British winter warmers - Recipes from the northeast

Scarborough woof, or seawolf, is a much-loved speciality of the North Sea coast. It's an ugly looking critter that belongs to the marine catfish family, which is odd because it does not have the whiskers of a catfish, and has teeth like a dog's (maybe that's where the name "woof" comes from).

We get our kippers from Fortune's of Whitby. At the Star, we serve this with a hollandaise mixed with the classic tartare ingredients of chopped gherkin, capers, parsley, shallots and lemon juice; a good ready-made hollandaise or tartare would do the job, too. Serves four.

For the beer batter
15g fresh yeast
300ml dark beer
225g flour
1 tsp salt
1 dash vinegar
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
12 50g pieces woof (or cod or lemon sole fillets)
Seasoned flour

For the scallops
A little olive oil
8 king scallops, cleaned and removed from shells