Last year or maybe two years ago we bought some rockfish fillets from a trailer that goes around selling Alaskan/Washington seafood. And it stayed in the freezer because actually making fish and chips at home is a chore.

A week or two ago I spotted it in the depths of the freezer and offhandedly said "I wonder if that old "Fry Daddy" deep fryer (ca. 1978) is still over at my dad's somewhere." So cut to Saturday, Justine proudly presents me with a Habitat ReStore purchase of some tiny newer model deep fryer with a cute little basket like a Kenner E-Z-Fry setup. Ridiculous! I thought. But the train had left the station so yesterday was the day for fish. I bought a couple of small jugs of peanut oil, some other stuff, and set up the gas burner and a pot to have ready just in case. The tiny thing never really got to 350°F which is recommended even though I had it "maxed" at the 375 mark. But it heated up quickly and I dropped in a small piece to test and it came out spectacular! The larger chunks could only go one at a time so I got a head start and had a few chunks ready by the time our one guest arrived (certainly couldn't feed a crew of more than maybe 4 with this). Luckily, it was not cold or windy so the fish stayed pretty hot for several minutes. 5 minutes per chunk and it all came out great. 2" thick, it was just lovely in the center. Thinner pieces got no complaints.

The fryer: I just googled and it's a much older version of this $24 unit from WalMart. Cleanup was okay and although it's a piece of junk, really, it was actually satisfactory for the 3 people eating. And paid for itself in one use. Justine wanted baked potatoes, not fried, or else there would have been a problem.

Rockfish is the go-to fish for fish and chips. Firm, flakes apart in big chunks, tastes like fish without being fishy.

Use half rice flour half wheat flour to make the batter stay crispy. 

Here's the recipe I made up:
Beer Batter for Rockfish or probably Zucchini or something
1 Cup rice flour
1 Cup AP flour
1/2 tsp Old Bay* or more, I chose more
dash 1/4 tsp or so garlic powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder (if by 1/4 tsp I mean "what came out when I dug two fingers into the can" and that's exactly what I mean)
some salt
some pepper
some other stuff in the drawer that looked good.
*Old Bay is basically celery salt with other stuff you have on hand, so if you already have celery salt, just use that and some paprika.

Whisk the dry ingredients together. Cut the fish into chunks (not long strips) and dry with a paper towel. Toss in the flour mixture and lay on an oven rack over a baking sheet. Water will seep out the bottom over time so turn them once in a while. Sprinkle with Old Bay again, both sides. Leave them out for a while, do not refrigerate. If they're cold or frozen, make sure they're not still cold when you drop them in the fryer or all bets are off.

Whisk together one egg and 2/3 of a can of beer. I wouldn't use a hoppy beer but pretty much any beer will do as long as it has some beer flavor to it. Guinness yes. Coors Light maybe not. I used a lemon Wheat ale. Pour the egg-beer into the dry mix and whisk it together. Add more beer until it's thinner than pancake batter. Or thick, I don't care. I don't like a lot of breading YMMV. 

Crank that li'l puppy up to 375, pour in peanut oil up to the MAX line (probably about 3 cups?) I see now that the walmart one I linked to is twice as large as the one I used; it did NOT hold 2 quarts of oil. Maybe one quart.

Pinch one chunk of fish by a corner, drop it into the batter* and wiggle it around, let it drip for a few seconds, then into the fryer. I had to quickly shake the fryer basket to keep the batter from growing around the mesh but after 3 seconds it had firmed up enough that I could leave it alone.

*The fish needs to have a dry dusty coating of flour still intact, OR be perfectly dry to the touch, or the batter will just slide off.

I also made tartar sauce
Cup of mayo
half a cup of dill relish including the pickle juice
Juice of half a lemon
Lemon zest
half an onion, minced. "Brunoise" if you must.
salt
Whisk it together and refrigerate for a while Mine was runnier than store bought because it's more real.

I also like cocktail sauce on fish and chips
A few glugs of ketchup. 3/4 cup or so
Horseradish. Not the "creamy" horseradish sauce but the real stuff. I like a lot of this but play it by ear
Juice of the other half of that lemon
Sriracha and/or Yellow Bird Plum Reaper. (thanks Mark & Mary!) I used both and dear god that was good. Almost too hot but it's sneaky and your guests will think it's just the horseradish.

last night?
a hardcore steak burrito that would have made sfw proud