Lekkerbek (Large Battered Fried Fish)

Name: Lekkerbek (Large Battered Fried Fish)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Dutch
Ingredients: 4 white fish fillets; 1 tsp fine salt; 1 lemon; 180 g plain flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 0.5 tsp turmeric; 0.5 tsp salt; 250 ml cold lager or sparkling water; 1.5 litres neutral oil; to serve remoulade or tartare sauce; 1 lemon

Lekkerbek

A whole battered fillet of white fish, deep-fried crisp and golden — the bigger, sit-down cousin of kibbeling from the Dutch fish stall.

VIFish & the Sea

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 15 min
Serves: 4
Level: Beginner

If kibbeling is the finger food you eat walking away from the stall, lekkerbek is the one you sit down for. A whole fillet of white fish in a thick, crisp, golden batter, it is the plate that fills a fish-stall lunch — cut with a fork, dressed with remoulade, a wedge of lemon on the side. The name means something like "tasty mouth" or "gourmet", and it is a fair boast for a piece of fried fish.

Fish-stall abundance

The vishandel and the snackbar are institutions of post-war Dutch life, and the fried-fish counter grew up alongside the friture and the automatiek in the rebuilding decades, when eating out cheaply and standing up became ordinary. Lekkerbek belongs to that world: honest, generous, unpretentious food, the fish equivalent of a good portion of chips. It gave the fish stall something more substantial to sell than the by-the-scoop kibbeling — a proper meal on a paper plate.

The clinging batter

The whole trick of a good lekkerbek is a batter thick enough to armour the fillet and stay put through a long fry. Because the piece of fish is large, it needs several minutes in the oil, and a thin batter would darken and slide before the centre was done. So the fillet is dusted in flour first — a dry key for the wet batter to grip — then coated heavily and fried at a steady 180°C until deeply gold.

A good lekkerbek should crack when you cut it and steam when you open it.

Choose fillets of even thickness so nothing overcooks at the tail while the middle lags, drain well, and eat it hot. Remoulade or tartare, a squeeze of lemon, maybe a soft bun around it — market food scaled up to a meal.

From the kitchen

“Even thickness is everything for a whole fillet. Fold or trim thin tail ends so the piece cooks through before the batter over-browns.”

Ingredients

Serves 4

The fish

4white fish fillets — pollock, whiting or cod, about 150 g each
1 tspfine salt
1lemon — juice only

The batter

180 gplain flour — plus extra to dust
1 tspbaking powder
0.5 tspturmeric — for colour, optional
0.5 tspsalt
250 mlcold lager or sparkling water

To fry and serve

1.5 litresneutral oil — for deep frying
to serveremoulade or tartare sauce
1lemon — in wedges

Method

1
Prepare the fillets
Choose fillets of even thickness so they cook through at the same rate. Pat them very dry, season with salt and lemon juice, and leave for 10 minutes while you mix the batter.
2
Mix a thick batter
Whisk the flour, baking powder, turmeric and salt with the cold beer or water until smooth and thick enough to cling — lekkerbek wants a substantial, coating batter, not the thin veil of a tempura.
3
Dust, then dip
Pat each fillet dry again and dust it lightly in plain flour before dipping in batter. That dry floured layer gives the wet batter something to grip, so it stays put through the fry instead of sliding off.
4
Fry until deep gold
Heat the oil to 180°C and lower in the fillets one or two at a time. Fry for 6 to 8 minutes, turning once, until the batter is crisp and mahogany and the fish is cooked through — the larger fillet needs longer than kibbeling.
5
Drain and serve
Rest the fish on kitchen paper for a moment to drain, salt lightly, and serve whole with lemon and a good dollop of remoulade. It is usually eaten with a fork, on a plate or in a bun, rather than from a cone.

In the kitchen

The tools that make this recipe easier.

WorthwhileFish / filleting knife ↗
Thin flexible blade for herring, mackerel, and eel.
SpecialistVlaai / tart tin ↗
Wide shallow tin for Limburg vlaai and open fruit tarts.

With the fish

Herring and its kin want sharpness, onion, and bread beneath.

Uitjes & augurk — chopped raw onion and pickle
Wit brood — a soft white roll for a broodje haring
Knoflooksaus — garlic sauce for kibbeling

How a Dutch meal is built →

Questions from the kitchen

What is the difference between lekkerbek and kibbeling?+

Both are battered fried white fish from the Dutch fish stall, but lekkerbek is a whole fillet, while kibbeling is bite-sized chunks. The batter is much the same; lekkerbek is simply the larger, knife-and-fork version.

Which fish is best for lekkerbek?+

Any firm, sustainable white fish — pollock, whiting, coley or cod. Choose fillets of even thickness so the batter and the fish finish cooking together.

Can I make the batter without beer?+

Yes. Cold sparkling water gives a similar lightness from the bubbles. Beer adds a little malt flavour and colour, but it is not essential to a good crisp result.