To Dress Whitebait is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton's recipe of 1861, for a classic dish of deep-fried whitebait mounded on a plate and garnished with coarse sea salt. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: To Dress Whitebait.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from the redoubtable Mrs Beeton's 1861 volume Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, the classic Victorian cookbook.
Original Recipe
348. INGREDIENTS.—A little flour, hot lard, seasoning of salt.
Mode.—This fish should be put into iced water as soon as bought, unless they are cooked immediately. Drain them from the water in a colander, and have ready a nice clean dry cloth, over which put 2 good handfuls of flour. Toss in the whitebait, shake them lightly in the cloth, and put them in a wicker sieve to take away the superfluous flour. Throw them into a pan of boiling lard, very few at a time, and let them fry till of a whitey-brown colour. Directly they are done, they must he taken out, and laid before the fire for a minute or two on a sieve reversed, covered with blotting-paper to absorb the fat. Dish them on a hot napkin, arrange the fish very high in the centre, and sprinkle a little salt over the whole.
Time.—3 minutes.
Seasonable from April to August.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
200g whitebait
100g plain flour
oil for deep frying
Method:
Wash the whitebait, place in a bowl of iced water and chill for at least 40 minutes. After this time drain from the water and pat dry.
Pre-heat your deep fryer to 180°C (or heat deep fat in a wok or pan) then toss the whitebait with the flour to coat (if desired you can season the flour). Shake the fish to remove the excess flour then drop (in batches) into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper as you fry the next batch.
To serve, mound he fried whitebait on a plate, sprinkle with a little coarse sea salt and serve.
