Whitebait fritters

Ingredients

• Whitebait500 g
• Eggs4
• Flour2 tbsp
• Butter60 g
• Lemons2
• White bread — to serve4 slice
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Rinse the whitebait in cold water and drain it in a sieve for ten minutes.

   12 min

2. 2

   Pat the whitebait dry with a cloth; excess water stops the fritter setting.

   6 min

3. 3

   Whisk the eggs with the flour, salt and pepper until smooth and lump-free.

   4 min

4. 4

   Fold the whitebait into the egg mixture gently, taking care not to crush it.

   3 min

5. 5

   Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat until it just sizzles.

   3 min

6. 6

   Pour in a ladle of the mixture and spread it into a thin round a centimetre thick.

   3 min

7. 7

   Fry a minute and a half a side and serve with lemon and buttered bread.

   12 min

About the dish

There is almost no flour in the batter: the egg binds the whitebait and that is all. Flour is there only to hold the fritter together, and any excess buries the taste of the fish.

New Zealand whitebait are the juveniles of native galaxiids and are very expensive: the season is short and the fishery restricted. That is why the recipe is deliberately minimal.

The fritters are fried thin and turned once. A thick one will not cook through, and the whitebait turn rubbery in the time it takes.

Worth knowing

• — Nothing beyond egg, salt and pepper is needed. Onion, herbs and spices bury the taste of the whitebait the dish exists for.
• — The fritters are fried in butter rather than oil. It gives a nutty note, and in New Zealand that counts as part of the recipe.
• — Outside New Zealand, whitebait is replaced with smelt or other juvenile fish. That is a legitimate substitution, but worth naming as one.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

380 kcal

Protein

32 g

Fat

24 g

Carbs

12 g

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