Name: Deep-fried Mussels in Beer Batter
Yield: Serves 4–5
Ingredients: 110 g/4 oz plain flour; 2 egg yolks; 25–30 fresh mussels, cleaned, shelled, and patted dry; 200 ml/7 fl oz beer; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda; juice of 1 lemon; salt and freshly ground black pepper; dash of white wine vinegar; 2–3 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 slices day-old bread, soaked in water and squeezed dry; 100 g/3½ oz walnuts; sunflower oil for deep-frying; 3–4 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation info

Serves
4–5

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Spirit & Spice

By Ghillie Basan

Published 2019

About

This is a classic Ottoman dish from Istanbul and Izmir in Turkey, and I’ve included it here as mussels are one of Scotland’s most widely available wild seafoods and they go very well with a dram. You can cook them in a wok over a camp cooker or a stove in the kitchen but I wouldn’t recommend doing it over a fire as you are deep-frying in oil. Deliciously succulent and garlicky, the combination of mussels and walnuts works well with some of the whiskies from the Western Isles, such as Jura,