Eels

Petites Anguilles à la Meunière (small eels in the miller's manner) teach the cleanest lesson in frying: the surface must be dry before it meets fat. Meunière means a light coat of flour, butter, and quick cooking, not a batter and not a heavy crust. Get that surface right and the eel comes out bronze at the edges, rich and sweet within, with lemon cutting cleanly through its fat.

The source is brief because it assumes eel is common, and that the cook already knows how to kill, skin, and clean it. That assumption has changed. Have a fishmonger do the difficult work, then replace the broad professional frying setup with one 12-inch skillet and two patient batches; no saucier, standing stockpot, or salamander is hiding behind this dish. That is the honest home translation for four, one cook, one stove, one evening.

The wide pan and brigade hands are scaffolding, and they can go. Drying, flouring at the last moment, and keeping the fat hot enough to seize the coat are the dish, so they stay. Before you touch the pan, blot the pieces until a fresh towel comes away dry; that one act decides the crust.