All-Purpose Fry Batter

Based on Heston Blumenthal’s magnificent fish and chips batter, this recipe swaps the alcohol in the original for a cold can of seltzer. The carbonation keeps the batter airy and light while the rice flour makes it potato-chip crisp. If made with regular water, the batter fries up pale and hard, so don’t skip the seltzer, no matter how tempting. This is absolutely aces for dunking shrimp, squid, onion rings, fronds of kale or spinach, thin planks of sweet potato, enoki mushrooms, zucchini blossoms, and anything else that will cook through in under 10 minutes. Big pieces of meat (like chicken thighs) won’t fare so well because their long cook time will need a far sturdier batter.