Alastair Little, Richard Whittington

Deep-Fried Whitebait

Preparation info
  • Serves

    6

    as a First Course
    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
The Daily Mail Modern British Cookbook
The Daily Mail Modern British Cookbook

By Alastair Little and Richard Whittington

Published 1998

  • About

Whitebait, while usually baby herrings or sprats, can be the fry of any fish, including sand eels, smelts and small gudgeon. A traditional accompaniment is deep-fried curly parsley, but lots of whole flat-leaved parsley leaves scattered over is a fresher alternative and a pleasantly astringent taste to balance the richness of the fish.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg/ 2¼ lb whitebait
  • 115 g/ 4

Method

Preheat the oven to 130°C/275°F/ gas 1 and the oil for deep-frying to 190°C/375°F.

Season the flour well and put it in a plastic bag. Add the fish, a handful at a time, and shake to coat. Transfer to a sieve and toss gently to remove excess flour (returning this to the plastic