Deep-fried cockles with chilli-salt and vinegar
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- A little effort
- Serves 4 as a snack
Ingredients
- 150ml white wine
- 1.5kg cockles
- 50g plain flour
- 50g cornflour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 125-150ml lager
- for deep frying vegetable oil
- to serve malt vinegar
CHILLI-SALT
- 1 tbsp flaky sea salt
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp hot chilli powder
Method
- STEP 1
Heat the white wine in a large pan until simmering, then tip in the cockles and cook for 2-3 minutes or until they just open. Drain, reserving the liquid for another time you can freeze it and use it to make fish soup or as a sauce base. Once cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the shells.
- STEP 2
Whisk the flours, baking powder and some seasoning in a bowl, then whisk in the lager, slowly at first to avoid lumps, until a nice coating consistency.
- STEP 3
Tip the chilli-salt ingredients into a mortar, and grind together with the pestle.
- STEP 4
Fill a pan no more than ⅓ full with vegetable oil and heat to 180C or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. Tip the cockle meat into the batter and mix well. Drop the cockles, individually if possible, into the hot oil – they will have a tendency to clump – and fry in batches for 3-4 minutes or until really crisp. Drain on kitchen paper, season with the chilli-salt and serve piping hot with malt vinegar while you fry the rest.
