Are you looking for a tasty fish sandwich to serve at your July 4th family gathering? If yes, you’ve come to the right place. This Crispy Spicy Fish Sandwich is a delight. Full of flavor and stacked with fresh ingredients.
The fish in this Crispy Spicy Fish Sandwich is cod. The flaky white fish that holds up really well to being coated in batter and fried to a golden wonderfulness. The crispy cod is sandwiched between strips of iceberg lettuce, slices of beefsteak tomato and a delicious and soft onion brioche bun. A regular brioche bun is fine too.
So what did I use as a sauce? I hear you ask. Well, in the Crispy Spicy Fish Sandwiches in the image above, I added a hearty dollop of Smoked Paprika Aioli. However, in the recipe below, I have provided a sauce that aligns more closely with the flavors in the fish sandwich. Mayo, hot sauce, lemon and onion powder.
Now, if you’re a regular visitor to Diverse Dinners you will know that I am of Caribbean descent, so my go to hot sauce is a Caribbean hot pepper sauce made with scotch bonnet chiles. Caribbean hot pepper sauce is HOT folks, but it is so tasty and bursting with flavors from the Caribbean.
If you would like to give Caribbean hot pepper sauce a try, there are two that very easily found.
- Matouk’s Hot Pepper Sauce
- Grace Jamaican Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce
What’s in my fridge right now is a hot sauce from Barbados. Delish Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce. It’s delicious, just as its name suggests.
I usually make my own and at some point I will share the recipe with you. However, when I travel, I like to buy food items to bring something back from the culture I visited. I bought this bottle when I was in Barbados in August last year. The picture was taken some time ago, so there is very little left folks.
I had a wonderful time in Barbados. I joined friends from London to celebrate Cropover. What a blast I had. I partied at the Prime Minister’s house, caught sightings of Rhianna in her fabulous pink feathered carnival costume, and ate up a storm in the local restaurants. Here’s a pic of one of my fondest memories of the trip, my view from a great Asian fusion restaurant. This was my happy place watching the sea ebb and flow.
This Crispy Spicy Fish Sandwich is a good one folks. I love a crispy fish sandwich while sat around sipping on a beer. I plan to do a lot of sitting around sipping on something during the July 4th weekend. What are your plans? Feel free to let me know by dropping a comment down below.
Crispy Spicy Fish Sandwich
Ingredients
Spicy Aioli
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1-3 tsp hot sauce dependent upon your tolerance
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp onion powder
Fish Sandwich
- 2 lb cod fillets
- 1 cup + 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups cold water
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- Cooking oil
- 4 onion brioche buns split in half
- 1-2 beefsteak tomatoes sliced
- 2 cups iceberg lettuce sliced
Instructions
Spicy Aioli
- Mix together mayonnaise, hot sauce, lemon juice and onion powder, cover and place in the fridge to allow flavors to combine.
Fish Sandwich
- Cut cod fillets into four sandwich sized pieces and place in a bowl and set aside.
- Mix together 1/4 cup of flour, 1/2 tsp salt and the black pepper and tip onto a plate and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, baking powder, garlic and onion powder, the remainder of the salt and set aside.
- Whisk together water, egg and 2 tbsp lemon juice then add to flour mixture in mixing bowl.
- Whisk ingredients into a batter, whisk vigorously until batter foams.
- Drizzle 2 tbsp of lemon juice over cod pieces then coat cod on all sides in set aside flour mixture on plate and shake off excess.
- Pour cooking oil into a skillet until it is filled half way, then place on high heat.
- Dip cod pieces into batter and when oil is hot but not smoking, carefully place cod into the oil.
- Repeat until all cod pieces are drenched in batter and placed in the skillet.
- Watch the temperature of the oil, if it appears to be browning the cod pieces too quickly lower the heat to medium and raise if needed to keep temperature as constant as you can.
- Flip cod pieces to achieve an even golden color on both sides, then remove from oil and place on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
- Heat brioche buns in a clean skillet (no oil needed) or in the oven.
- Smear a generous dollop of the Spicy Aioli on the base of the brioche buns.
- Top aioli with lettuce then carefully place a piece of cod on top. Layer a thick slice of tomato, add a less generous dollop of aioli on the tomato, then carefully press the top of the bun to crown your fish sandwich.
