Fish ‘n’ Chip Friday

Our values and our ethos are just as important at our venues as they are here at Abbeydale Brewery. And that extends to the menu at our beautiful community pub, The Rising Sun, which – just like the brewery – is 100% employee owned.

Every dish on the menu is crafted with the finest addition to detail by our head chef, Joe Grayson (read more about Joe here) – from ever-changing, innovative seasonal specials, to elevated pub classics. And it doesn’t get more classic than fish and chips! It’s our best selling dish, and Joe himself calls this his favourite dish on the whole menu. So what makes it so special?

Well, we’d like to think it’s because of the care we take and the sourcing of the absolute best ingredients. Sustainable, line-caught fish is couriered daily from St. Ives for the absolute freshest produce. We only use sustainable fish from British waters. It costs a little more, but it’s well worth it if you want the best flavour and texture. This does mean the fish itself can change, but usually it’ll be either cod, pollock, or ling. Any firm white fish will work well, it’s the freshness that’s key.

So once we’ve got the main ingredient sorted, our attention turns to the batter! And as we’re a brewery owned pub, of course, it simply has to be a beer batter! Our Heresy lager works absolutely perfectly. The carbonation level ensures little pockets of air that give the batter a great level of crispiness and keep it lovely and light too. Plus, the beer itself is delicate enough to not overly flavour the fish – just give it that extra level of depth.

Heresy, like all of our beers, is gluten free – so we keep the whole recipe GF. If you’d like a go at making it yourself, the recipe is below –

Ingredients:           

100g gluten free self raising flour, plus extra for dusting your fish fillets

150g Heresy 

5g of powdered Nori

Salt & pepper to season

8oz fish fillets

Method:

Heat a deep fat fryer of vegetable oil to 190 degrees

Gently mix all the batter ingredients together – you’re looking for the consistency of double cream

Pat the fish down and dredge in seasoned GF flour

Generously coat in the batter mix

Gently lower and fully submerge the fish in the oil.

Cooking times will depend on your fish, but you’re looking for the batter to be a beautiful deep golden colour for optimum crunch!

We serve ours with homemade mushy peas, crayfish tartare and double cooked chips. And to drink alongside? Well, Heresy is the obvious choice (and it is a great companion!), but we think choosing a pint of Deception might just be even better. It’s got just the right amount of zip and zing to cut through the richness of the dish and refresh the palate between mouthfuls.

Let us know if you have a go at making it yourself! Or, why not join us at the Rising Sun and let Joe and his team cook it for you! Food is served 7 days a week, and we strongly recommend booking in advance.

We hope to welcome you soon!