Beer-battered fish

Beer adds flavour to a crispy batter but soda water or lemonade also works if you want to stay away from alcohol. Experimental chef Heston Blumenthal developed a recipe for beer batter, using equal parts vodka and lager beer. He explains that the vodka’s high alcohol content quickly evaporates in the hot oil, which makes the batter crispy sooner. I didn’t want to use that much vodka, so I just added a tot for luck!

Serves 4 • Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: about 20 minutes in total

• 6 mini hake fillets

• 60ml cornflour or rice flour

• 180g (320ml) self-raising flour

• 5ml baking powder

• a pinch of salt

• 1 x 340ml bottle of beer, ice cold • 15ml vodka (optional)

• vegetable oil for deep-frying

• lemon wedges and your favourite sauce, to serve

1 Make sure the fish is nice and dry, then carefully roll it in the cornflour; shake off the excess flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the self-raising flour, baking powder and salt to the cornflour and beat in the cold beer and vodka with a balloon whisk until the batter is just smooth.

2 Heat the oil for deep-frying. Test the heat of the oil with a cube of bread: if the bread rises to the surface quickly and takes on a golden-brown colour, it is ready.

3 Dip the fish in the cold batter and allow any excess batter to drip off before frying it in the heated oil until golden-brown. >>