Name: Devilled Whitebait
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 500 g whitebait, thawed if frozen; 100 g plain flour; 2 tsp cayenne pepper; 1 tsp fine sea salt; ½ tsp black pepper; 1 ½ litres sunflower oil, for frying; 1 tsp flaky sea salt; ½ tsp cayenne pepper; 2 lemons, in wedges; 3 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Devilled Whitebait

Tiny whole fish tossed in cayenne flour and fried until they rattle. Eaten by the handful, heads and all, with lemon and too much salt.

30 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

Before You Start

Two short fries, not one long one.

Flour them at the last second, and sieve off the excess.

Salt the instant they leave the oil.

Making Devilled Whitebait

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Spread the whitebait on kitchen paper and pat them completely dry.
Mix the flour with the cayenne, fine salt and black pepper in a bag or bowl.
Heat the oil to 190°C / 375°F in a deep pan, no more than a third full.
Toss a third of the fish in the flour, shake off the excess in a sieve, and fry 60 seconds. Lift out onto a rack.
Repeat with the remaining two batches.
Fry each batch a second time for 45 seconds, until deep gold and rigid.
Drain on a rack and season immediately with the flaky salt mixed with the extra cayenne.
Pile onto a plate with parsley and lemon, and eat with your fingers.

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What's Going On Here

Fry them twice, briefly, in oil at 190°C / 375°F. One long fry cooks the inside to mush before the coating is properly hard, whereas a short fry, a rest, and a second short fry drives out the remaining moisture and makes them audibly crisp. Dry the fish thoroughly and flour them at the last second — flour that has sat on wet fish turns to a slick paste that slides off in the oil. And salt them the moment they come out, while the surface is still hot enough for it to stick.

Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping

None. They soften within ten minutes of leaving the pan.

Serving Devilled Whitebait

Lemon
Brown bread and butter
A cold lager