Battered haddock and mushy pea fishcakes with homemade tartare sauce
Serves: 4
Prep time: 40 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Catherine Frawley
Battered haddock and mushy pea fishcakes with homemade tartare sauce
The classic pub lunch, fish and chips, in one crispy package. Battered fishcakes are a Yorkshire speciality and utterly delicious. Wary of deep-frying? Dip the floured fishcakes in beaten egg and breadcrumbs, and shallow-fry instead
Serves: 4
Prep time: 40 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
715Kcal
Fat
42gr
Saturates
3gr
Carbs
53gr
Sugars
3gr
Fibre
6gr
Protein
27gr
Salt
2.2gr
Felicity Cloake
Felicity Cloake is a freelance food writer and is the author of The A - Z of Eating.
See more of Felicity Cloake’s recipes
Felicity Cloake
Felicity Cloake is a freelance food writer and is the author of The A - Z of Eating.
See more of Felicity Cloake’s recipes
Ingredients
- 500g floury potatoes like Maris Piper or King Edwards, peeled and cut into chunks
- 400g haddock, pollack, whiting or other firm white fish
- 1 x 300g tin marrowfat peas, drained
- 175g plain flour, plus extra to dust
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 125ml malt vinegar
- vegetable oil, for frying, about 1 litre
- lemon wedges and parsley sprigs to serve, optional
For the tartare sauce
- 175g mayonnaise
- 3-4 tbsp pickling liquor from cocktail gherkins, to taste
- 2 tbsp salted capers, rinsed and chopped
- 2 tbsp cocktail gherkins, chopped
- 4 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp chopped chives
Step by step
Get ahead
You can use leftover mashed potato. Prepare to the end of step 4 and chill overnight, or freeze. Make the tartare sauce up to a day in advance and chill
- Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender.
- While they’re cooking, put the fish in a wide pan with a generous shake of salt and barely cover with water. Cover the pan and bring to the boil, then turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes. Lift out and, when cool enough to handle, flake into large chunks, discarding any skin.
- Drain the potatoes and put back into the hot pan to steam for a couple of minutes, then mash until smooth. Add the drained peas and mix well. Season, then gently fork through the flaked fish, being careful not to break the pieces up too much.
- Divide into 4 large fishcakes or 8 smaller ones, dust in flour, then put on a baking sheet and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, stir all the ingredients for the tartare sauce together, season to taste and leave to one side. Five minutes before you want to fry your fishcakes, prepare the batter by combining the flour with the salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle, pour in 150ml cold water and the vinegar, and whisk until smooth.
- Heat a deep fat fryer, or a large wide pan a third full of oil to 190°C (or to the point when a cube of bread sizzles immediately when dropped in, and browns in 25 seconds). When it comes to temperature, dip the fishcakes in the batter and cook, 2 at a time if making large ones, or 4 if smaller, turning once to ensure they cook evenly. Cook for around 5 minutes until golden on each side.
- Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while you cook the rest, then serve hot with the tartare sauce, lemon wedges and parsley to garnish.
