Chef Joost
Gerookte Paling (Dutch Smoked Eel)
Golden smoked eel on buttered bread, the old feast food of Holland's wet country, where rivers, peat ditches, and the former Zuiderzee once set the table.
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Gebakken Schol
Created by
A whole North Sea plaice, dusted with flour and fried in butter, is the Dutch weeknight fish at its plainest and best: crisp skin, sweet flesh, potatoes waiting.
Main Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
25 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 servings
In Zeeland, the sea does not announce dinner politely. It lands it at the quay, bright-eyed and cold, and everyone nearby adjusts their plans. Schol, plaice, was never the grand fish on the table. It was the flat, freckled, affordable one: the fish you bought on a weekday because it cooked faster than the potatoes and tasted of the North Sea without asking for ceremony.
But let me tell you a secret. The dishes tourists miss are often the ones Dutch families eat most faithfully. Gebakken schol means fried plaice, and that plain name is doing useful work. Gebakken, fried in the pan here, tells you not to hide the fish under sauce or ambition. Flour, butter, salt, lemon. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. The fish is thin, so it punishes delay; the skin wants a dry surface, a hot pan, and enough butter to brown at the edges without burning.
There is one seasonal truth worth taking to the fishmonger. People still say meischol, May plaice, as if May alone crowns the fish, but after spawning the plaice can be lean. By later spring and summer it eats its way back into sweetness. The tide sets the menu, and so does the calendar. Buy the freshest whole schol you can, let the bones protect the flesh, and serve it with boiled potatoes, melted butter, parsley, and lemon. That is not poverty of imagination. It is confidence.
Plaice, Pleuronectes platessa, has long been one of the ordinary flatfish of the North Sea and Wadden Sea fisheries, landed in Dutch ports from Scheveningen and IJmuiden to Den Helder and Vlissingen. Early twentieth-century Dutch household cookbooks, shaped by the Amsterdamse Huishoudschool tradition, treated small whole fish as practical weekday fare: dried well, dusted in flour, and fried quickly in butter or fat. The market term meischol, May plaice, survives, but modern fishmongers often prefer plaice later in summer after spawning, when the fish has fed and regained fullness.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole cleaned plaice (schol)
Quantity
4, 300 to 400g each
gutted, trimmed, skin on
small waxy potatoes
Quantity
800g
peeled if desired
unsalted butter
Quantity
120g
divided
neutral oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
all-purpose flour
Quantity
80g
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons
divided
freshly ground white pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
1 small bunch
finely chopped
lemon
Quantity
1
cut into wedges
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole cleaned plaice (schol)gutted, trimmed, skin on | 4, 300 to 400g each |
| small waxy potatoespeeled if desired | 800g |
| unsalted butterdivided | 120g |
| neutral oil | 2 tablespoons |
| all-purpose flour | 80g |
| fine sea saltdivided | 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| freshly ground white pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 1 small bunch |
| lemoncut into wedges | 1 |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide frying pan, 28 to 30cm
- •Broad fish spatula
- •Large plate for flouring
- •Medium saucepan for potatoes
Instructions
- 1
Check the fish
Ask the fishmonger for whole cleaned plaice, with the skin left on and the fins trimmed if your pan is modest. At home, pat the fish very dry inside and out with kitchen paper. This is not fussing; flour clings to dry skin, and dry skin crisps while wet skin sulks.
Fresh plaice should smell clean and faintly of the sea, never sour or strong. The eyes should be clear and the flesh should feel firm when pressed. - 2
Boil the potatoes
Put the potatoes in a pan of salted water, bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 to 18 minutes depending on size. Drain them and let them sit uncovered for a minute so their surfaces dry. A wet potato refuses butter, and we are not here to argue with potatoes.
- 3
Flour the plaice
Mix the flour with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the white pepper on a wide plate. Season the fish lightly with the remaining salt, then press each plaice into the flour on both sides. Shake off more flour than you think necessary. You want a thin veil, not a winter coat.
- 4
Fry the first side
Set a wide frying pan over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon oil with 20g butter. When the butter foams and begins to smell nutty, lay in one plaice, dark side down if it fits best that way. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, pressing gently at the thickest part so the fish lies flat. The edges should turn golden and crisp.
- 5
Turn and baste
Slide a broad spatula under the fish, turn it carefully, and fry the second side for 2 to 3 minutes more. Spoon the browned butter over the top once or twice. The flesh is done when it lifts easily from the backbone near the head. Repeat with the remaining fish, adding fresh butter and oil as needed so the pan never smells burnt.
- 6
Finish the table
Melt the remaining butter in the warm potato pan, add the chopped parsley, and roll the potatoes through it. Serve each plaice at once with the parsley-butter potatoes and lemon wedges. Teach the table to lift the top fillets from the bone, then turn the frame and find the second side. A whole flatfish gives two small lessons, both edible.
Chef Tips
- •Do not crowd the pan. One whole plaice cooked properly is better than four cooked in a panic; keep finished fish on a warm plate while the rest fry.
- •May plaice has a famous name, but ask what looks best that day. After spawning, plaice can be thin; later spring, summer, and early autumn often give sweeter, fuller fish.
- •If you can only find plaice fillets, use the same flour and butter method but cook them for about 90 seconds per side. Good, yes, but the whole fish protects the flesh and gives you the crisp skin and bones that make this dish itself.
- •Use butter for flavour and a little neutral oil for steadiness. Pure butter is lovely until it burns; the oil gives the home cook a little mercy.
- •Serve with a dry Dutch or Belgian-style wheat beer, or a sharp young white wine. Nothing too perfumed. The fish is quiet, and quiet things deserve not to be shouted over.
Advance Preparation
- •The potatoes can be peeled and held in cold water for up to 4 hours before cooking.
- •The fish can be patted dry and refrigerated uncovered for up to 1 hour before frying; do not flour it until just before it goes into the pan.
- •Gebakken schol is best eaten immediately. Leftovers can be refrigerated for 1 day, but the crisp skin will not return honestly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 380g)
Calories
670 calories
Total Fat
36 g
Saturated Fat
19 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
165 mg
Sodium
1030 mg
Total Carbohydrates
54 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
36 g
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