Heartwarming Fish-and-Chips from The Official Netflix Cookbook (Heartstopper)
The next recipe I made out of The Official Netflix Cookbook was Heartwarming Fish-and-Chips, inspired by the equally heartwarming coming-of-age series Heartstopper. Debuting on Netflix in 2022, it's based on a popular graphic novel series about an English schoolboy, Charlie Spring, who falls in love with his classmate Nick Nelson, a rugby player. This show is optimistic entertainment in a world full of horrific news and equally depressing media. The story recently concluded with a movie, Heartstopper Forever, which in my opinion ended their story perfectly.
Unlike the Vegan Swedish Meatballs for Young Royals, fish and chips is actually eaten on Heartstopper, in the season 1 finale and season 3 premiere. In the former, there's a montage of Nick and Charlie's date at the beach, where Nick tries and fails to catch some chips (or fries as I and other North Americans would call them) in his mouth. The Netflix Cookbook even mentions this in the recipe's description.
In season 3, episode 1, the Paris Squad (as the central friend circle is called) spend a day at the beach and get multiple orders of fish and chips, then play around and chuck fries/chips at each other. Charlie's lack of appetite leads into one of the crucial plotlines of the season: his eating disorder, which Nick and gradually his other friends begin to notice.
The fish and chips were the second dish I made from the Netflix Cookbook, but the first one I became aware of. As I said in my review of the meatballs, I was looking up if there was a Heartstopper cookbook and discovered this recipe in the Netflix one. I knew I had to make it, and I decided to have my loyal friends and frequent taste testers for this blog over again for it.
My dad used to make fish and chips for us on occasion with a traditional beer batter, and on visits with my late maternal grandmother, it was the only seafood dish she'd ever order or eat. I had fish and chips on my trip to London last year and wanted to recreate the experience at home soon after. I explored whether I could get marrowfat peas, which you would turn into mushy peas as a side, but they don't sell them where I live unless I imported some or got them in a can.
The recipe says to use either haddock or cod; I had a mixture of both from various fillets I'd frozen. There's very little difference between them in terms of taste so it didn't matter. It also suggests serving it in a newspaper if you'd like, or with malt vinegar or ketchup; I only had the latter. I considered making some tartar sauce as well - I always make it, I've never found a storebought one I like - but ultimately didn't bother with it.
Since frying is messy and fried fish can be pungent, I did it outside on my barbecue's side burner. I don't often deep fry food, in fact, this was probably the first time I'd done it in two and a half years. The recipe doesn't tell you to, but I chose to soak the potatoes in water to keep them from discoloring, and extract some of the starch for extra crispiness.
Of course, doing that means you have to dry them off before putting them into the oil. The fries are cooked twice: once for 10 minutes to blanche them, and then for 4-5 minutes more after the fish is cooked to make them crispy. I had to blanche the fries in four batches, so in total the frying process took 40 minutes, especially since the pot I was using wasn't high or thin enough that I could clip my thermometer onto its side, so it had to awkwardly "lean" off the side into the center. Once I was ready to cook the fish, it took much less time and we kept everything warm in the oven while I finished everything.
Another production, but it was well worth it, and indeed heartwarming! This is a solid recipe for fish and chips and quite on par with what I ate in London. One of my friends saw season 1 of Heartstopper and I'm hoping that with my encouragement + trying the fish and chips, they'll watch the rest of the show and love it as much as I do.
As I said, I'll make more dishes from the Netflix Cookbook after I've watched the associated movies/shows. Several shows have been watched and their recipes made, with posts ready to go, so stay tuned.
If you want to make this recipe for Heartwarming Fish-and-Chips yourself, you can get it in The Official Netflix Cookbook: 70 Recipes from Your TV to Your Table.
