Ruhlman's Twenty (50 page)

Deep-frying battered foods is a commitment, so it’s best to save it for special preparations like these fish tacos. My friend and fellow cook Sandy Bergsten, a devotee of the fish taco, puts it best: “I always order them and am downright thrilled when they are the perfect combination of light crispy fish, crunchy lettuce, a dollop of creamy avocado, and just the right drizzle of sauce—it should all come together almost like a vacation in the Caribbean in your mouth. Couple with a cold Corona with a lime and a little sunburn, and they can’t be beat.”

You can take these to any level you wish. You could use store-bought guacamole and salsa, but both are fairly easy to make and worth the effort. You can also make your own corn tortillas, but if you don’t want to do that, I recommend using flour tortillas, which will allow the flavors of the fish and salsa to come through better than store-bought corn tortillas.

The batons of light fish are coated in a tempura batter before they are deep-fried. The fish is cut into thick strips because the idea is to have a good amount of surface area for the batter and crunch but not so much that you lose the flavor of the fish.

FRESH SALSA

ripe plum tomatoes, cut into small dice

1 small onion, finely chopped (ideally about half the amount of diced tomato)

1 small jalapeño chile, seeded and finely chopped

1 small garlic clove, minced (about 1 teaspoon)

Kosher salt

Pinch of ground cumin

Fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon roughly chopped cilantro/fresh coriander

GUACAMOLE

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 ripe avocados

Kosher salt

¾ cup/105 grams cake/soft-wheat flour

¼ cup/35 grams cornstarch/cornflour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1½ pounds/680 grams white fish such as halibut, cod, rockfish, flounder, haddock, hake, or orange roughy, cut into large strips about ¾ by ¾ inch/2 by 2 centimeters

Fine sea salt

Oil for deep-frying

About 1 cup/240 milliliters sparkling water

6 medium tortillas, warmed

1 cup/50 grams julienned iceberg lettuce

½ cup/40 grams torn cilantro/fresh coriander

6 lime wedges

MAKE THE SALSA:
At least 30 minutes before you cook the fish, combine the tomatoes, onion, chile, and garlic in a small bowl. Season with a three-finger pinch of salt, the cumin, and lime juice. Toss to combine. Before serving, toss again, add the cilantro/fresh coriander, and toss to combine.

MAKE THE GUACAMOLE:
In a small bowl, combine the shallot and lime juice and allow the shallot to macerate for 5 to 10 minutes. Put the avocado flesh in a bowl, discarding the skin and pits. Using a fork or potato masher, mash the avocado until creamy. Season with a good threefinger pinch of salt. Add the shallot mixture and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap/cling film, pressing it onto the guacamole if you’re making it more than a few hours in advance.

In a bowl large enough to dip the fish, combine the flour, cornstarch/cornflour, and baking powder.

Season the fish with salt. Ready a platter with paper towels/absorbent paper on which to drain the fish.

Heat the oil in a pan for deep-frying to 350°F/180°C.

When the oil is hot, add the sparkling water to the flour mixture and stir with a fork or two chopsticks to form a light batter. The batter should coat the fish lightly, not heavily, but not so lightly that it runs off the fish. If it’s too heavy, add a little more water. If you overdid the water, stir in a little more flour. Add the fish strips to the bowl and gently toss to coat them evenly. Lift out the strips, allowing the excess batter to drip for a moment. Lay each strip in the oil. Stir gently to ensure even cooking, turning as necessary. When the strips are a nice even brown, after 2 minutes or so, remove to the platter.

Set a tortilla on each plate. Divide the fish evenly among the tortillas. Garnish each serving with a heaping tablespoon of guacamole, some lettuce, a heaping tablespoon of salsa, and some torn cilantro/fresh coriander. Roll up the tortillas and serve with the lime wedges.

I was reminded how much I like fritters when I was working on my book
Ratio.
Fritters are fruits or vegetables held together by what is essentially a pancake batter. All I’ve done here is add some new flavors to the batter. You don’t want to use too much batter, as it expands when cooked and the fritters can become heavy and cakey.

DIPPING SAUCE

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 cup/240 milliliters
Mayonnaise

¼ cup/20 grams roughly chopped cilantro/fresh coriander

½ cup/70 grams cake/soft-wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

Kosher salt

1/3 cup/75 milliliters milk

1 large egg

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, seeded and finely chopped

1 tablespoon adobo sauce

2 cups/300 grams fresh corn kernels

½ cup/50 grams chopped onion

Oil for panfrying

Torn cilantro/fresh coriander

Lime wedges

MAKE THE DIPPING SAUCE:
In a small bowl, combine the shallot and lime juice and allow the shallot to macerate for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the mayonnaise and stir to mix. Stir in the cilantro/fresh coriander.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cumin, and a three-finger pinch of salt. In a small bowl, combine the milk, egg, garlic, chipotle chiles, and adobo sauce and whisk until uniformly mixed. Pour over the flour mixture and whisk just to combine. Put the corn and onion in a separate bowl and add enough batter to just cover.

