Recipe: King George Whiting in Egg Batter with Finger Lime Butter Sauce
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Recipe: King George Whiting in Egg Batter with Finger Lime Butter Sauce
I’ve been cooking fish at home in an ‘egg batter’ for as long as I can remember. It’s a gentle way to cook fine, delicate white fish such as King George Whiting. And a butter sauce is a culinary skill akin to a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat – an old trick that never fails to impress.
Ben Shewry
Published 26.08.25
Fish cooked in egg batter
Recipe: King George Whiting in Egg Batter with Finger Lime Butter Sauce
It takes a little bit of practice to get it just right, but after a couple of goes you’ll be making it like a pro. The right pan temperature is everything with butter sauces – too hot and you’ll split the sauce; too cold and the butter won’t melt. Cultured butter can be substituted for whatever butter you use – so long as it’s 100 per cent butter. The reason why I prefer cultured butter is that it’s a marker of better quality, and the culturing process adds a deeper flavour to the butter, and therefore your sauce.
I use the GoodFish app or website when selecting fish to ensure sustainability. In this dish I used the beautiful King George Whiting, which is on the green list with GoodFish.
Ingredients
(serves 2)
For the fish:
3/4 cup flour
4 grinds of white pepper
Fine salt to taste
2 eggs, whisked
1/2 bunch of chives, finely sliced
2 large fillets of King George whiting, skin removed
1 tsp olive oil
100g salted butter
For the finger lime butter sauce:
3 tbsp white wine
100g cultured salted butter
Salt to taste
2 tbsp of finger lime pearls (from about 2 finger limes)
Method
Combine flour, white pepper and fine salt and spread evenly on a dinner plate.
On a separate dinner plate combine whisked eggs and sliced chives.
Place a large frypan over a low heat.
Coat fish in seasoned flour, shake off excess flour, then dip fish in egg mix.
Add olive oil and butter to frypan and heat until it slowly begins to foam.
Gently place fish in the frypan and cook for approximately two minutes, then carefully flip and cook for a further minute. Check that fish is just cooked.
Remove fish from frypan and place on warm plates.
Drain excess butter from frypan, then return pan to a low-medium heat and deglaze with wine. Remove pan from the heat and add the second measure of butter, whisking thoroughly until the sauce is thick and emulsified (like the consistency of pouring cream). Add a pinch of salt and finger lime pearls and stir to combine.
Generously spoon sauce over fish. Eat right away!
