Czech Christmas fried carp with potato salad (Smažený kapr s bramborovým salátem)

1. Make the potato salad a day ahead: boil the potatoes in their skins and the carrot and celeriac whole until tender, and blanch the peas for 3 minutes. Let cool, peel the potatoes and cut everything into small dice.

2. Finely chop the onion and gherkins and mix with the vegetables. Stir the mayonnaise with the mustard, sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt (from the salt listed for the carp), pepper and 2-3 tablespoons of gherkin brine until smooth and fold through the salad. Cover and chill overnight so the flavours come together.

3. Rinse the carp steaks, pat dry, score the skin side every 5 mm (this softens the small bones) and rub with the rest of the salt; leave for 15 minutes.

4. Coat the fish in flour, then beaten egg and finally breadcrumbs, pressing the coating on gently.

5. Heat the sunflower oil about 1 cm deep to 170 °C in a large frying pan and fry the fish for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden; drain on kitchen paper.

6. Serve hot with lemon wedges and plenty of potato salad.

Tip: This is the festive dinner of the Czech Christmas Eve: many families keep the carp in the bathtub for days, and a scale is kept in the wallet for luck; every cook makes the potato salad to their own jealously guarded recipe.