Pig Nights and Packed Lunches with Ed Jones
And Sri Lankan mackerel fish cutlets
This week sees the Interviews return with a bang, as I speak to comedian Ed Jones about supermarket strategy, dessert wine, and peeling chickpeas. Our recipe is Sri Lankan Fish Cutlets, with tinned mackerel from my friends at The Tinned Fish Market (who paid subscribers can get a 20% discount from for another 6 weeks). As fried snacks go, the Sri Lankan Fish Cutlet would win in a fist fight with a scotch egg any day. They’re tasty, spicy, incorporate potatoes and leave your tongue tingling. What more do you want?
I cannot visit Everest Curry King in Lewisham without taking away some kind of fish snack when I leave – be it the fish and egg rolls, fish cutlets, or rotis. At £1 each, the cutlets in particular are a bargainous treat, supremely spicy and full of satisfying textures and flavours. Often eaten with MD brand chilli sauce or ketchup, they remind me of a spicy version of the Jewish tinned fishcakes my grandma would make, rolled in matzo meal and fried to be served with a very particular brand of ketchup. Heavenly.
I have tried to recreate the Sri Lankan Fish Cutlet here as best I can, and I’m delighted to tell you they’re both simple and extremely satisfying to make at home. If you’re a fan of fishcakes and tinned fish, I hope you’ll give these a go! You’ll find the recipe further down.
I used the Ramon Peña mackerel fillets with lemon from The Tinned Fish Market in my recipe testing and they were supreme. A little reminder that paid subscribers get 20% off everything on The Tinned Fish Market website until October 18th with the code at the bottom of this email.
But first, the interview…
Actor, writer and comedian Ed Jones is a man of many talents. He’s known for his work with comedy trio Crybabies, who I saw perform at a Mam Sham event earlier this year, and who gave me a whole new appreciation of sketch comedy.
You might have seen Ed in Channel 4’s Big Boys or Netflix’s Bridgerton as well as David Mitchell’s Outsiders. And I hope that you’ve also enjoyed Ed’s comedy videos on the world wide web (Instagram and TikTok). One thing is for sure about this guy: he’ll have you laughing!! Thanks to Ed for chatting to me about crisps, cutlery and other important things…
