Staff meal: Fallow’s cods head with nduja butter

What do you eat when you get home after service? Will Murray and Jack Croft of Fallow share their recipe 

Murray and Croft have been running their Fallow residency at 10 Heddon Street in Mayfair since March, will an extended period of closure for the lockdown. It is now back in business and has won fans for its casual yet accomplished menu, including oysters, venison tartare and spiced corn ribs. However for their staff meal, the pair chose something quite unusual, as they describe.  

“We heard about people using cods heads and had never tried that before, so we contacted our fish supplier, Bethnal Green Fish, and asked if we could get some for a staff meal – we thought it could be good fun for the team. It was so good, it’s now on our menu full time!” 

Serves 3 

1.Take 3 whole heads and remove the collars, then split the heads down the middle and make a 15% salt brine.  

2.Brine all the elements together for 4 hours and then rinse in cold running water for 30 minutes.  

3.Pat the heads dry with a cloth, before making an nduja butter, by whipping 150g of nduja with 300g unsalted butter. 

4.To cook the heads, light the barbecue or heat an ovenproof griddle pan over a high heat with plenty of oil and have the oven on. Lightly season and oil the heads, then grill them for 5 minutes, or fry in the pan. 

5.Take them off the heat, smother them in the nduja butter and finish them in the oven for about another 5 minutes (size depending). 

6.Finally, rest the heads for a further 5 minutes while basting them with the cooking juices. 

7.To serve, place them on a serving plate and cover with more buttery nduja cooking juices and a generous squeeze of lemon, alongside charred spring greens with sriracha (at Fallow we make our own). 

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