[KYHeirloomer]

In one of his books, Heinz Beck has a seafood fritto misto served as an appetizer. It's a selection of fried seafood and other ingredients served in a paper cone.

Without cheating and looking up the recipe, I'm curious how everyone would interpret such a dish just given the info above.

[DC Sunshine]

Not a culinary student here, but I'd imagine its a take-away style of battered various seafoods, served up in a paper cone for convenience sake?

[Chad Aaland]

Keep the seafood in buttermilk, keep a bowl of tempura for dredging, dip the seafood and wet tempura coated veggies in the dry tempura and fry.

[KYHeirloomer]

DC, I was using that generically (maybe too cute???), rather than addressing just culinary students.

Chad: What's your tempura mixture?

Overall, I was hoping for more specifics. What I'm trying to do is see how various people would interpret that dish. So, rather than "seafood" I'm curious what everyone's choices would be. If batter dipped, what batter. Etc.

Just seemed to me this was something we could have fun with.

[phatch]

My current mood would have me using besan for the breading. I'd bet that isn't what Mr. Beck did though.

If I were to keep it italian as fritto misto would indicate that means i have to play sicilian flavorings to keep the besan in the right cultural ballpark. So some ground red pepper in the coating too.

So probably something like:

mixed sea food (squid, shrimp, mussells/clam meat)
zuchinni and a couple of blossoms if available.
mushrooms
Parsley leaves

And to keep the besan breading light, I'll leaven the egg wash with baking powder.

So, dust the food to be fried with flour lightly. Dip into the egg wash, let exceess drip off, then into the seasoned besan.

Fry, drain and repeat until done.

Season with sea salt. Serve with lemon wedges.

As to the sauce, well, I'm partial to a garlicky aiolli or a spicy marinara.

[KYHeirloomer]

You're absolutely right. Chef Beck did not have besan in mind. But I like the idea. Maybe spice it up, as for pokuras, and serve with a minted garlic sauce.

[DC Sunshine]

It's ok KY I take things literally sorry!

For the selection of seafood I'd choose: calamari rings, oysters, shrimp, mussels, scallops.

For the batter I'd keep it simple, tossing the pieces with eggwhite and cornflour.

For flavouring, I like to sprinkle the pieces once they're done with cayenne pepper, salt and a sprinkling of lemon juice, serve immediately. Maybe a drizzle of tartare sauce.

You could also try doing small pieces of seafood on a wooden skewer before putting it into the hot oil (vegetable oil for preference - something neutral tasting) for ease of handling.

Or if you like a heavier coating, go for a nice beer batter flavoured with turmeric for colour and cayenne for flavour, perhaps a touch of dried ground oregano.

And don't forget the onion rings! Not sure if these ideas are strictly Italian or its leaning toward Greek - but hey its delish!