Name: Sprats and Malt Vinegar Mayo
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: salt, to taste; 1 tbsp English mustard (we prefer Tracklements); vegetable oil, for deep-frying; lemon juice, to taste; 1 tsp malt vinegar; salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; ½ tsp cayenne pepper; 800 g vegetable oil; 3 free-range organic egg yolks; ½ tsp salt; 1 tsp garlic powder; 500 g fresh sprats (ask your fishmonger to gut them, ideally); 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; ½ tsp ras el hanout; 100 g plain flour; 1 tsp onion powder; ½ tsp smoked paprika

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Quality Chop House

By William Lander , Shaun Searley and Daniel Morgenthau

Published 2019

About

Forget whitebait, mere vehicles for vinegar and mayo. Sprats bring much more flavour and texture to the party. If you don’t have a deep fryer, a saucepan full of oil (and some courage) will work equally well. It is definitely worth investing in a temperature probe to accurately measure the temperature of the oil though. Any hotter than 180°C and the sprats will cook too fast; any lower and they’ll end up limp and soggy.