Eastington@Paddington

I purchased 4 different crumbed Whiting in packets from Woolies Metro.

The first two were NZ Whiting from SeaLord. The difference being in the batter, one being tempura, and the other more a bread crumb coating.

At the recommended cooking time and temperature (9m from frozen), both were not cooked in the centre. A further 10minutes and the fish was cooked, but neither piece was inspiring. The Tempura batter was better, as the bread crumb batter was too flourery.

(Tempura batter on the left)

Next attempt, I departed from the oven method of cooking, and deep fried them in the wok.

A huge improvement, but this time the bread crumb batter performed better than tempura batter. Still not good.

Next on the trial were two made by Birds Eye. The second was a “Southern Blue.” I didn’t bother to try cooking in the oven even though the directions called for a higher temperature and longer time then the SeaLord packets. I went straight to deep frying method.

Better than the SeaLord, but still not great.

The clear winner was the Birds Eye Deli NZ Whitting in a Crisp Light Batter.

These were the ones that looked like real fillets, rather than a fish finger. They were also the only one in sealed plastic bag in the box. The others were just in the box, contributing to freezer burn.

And these were delicious! I will definitely do these again.