HOW TO COOK WHITEBAIT

Jim testing his knife sharpening handy work 

We bumped into a bloke named Jim on the west coast a few weeks back, and he enlightened us about the correct way to cook seafood: KISS - “Keep It Simple, Stupid.”

Camp for the night

Jim had approached our campsite on the beach to ask if we had three eggs and an onion. I offered him our onion and some eggs and asked what he needed it for? He said it wasn't for him, it was for us and that he had some spare Paua that needed cooking and that he had forgotten his burner. If we cooked some of it for him, we could have the rest.  

“Keep It Simple, Stupid.” Paua Patties on the Hotplate

Needless to say, Jim was a rooster. We all thought that he looked pretty familiar, but it could be because he was the spitting image of Sam Neil in Hunt For The Wilderpeople. He sharpened all of our knives and showed us a giant balloon animal donkey that he had made in lockdown. He had just added a spotlight and a radio to his boat. 

Whitebait on the Hotplate

Here’s how Jim recommended you cook your Whitebait:

Egg

Whitebait

Level tablespoon Spring Onion

Level Tablespoon Parsley

Salt

Pepper

Jim also liked the look of our hotplate, and said he’d been looking for something like it for years. Jim is now a proud owner of a Woods Equip Hotplate. A week after receiving it, he placed an order for another after he caught his mate trying to take his.