Heat ½ inch/12 millimeters of oil in a large frying pan. When it’s hot and ripply, spoon in the batter, about 2 tablespoons at a time. Cook, turning as needed, until the fritters are golden brown and crisp on the outside and cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove to a paper towel–/absorbent paper–lined platter and sprinkle with salt.

Serve the fritters garnished with torn cilantro/fresh coriander and accompanied with lime wedges and the dipping sauce.

The best way, to my taste, to cook a pork chop is panfrying. The method here somehow brings out its porkiness. Try to find a local source for pork. Your efforts will be repaid with superior flavor. Otherwise, try to find a store that sources humanely raised pork, such as Whole Foods. The generic grocery store pork often has very little flavor. But if that’s the only option, this is definitely the way to cook it. The breading adds flavor and crunch and serves as a barrier to the pork loin, which will dry out if overcooked. I recommend using pork chops that are between 1 and 1½ inches/2.5 to 4 centimeters thick. If they’re too thin, they will overcook before a good crust develops.

For even better pork chops, brine them ahead with the
sage-garlic brine.
Brining adds flavor and makes the pork juicier. The chops are complemented with a simple sauce.

4 bone-in pork chops

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

About 1 cup/140 grams all-purpose/plain flour

1 large egg, beaten with a couple of tablespoons of water

1½ cup/175 grams panko bread crumbs

Oil for panfrying

LEMON-CAPER SAUCE

6 tablespoons/85 grams butter

4 lemon slices, each about
¹
/
₈
inch/3 millimeters thick

3 tablespoons capers

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

About 1 hour before cooking the pork chops, remove them from the refrigerator and season liberally on both sides with salt and pepper.

Put the flour, beaten egg, and panko in separate dishes. Dredge each chop in the flour and shake off any excess. Dip in the egg and then dredge in the panko.

Heat ¼ to ½ inch/6 to 12 millimeters oil in a pan over high heat. When the oil is hot and ripply, lay the pork chops in the pan and cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the pork chops and cook until golden brown, about 3 to 4 more minutes. Remove to a rack while you make the sauce. (The chops can be put in a 200°F/95°C/ gas ¼ oven for 30 minutes if you want to hold them or need to cook them in batches; if holding them for this long, cook them rare to medium-rare, so that they finish in the oven.)

MAKE THE SAUCE:
Put the butter in a small sauté pan over low heat. When it begins to melt, add the lemon slices in a single layer and the capers. Raise the heat to medium-high and swirl the ingredients in the pan. When the butter is piping hot and frothing, add the parsley. Remove from the heat and stir.

Serve the pork chops, topping each with some of the sauce, including a lemon slice, and some capers.

This is a very easy preparation for what I find to be an addictive pleasure. A quickly made dough called pâte à choux (paht ah SHOO)—the dough used to make cream puffs—is loaded with diced apple, fried, and rolled in cinnamon sugar. The doughnuts make a wickedly good start to the day and also a surprisingly easy and impressive passed dessert after dinner.

4 tablespoons/55 grams butter

½ cup/70 grams all-purpose/plain flour

2 large eggs

1 to 1½ cups/120 to 180 grams finely diced, peeled Granny Smith apples (1 to 2 apples)

1½ cups/300 grams sugar

1¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon

Oil for deep-frying

In small saucepan over high heat, combine the butter and ½ cup/120 milliliters water. When the butter has melted and the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and add the flour. Stir until the flour absorbs the water and becomes a paste. Continue cooking the flour for another 30 seconds or so. Remove from the heat. Stirring rapidly, add the eggs one at a time, and stir until completely incorporated. Let the dough cool enough to handle.

Add the apples to the dough and stir until well combined. Invert a large plastic bag over your hand and scoop out the apple dough. Cut a ½-inch/12-millimeter hole in the corner of the bag.

In a bowl large enough to toss doughnuts, combine the sugar and cinnamon and stir to mix.

Heat oil in a pan for deep-frying to 350°F/ 180°C. Pipe the dough into the oil, cutting the dough off at roughly 2-inch/5-centimeter intervals, or as desired. (Or shape them using two spoons and drop them into the oil off the spoons.) Cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes; remove a doughnut, cut it open, and see if the center is set and warm. Remove the doughnuts from the oil to a bowl lined with paper towels/absorbent paper to drain them, then roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately.