I have been working on beer-batter fish batter for the last several years. Early attempts were a disaster with gloppy, heavy batter that cooked like a pancake, fell off the filets, and left the fish raw.

Now I have things pretty well dialed-in with a light, crispy coating that adheres well to the fish, tastes great, and looks like a food network picture. I would say it is on par with any Wisconsin supper club.

Some key pointers:
Dry the filets and dust with flour before dipping in batter. This is critical.
Make the batter thin. A light coating is always better than heavy.
Cook at 375° for best results.
Pabst Blue Ribbon is best for the batter.

I am still attempting to improve on my recipe and techniques. Tonight, I am adding baking powder to the batter to see what this does. A blend of regular flour and rice flour is another trial... rice flour is used in tempura.

My canoeing buddies love that I take care of the cooking!

My current recipe:

1 egg beaten well
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 heaping cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
about 13 ounces Pabst
cooking oil

Add the salt, flour, and baking powder to the beaten egg in a medium mixing bowl. Add and mix in the Pabst beer. Mix well and thin as needed to the consistency of gravy or thin pancake batter. Chill in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Mix again to smooth out any lumps. The beer is only for flavor, not carbonation. This recipe makes enough to coat 24 bluegill filets.

Dry the fillets with paper towels to remove all surface moisture. Dust your fillets by shaking in a plastic bag with flour. Shake off all excess flour. Dip fillets in the batter and fry in cooking oil at 375°.

This is our standard recipe for canoe fishing trips. And it works well at home. I use an electric frying pan in the garage to keep cooking odors out of the house.

Try mixing the batter less and see if you notice a difference. Definitely don't stir or mix it the second time. The lumps won't hurt anything, they won't be there once it's fried. Often in recipes or on the package for pancake batters and cake mixes you will see something like "do not overmix, lumps may remain". Overmixing causes the gluten to develop into long elastic strands, this is desired in bread to hold in the gases that form when the yeast is fed but not so much in cakes, pancakes, and batters.

Overmixing also comes into play when making meatballs or meatloaf. If you add the meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, and seasoning to a mixer and beat the heck out of it you are creating heat by friction which melts the larger fat particulates if it hasn't smashed the heck out of them by that point. The end result is a dry chewy, mealy product. If you ever see raw ground beef that has long skinny strands of white particulate, and feels really sticky, this is what has happened.

My last point is that your recipe is only as good as the weakest link in the ingredient chain. In the recipe that you posted it's Pabst beer. I'M ONLY KIDDING!

I am intrigued, this sounds delicious.

Do you pack eggs and beer on canoe trips or do you have substitutes?

tarnkt: ".....Do you pack eggs and beer on canoe trips or do you have substitutes?"

We pack heavy, so a dozen eggs and 3 beers is not an issue for us to bring along. It is a base-camp fishing trip and we eat well. I held off on a cast iron frying pan for many trips, but have brought one the last 3 years.

Thanks for posting, and please update as you make modifications. I have a long way to go before I can combine the word “perfect” with “fish fry”. And very interesting about mixing, Northwoodsman. I’m sure I do that.

Jaywalker: "...please update as you make modifications...."

Last week, I used a mixture of 1/2 flour and 1/2 rice flour. I had read that rice flour can improve the crispiness of fried foods.

This one time test seemed to result in an "oilier" finished product, as if the rice flour retained more of the cooking oil. Some other variable could be a factor here, as well so I don't want to write-off rice flour yet.

My next revision will be to dial down the amount of rice flour to a mixture of 3/4 flour and 1/4 rice flour to see how that works. I've seen a Chef Gordon Ramsey recipe that calls for 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup rice flour.

Replace the rice flour with semolina flour- it will make your batter delightfully crispy and flakey. As Northwoodsman said mix the dry and wet as little as practical (however mix your dry ingredients well before adding them to the wet).

Banksiana: "Replace the rice flour with semolina flour- it will make your batter delightfully crispy and flakey. As Northwoodsman said mix the dry and wet as little as practical (however mix your dry ingredients well before adding them to the wet)."

When I'm done messing around with the rice flour, I'll give semolina flour a try... thanks for the tip.

At this point, I don't think overmixing the batter is a factor. The consistency is too thin to really affect the gluten by overmixing... and it doesn't take much mixing anyway to blend in the flour and baking powder. But still something to keep in mind as I move above 95% perfection.

bobbernumber3: "

Banksiana: "Replace the rice flour with semolina flour- it will make your batter delightfully crispy and flakey. As Northwoodsman said mix the dry and wet as little as practical (however mix your dry ingredients well before adding them to the wet)."

When I'm done messing around with the rice flour, I'll give semolina flour a try... thanks for the tip.


At this point, I don't think overmixing the batter is a factor. The consistency is too thin to really affect the gluten by overmixing... and it doesn't take much mixing anyway to blend in the flour and baking powder. But still something to keep in mind as I move above 95% perfection."

Overmixing batters and quick breads causes them to loft less as mixing will allow the gas (CO2) to escape the batter giving it less loft and making it tougher- gluten "formation" [more correctly "orientation" as the gluten is already fully formed in the flour] is a long slow process- this is why bread is kneaded for 15 minutes.. Sifting together or beating your dry ingredients with a whisk is important- salt and soda should be well dispersed.

Banksiana: "Overmixing batters and quick breads causes them to loft less as mixing will allow the gas (CO2) to escape the batter giving it less loft and making it tougher- gluten "formation" [more correctly "orientation" as the gluten is already fully formed in the flour] is a long slow process- this is why bread is kneaded for 15 minutes.. Sifting together or beating your dry ingredients with a whisk is important- salt and soda should be well dispersed.
"

Since my recipe doesn't have yeast, no gas is produced. The beer goes flat while the batter rests and chills... it's really just there for the flavor. Gluten formation/orientation is a long slow process as you say. The basic point of mixing for beer batter is to hydrate and disperse the ingredients, which is just a few minutes at most. I think mixing dry ingredients is a very good idea too.

I have an idea that I will use pancake flour as a substitute for flour in a future test. I'm not sure what all is in pancake flour?? It may generate gas?

The baking powder generates CO2 when it gets wet (baking powder is usually soda + tartaric acid; get it wet and it generates CO2). Pancake mix often is made with both soda and baking powder. Best bet is to mix unit it is just incorporated- less mix = more flake/crisper/lighter.

I am reliable on this; it is my career.

Banksiana: "The baking powder generates CO2 when it gets wet (baking powder is usually soda + tartaric acid; get it wet and it generates CO2). Pancake mix often is made with both soda and baking powder. Best bet is to mix unit it is just incorporated- less mix = more flake/crisper/lighter.

I am reliable on this; it is my career."

I've only just started adding baking powder (last two fish fries). I have to say I haven't noticed any real difference yet in the batter (gassing) or the finished product (lighter/crispier). I'll try a higher levels of baking powder before continuing with rice flour recipes.

I try to keep it simple. I mix 2/3 to 3/4 cup white flour with 1/4 to 1/3 cup corn meal. I will often substitute pulverized ritz crackers for the corn meal, but after reading the above comments, I am going to have to try semolina flour now and see how it works. I add two or three heaping tablespoons of old bay or lemon pepper or italian seasoning mix in. Maybe a little salt and pepper. Then I just rinse the fish fillets in clean water, coat them with the breading and into the oil.

Chicagored: "three heaping tablespoons of old bay"

This is the way.

I've found if you take the filets out of your bag of mixture and lay on a flat surface for 10 minutes prior to putting them in the oil, it helps the mixture adhere to the fish better for a crisper crunch.
Great ideas thank you