

      What beer batter , you use ..

       Archer , no way ...555

[KarenBravo]

4 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Rock salmon is right. Used to get that at our local fish and chip shop in London.

 

Agreed, but the name "rock salmon" is from a successful marketing campaign. It's real name is Dog-fish, a type of small shark. 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by KarenBravo

[recom273]

1 hour ago, elliss said:

 

      May i ask. 

      What beer batter , you use ..

       Archer , no way ...555

That stuff stinks .. Leo for what it’s worth but I don’t think it matters. 
 

I think there are plenty of good recipes and techniques on YouTube, but it’s a science.
 

A mix Wheat flour / tapioca flour a touch of baking powder - mix it till It the consistency of double cream then put in the freezer.

 

Dry the fish. Dredge the fish in flour, drop it into your batter and bingo.

[rickudon]

When you consider all the rubbish and chemicals that flow into the gulf of Thailand, have to wonder how safe are the fish from there ......... Andaman sea, better. Also remember that most sea fish stocks are heavily overfished (average of 90% of stocks gone) and this means the ecosystem is out of balance. It is more environmentally friendly to eat herbivorous freshwater fish (as long as you are not damaging the ecosystem).

 

Biomagnification means that toxic pollutants get concentrated as they move up the food chain. You get less from herbivorous fish than predatory ones.

 

If you do not live close to the sea in Thailand, all the thai sea fish in Makro, Lotus, BigC look very dead (if the eye isn't shiny, it's not fresh). Even the 'fresh' tilapia and Catfish in these stores do not look fresh. Frozen imported probably better. The horror stories you hear about farmed catfish are largely untrue - these fish have to meet stringent health and safety requirements to be imported into the EU and USA. USA catfish producers were responsible for promoting these stories.

 

So what do i eat in Thailand? Mainly Tilapia. good tilapia taste good (better than cod). The frozen fillets are sort of OK, and cost only about 120 baht a kilo (there is a lot of waste on a fresh fish, so the fillets are cheap). Pangasius is OK but tasteless (cost about 65 baht a kilo for frozen fillets in Makro). Fresh Tilapia come from our ponds, or the local market. Had Tilapia and chips last night.

[SunsetT]

16 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

What is it with Australians ruining fish & chips by overcooking the fish? I remember going in to these great looking fish and chips shops with cuts of fresh fish ready to be battered and deep fried. You choose your fish portion and off they go....dry and a bone. What?

After a couple of episodes of this I asked the manager of my hotel.

He replied that the want to make sure the fish is fully cooked, as no one wants to get food poisoning. ????

Had similar conversations in New Zealand. What's with so many of the chip shops selling McCain oven chips?? I had to travel far and wide to find one that used real hand cut potato. No fish & chip shop in the U.K would survive using frozen chips. 

U r right that the best thing about good UK fish & chip shop fish is its succulence due to it being cooked just enough. But I disagree about the UK f&C shop chips. When u stop and think about it they r quite a unique and bizarre culinary hybrid that we were all, in the UK, raised on and in a way conditioned to like, but really not that special. They are big and chunky but pale and anemic, soft in the middle and never browned or crispy, and if not eaten right away, i.e., when u take home, they become a soggy mass. Really they are like mashed potato with a skin...555. But I still like them especially in late summer when they are cooked with large new potatoes. That new potato taste in a chip is unbeatable. Maybe our cousins down under, not conditioned to eating them are right to prefer browned and oven chips.

 

[SunsetT]

17 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Pangasius ....mild fish flavor — similar to cod or haddock.

Never similar! Cod and haddock, and coley, which I really like, have different and distinctive tastes, but Dory, as the Thai's call pangasius, has b u g g e r all taste. It is passable if battered or breaded but the Thais almost always undercook it because it takes longer to cook than sea fish, and they mostly serve very thin fillets which are still raw or half cooked in the middle. If cooked enough, the batter usually ends up darker brown and a bit overcooked. Unlike sea fish It will stand overcooking which I think is the cardinal sin for cooking sea fish.

 

The nearest to UK chip shop fish I have ever tasted in Thailand was in Pricha night market in Udon. A grumpy little old Thai man who looked Japanese, used to deep wok fry tilapia (Pla nin) in batter and it was succulent and delicious. Fresh daily I think because he often sold out, and he was meticulous in watching and checking the quite large-flaked chunky pieces as they cooked in very clean oil. Sadly he has gone now.

