Anyway. To consign my disaster to the dustbin of dementia-infused memories of meals best forgotten: something different.
Hake tempura, ponzu sauce.
Skin the hake, cut into small pieces (I suggest no bigger than half a thumb). Bigger risks breaking up.
Batter is one egg, 220 gm plain flour, 500gm sparkling water. I halved the quantities except the egg, was ok.
Dip hake in batter, fry at 180 for a couple of minutes, drain on kitchen paper.
Sauce is a bit of sugar, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 4 or 5x soy sauce, some acid like lemon or lime or yuzu, and perhaps some dashi stock.
Don't crowd them when frying. They should not touch.