Baked Fish and Chips

An even better way to do crispy potatoes in the oven is first to par boil them for a few minutes in water to which you've added some vinegar and salt, then proceed to toss them with oil and put them in the very hot oven. Check out "ultra crispy" oven potatoes online for a complete description of the technique. Everyone I've served them to loves them. I'll never go back to the old way.

Do you rinse the potatoes of their starch before you oil and bake them?

This is a baked recipe but there is a cool technique for dredging for frying with panko. Instead of having three separate station of flour, egg, panko, you mix the egg and flour to make loose paste. Dredge your piece of fish or whatever else in the flour-egg batter, then panko. This way panko sticks better and won't fall off during frying.

Try substituting buttermilk for egg. Let the fish marinate in it for a few hours. Sequence: from buttermilk, to flour, back to 'milk, then into crumbs. For the crumbs, granulated garlic is not much of a drop off v. minced fresh. Also try a spicy tuna sauce (simply siracha [to taste/heat tolerance] whipped into mayo, w/some lime juice) in place of tartar. Overall, this recipe makes for a very light and crunchy fried fish, without the lingering sheen of deep-fried guilt.

Bread crumb quantity seems to be a hot topic on this recipe. I used a generous cup and a half of the Panko crumbs and then had about a half cup left over so I'd say the recipe, as written, seems dead on. As for the flour quantity, Pierre Franey had a solution for breading most things. Put a scant quarter cup of seasoned flour, in a supermarket produce bag, shake the meat/ fish and then slap the fillet to knock off the excess. This has served me well for twenty plus years.

use parchment paper

My trust in Melissa Clark overcame my skepticism about baked fish, and it really is fantastic! I agree, too much flour, not enough panko. (Side note: I don't normally use panko but went to my local supermarket and was appalled at the ingredients in every panko I saw - really, sugar? - so came back and made my own). And my potatoes got well-browned after the first 15 minutes in the oven. Next time I'll do fish and spuds together at 425 degrees.

A quick rinse of the cut up potatoes will go a long way in preventing them from sticking. No need to soak for hours. Just make sure they are totally dry before oiling and cooking

I agree with the reviewer who said, "too much flour, not enough panko". Midway thru preparation I had to toast and flavour another 1/2 cup of crumbs. Our fish (fresh cod fillets) was lovely and we will do again. Be sure to grease the rack REALLY well. Also use a baking sheet large enough for a single layer of chips, otherwise they "clump". The tartar sauce was excellent, with the hit of dill as well as the horseradish.

A fantastic recipe!

If you don't have an appropriate baking rack, line a tray with parchment paper and cook the fish on that. It will still get crispy--especially if you wrinkle the parchment paper such that the fish doesn't like directly on the tray.

I like to cut the fish into smaller spears. This means that I have to double the panko crust portion of the recipe (to avoid running out). Though honestly, it tastes great even with a plain panko crust as the final dredging step.

I made this tonight, subbing in mayo for the mustard as my 4yo is anti-mustard these days. The fish and tartar sauce were delicious, as were the potatoes. The preheated pan is a smart trick for crisp, baked french fries. Repeat!

Delicious and easy. At my 12-year-old son's suggestion, the second time I made this, I added smoked paprika rather than mustard to the eggs. We all preferred it.

I made the fish sticks for dinner tonight. I followed the recipe but decreased the mustard a little.

These fish sticks are GREAT.

Made this last night -- yummy! I couldn't find my mandoline, so I used my spiralizer for the potatoes (Yukon Gold because that's what I had), and they were incredibly crispy. You just need to keep a close eye on them because they are thinner than fries and can burn more easily. I don't like the vinegar in prepared mustard, so I whisked some dry mustard into the egg mixture, which still gave it a nice flavor. Loved the touch of thyme in the breading. This is a keeper.

We made this tonight and it is now going into our regular recipe lineup. DeLIcious!!!!! Make as is, read the notes and adjust...either way, you can't go wrong: great technique. One key thing is to brown the breadcrumbs. They were a great color and even more crunchy like fried fish but greatly reduced fat. I used half the amount of oil.

Enjoy!