Panerede Rodspaettefingre med Remoulade

Plaice belong to the spring. From April through early summer the boats come back into the Kattegat ports with rodspaette in the holds, and for a few months Danish kitchens reorient around them. Whole pan-fried plaice with parsley butter is the centerpiece dish, the one you order in a harbour restaurant on a clear May afternoon. But there is another version, smaller and more sociable, that belongs to the Danish home and to any table where people are standing around with a glass in their hand. Panerede rodspaettefingre. Plaice fingers, breaded and fried, served hot with cold remoulade.

This is what you make when you want the flavor of the spring catch without the formality of plating a whole fish. You cut the fillets into strips, bread them carefully in flour and egg and crumbs, and fry them in butter and oil until the crust is deep gold and the fish inside is white and just barely set. The remoulade you make first, because it needs time in the fridge for the curry and the pickle to find each other.

What I want you to pay attention to is the pan. Butter and oil together, foaming and just smelling of hazelnuts when the fish goes in. Earlier and the breadcrumbs go pale and oily. Later and the butter burns and turns bitter. You'll know when it's right because the kitchen will smell like a Danish harbour cafe in May. Serve them the moment they come out of the pan. Cold fried fish is a different and lesser thing.