Sourdough Tempura Fried Pacific Cod (2024)

posted by Laurel Connerty on May 9, 2020 // 4 Comments »

If you are anything like me, being locked away at home during the pandemic has given you the time to explore new culinary flavors and dishes. For example, there has been sourdough starter living on our kitchen counter for over a month. This has led to some wonderful baked items, and it has generated a whole bunch of sourdough discard (more on that in a moment). Now that discard is just water, flour, and wild yeast; that got me thinking. Tempura batter is just egg, flour, and water, so I wondered if I could make a tangy tempura batter by using sourdough starter discard in place of the water and flour. It turns out you can. We hope that you love this Sourdough Tempura Fried Pacific Cod.

We had a bunch of Vidalia onions thanks to a campaign that we worked on, and we had a bunch of wild pacific cod thanks to a partnership with Sitka Salmon Shares. It was like the universe was screaming at me to make this dish. Anyway…enough talk. Lets take a quick look at the sourdough starter and the pacific cod, then we will get cooking. I hope you enjoy our Sourdough Tempura Fried Pacific Cod recipe. It really is tasty; true story… my family (kids included) requested this dish two nights in a row. It's that good.

The Sourdough Starter

Before we can make any fried pacific cod or any fish recipefish recipe we need a batter, and before we can make that we need sourdough starter… How do you do that?

Sourdough starter is easy to make, it just takes a little patience. Essentially, you just mix some flour and water together and loosely cover, leaving everything at room temperature. Wild yeast is all over the place, and your flour is likely carrying a bunch of it. After a day or two of sitting on the counter, the yeast begins to propagate in your starter. The only thing you have to do is feed the starter every day with flour and water. We purchased a 140-year old sourdough starter from a lady who lives in San Francisco – home of the original sourdough boule bowl.

Of course, in doing this you end up with more and more starter as the days go by. To combat the ever growing colony of yeast, you always remove some of the original starter when you feed; this keeps things under control and removes some of the yeasts competition for food. The starter that is removed is called discard. You can throw it away, or you can throw it in the fridge and use it in any number of sourdough discard recipes, which is what we are doing here.

The point of all this sourdough starter talk is this; I want you to understand that the process is easy! Check out the King Arthur Flour Sourdough Starter instructions. They walk you through every step of creating sourdough starter in detail. Now let's talk cod and this fish recipe.

Pacific Cod

If you have ever eaten classic fish n' chips, you have very likely consumed cod. If we were to order the dish in Britain, Atlantic Cod would be the fish used (maybe Haddock as well). For this recipe we are using Pacific Cod, because I prefer it. Pacific and Atlantic Cod are very similar, but there are a few key differences. Both fish are known for their white, flaky meat and subtle flavor. The Atlantic variety tend to be physically larger fish, and they are prized for a slightly sweet taste and large flake meat that falls apart after cooking. In comparison, the Pacific Cod fish is physically smaller; it has a mild savory flavor and firmer texture. Both fish are excellent choices; what you use really comes down to a matter of personal taste and availability.

The Pacific Cod that we are using in this dish is from Sitka Salmon Shares. Sitka Salmon Shares is a group that represents independent, small boat Alaskan fisherman. You sign up for a share of the monthly catch, and in return you are shipped a box containing a portion of sustainably caught wild Alaskan fish. What's actually in the box varies with the season and what the fisherman are catching. All of the fish is wild, and all of it very high quality. The Sitka Salmon Shares service really is a great way to get your hands on high quality, restaurant grade wild fish. If your interested, check out the link; if you decide to buy use the code “FoodieFather” at checkout for a discount. Alright. Lets make some Sourdough Tempura Fried Pacific Cod (with Vidalia onion petals).

Sourdough Tempura Fried Pacific Cod

Ingredients

• 2 lbs pacific cod, cut into 4 oz portions
• 2 Vidalia onions cut into 1/2 in thick strips and held in cold water
• 2 eggs (cold)
• 2 cups sourdough discard (cold from refrigerator)
• cold water
• flour
• sea salt
• black pepper
• vegetable oil

Directions

I want to go over a few tips and notes before we get started. First, tempura batter is a very simple recipe; it's just egg, flour, and water. But it is important to remember that the key to success with tempura batter is in the details. Detail one is this.. your ingredients must be COLD; the colder the better. When you make the batter, make sure the starter has been in the refrigerator for at least a few hours, and make sure any water that you add is ice cold as well. Make the batter right before you are ready to use it and never let it just sit at room temperature. Just remember that successful tempura starts with really cold batter.

My one other note has to do with the sourdough starter discard. First, if you don't have 2 cups of discard, it's ok to just use starter. Just make sure to pop it in the refrigerator for a few hours before you use it. Second, I don't know how “wet” of a sourdough discard you have. My starter is thick, but pourable. I use (roughly) 2 parts flour to one part water when I make and feed my sourdough starter. Tempura batter calls for a 1 to 1 ratio of flour to water, and the recipe calls for 2 cups of discard. That means my 2 cups of discard contain around 1 1/3 cup of flour and 2/3 cup of water. To make that a 1 to 1 ratio for tempura I need to add 2/3 cup of cold water. Make sense?

You are going to have to figure this out for your starter, as I don't know your hydration level. If your Sourdough tempura batter ends up with the consistency of pancake batter, you did it right. It should coat the food, but slowly run off the food when transferring from the batter bowl to the frying pan. Also, when your batter hits the oil, it should immediately puff (provided your oil is hot). If it doesn't, your batter might be too thick. Alright, lets cook this Sourdough Tempura Fried Pacific Cod.

In a medium bowl, beat the two eggs. Add the cold sourdough discard and mix. Add enough ice cold water to reach a pancake batter consistency (see note above about this). Set aside.

Lightly season the fish with salt and pepper, then lightly coat with flour. For the onion petals, remove them from the water and lightly coat with flour.

In a appropriate pan, heat 1/2 inch of oil to 350-375 degrees. I use a large cast iron pan for this job, which is perfect.

When your oil is hot, dip your lightly floured cod into the tempura batter, then transfer the fish to the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan; leave space between pieces of fish. Cook the fish for about 3 minutes, then flip it over and cook the other side for another 3 minutes. Transfer fish to a wire rack to drain any excess grease. For the Vidalia onion petals, cook them the same as the fish (they take a little less time). Use your eyes to help decide when things are done; we are going for a crispy golden brown crust.

Eat! Serve your fish and “chips” with a lemon slice or malt vinegar. We went ahead and whipped up a quick tarter sauce as a condiment for our meal.

I hope you enjoyed our Sourdough Tempura Fried Pacific Cod recipe. Let us know in the comments what you think, and if you are in need of more inspiration, check out our Dover Sole with Cucumber Beurre Blanc recipe; it's a show-stopper. Happy eating!