 

Another tastier fish usually sold whole in Thailand, in most of the supermarkets, is Pla Krapong (I think) which appears on Thai menus as 'snapper'. I was told by a Thai chef that it is a farmed sea fish. Our Makro used to sell it fresh filleted but no longer, but I think it is sold frozen filleted. He cooks juicy bigger and chunkier pieces baked with spinach and cheese which is absolutely delicious. But I think it would also make good fish & chips fish.

Edited June 26, 2021 by SunsetT

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Fish & Chips were a treat for me as a child. Sometimes you could only afford Saveloy.  Still enjoyed it; as Saveloy was possibly a treat too. 

Yes indeed. Back in the 50s, fish and chip shops in NE Scotland offered 3 fish, cod, haddock and plaice, 4 types of pudding - black, red, white and haggis, and also scotch pies and mock chops(Lorne sausage in batter). The pies were disgusting, just threw them in the frier with everything else, I always asked for them cold.

When I first came to England in 1962 it was a bit of a surprise to see fish and chip shops only sold fish and chips. It was a few years later before I saw any saveloy, but didn't think it was as good as red pudding.

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, recom273 said:

Thanks! I always used to say rock, I didn’t know why. 
I thought it was conger eel too, turns out it was dogfish, which are small sharks (as far as I know, friends used to catch loads of them off the Essex coast and get the right hump because they weren’t “real” fish.) 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_salmon

 

Wiki also says it’s called flake, which ties in with the other posters.

 

I don’t remember it being much cheaper than cod - I just remember it having more flavour than cod.

 

It may well be the area or what is available. Large eels are fairly common, not only conger. I can remember as a child my father caught a salmon with a large lamprey attached to it, about a metre long. He wouldn't eat it, quite particular only ever ate haddock or fish he caught, just buried it in the garden.

Very easy to tell the difference, the eel has a fairly large piece of central bone, bit like a salmon steak.

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, superal said:

I remember when fish & chips were a Friday night family treat , had to get in the queue and hope they did not sell out . Small , medium or large cod and small or big chips were the menu . Copious amounts of salt and vinegar applied and wrapped in newspaper . Occasionally I would buy a mushy pea . However today the UK traditional fish & chip shop has become also a pie , sausage , fritter or curry sauce shop along with often cheap disguised pollack served instead of cod . To me there is not much taste with cod and in Thailand my lady serves fish & chips in her restaurant on a regular occasion  ( at least 12 a week ) and the chips are home made and not those stringy french fries .  She has used Makro cod and also Tilapia and even gives the farang customer the choice ( taste the same to me ) and Tilapia is the most popular , served with garden peas and a wedge of lemon and the fish is fried and coated in breadcrumbs mostly .

I would agree on the taste, I think most fish tend to lose flavour when frozen. Difficult for restaurants to offer fresh fish unless they have the tanks which tends to make it a bit pricy.

With decent chips a piece of tilapia makes for a reasonable meal and personally I also prefer the breadcrumbs to batter.

[tinca tinca]

On 6/26/2021 at 9:42 AM, Mai mee said:

Tried and rejected... frozen pangasius from Big C... cheap as hell and looked great on the plate when fried, but one bite and we both agreed it sucked. We reluctantly finished dinner, but gave the rest of the filets away to gf's thai friends.

 

Still very much looking for good fryable Cod/Halibut replacement here in Phuket. I did see some Frozen cod filets at Villa Market, but I imagine quite pricy... I may be going back regardless because I'm feeling that fried fish craving coming on.

halibut will not be found around here it really is a northern hemisphere fishy....think it likes nice cool waters !!!!

[superal]

3 hours ago, tinca tinca said:

halibut will not be found around here it really is a northern hemisphere fishy....think it likes nice cool waters !!!!

Expensive fish , UK price around £27 per kilo filletted . 

[Moonlover]

On 6/26/2021 at 9:02 AM, IvorBiggun2 said:

On 6/26/2021 at 8:59 AM, KarenBravo said:

Tilapia is a fresh water fish. You need a sea fish for a good, tasty fish 'n' chips, close to what you get in the UK.

 

On 6/26/2021 at 9:02 AM, IvorBiggun2 said:

Never had Pangasius then? By the way it's a fresh water fish.

Atlantic cod, of which most UK fish 'n' chips is produced from has a very mild flavour. It's the batter that gives it that great taste.

 

Pangasius is a fresh water fish that is farmed extensively in the region. The taste and texture are not dissimilar to cod so it does makes a credible substitute.

 

Tilapia is a great fish and we eat it a lot, but it's too flaky to be filleted so I wouldn't be tempted to try and batter it.