Beer Battered Monkeyface eel (or calamari! Or any fillet really...)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs monkeyface eel, or 1lb monkeyface eel and 1lb fresh squid cut into rings

  • Monkeyface eel filet prep VIDEO

  • Make the most of this batter! - see how to clean your calamari HERE)

• Cut the eel into 1-2” pieces, the fillets will be about ½” thick so they’ll cook through in 3-4 minutes 1 bottle of beer (anything from a Guinness to a can of Tecate is great – experiment and be sure to have extra for the chef)

• 1 ¼ cups of all purpose flour

• ½ tsp of salt

• ¼ tsp of cayenne pepper

• 2 tsps of baking powder

• Vegetable oil for frying (more or less depending on whether you deep or shallow fry, I prefer to shallow fry.)

• Lemon wedges

Sriracha DIPPING SAUCE - great for battered calamari

For the dipping sauce - stir together in a small bowl:

• 1/4 cup yogurt

• 1/4 cup mayonaise

• juice of 1/2 lemon or lime

• splurt of sriracha (Vietnamese hot sauce, but you knew that)

• 1/4 tsp cumin

Method:

1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cayenne pepper, and slowly work in the beer. Whisk until smooth, then let it sit for 15-30 minutes. The consistency should resemble very thick heavy cream.

2. When you and the batter are ready, get a nice deep, heavy skillet, add an inch of oil and heat to 350 degrees (or more, if deep frying).

3. Make sure your fish pieces are nice and dry, then dip each piece of fish into the batter and gently ease it into the pan of hot oil, careful not to crowd the pan. (It’s better to cook several batches than to crowd the fish, lower the temperature, and end up with oily fish.)

4. Cook for 2 minutes per side, the batter should be golden brown and the fish cooked through.

5. A arrange paper towels on a plate, when your fish is done drain on the towels and keep in a warm oven while you cook the rest of your fish.

6. Sprinkle with salt & pepper, a squeeze of lemon, and open another beer for the chef – cheers!