Review: Rice Krispies Fish Fingers & Tangy Mayo

Alright, so how about those fish fingers up there? Fish sticks, for my American buddies. If you play a food word association game and the word given is British or United Kingdom, chances are the food associated word that comes up will be fish and chips. It's what Brits are known for. It's one of the things that inspired me to come to England in the first place. And after eating some unbelievably good fish and chips in Whitby, it's one of the things that's kept me here.

You can't go wrong with juicy, flaky cod battered and fried. Served with a portion of salty, hot chips? Get out of town! That thimble of cool, tangy mayo just takes it all to a whole 'nother level.

Before I go any further, allow me to explain the purpose of this post (and the others like it that will crop up). I've been asked to review kid-friendly recipes on the site Great British Chefs. How awesomesauce is that?! In these reviews, you'll find loads of photos (a lot more than normal) and loads of opinions and no actual recipe. Instead, there'll be a link where you can find the recipe, straight from the Great British Chefs website. Got it? Good! Let's dive in!

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Rice Krispies Fish Fingers with Tangy Mayo 
by Marcello Tully
When choosing this recipe to review, I was intrigued by the idea of dunking fish in cereal and then deep frying it. In theory, it's understandable why it works and I could envision the crunch but the skeptic in me needed a little bit of convincing! That (and my aforementioned affinity for fish and chips) spurred me to have a go. I'm certainly glad I did!

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being "What?! A chef wrote this recipe?!" and 10 being "That's why they pay him/her the big bucks!":

Overall recipe: 9
I found that I needed a fair few larger quantities of ingredients than the recipe called for. This is even after halving the amount of fish to accommodate my family.

Overall taste: 10
I loved the crispiness of the fish fingers and the sharp tang of the mayonnaise.

Overall concept/technique: 10
It had been about 2 years since I made any homemade mayonnaise, so I loved the methodical whisking involved. (Even though I may have muttered under my breath at some point that I hated making mayonnaise! I truly enjoyed it.)

Ease of recipe: 8
While the recipe wasn't hard to follow, it was ... laborious. There was no estimated preparation time given and I badly underestimated how long it'd take me to get everything done.

Ability to do what it says on the tin:10
I was expecting fish fingers hugged by lightly crushed Rice Krispies and a sharp mayonnaise and that's exactly what I got. I wasn't expecting a troubleshooting message about mayo splitting. Luckily, I didn't need it, but it was nice to know what to do just in case!

Thoroughness of recipe: 8
As I mentioned, I had to increase the quantities of flour, cereal and egg. I halved the amount of fish and three adults and a toddler still struggled to finish it all!

Reaction of my kid: 10+
Are you kidding me? My 15-month-old didn't even leave a stray sesame seed on his plate!

Potential kid involvement: 9
Older kids (school age) would love to be involved with the dunking (egg, flour, cereal) and younger kids (pre-school age) would love to crush the cereal.

Likelihood to try other recipes by this chef: 10
I'm intrigued by anyone who'd marry fish with kid's breakfast cereal.

Willingness to go to this chef's restaurant after trying this recipe: 10
Again, intrigue has won me over. Plus, I've had a cheeky peek at his restaurant's menu and those slow-roasted beef cheeks sound amazing.