Chef Freja
Butterdejs-Tarteletskaller
Danish puff pastry tartelet shells folded and chilled in patient layers, baked tall and golden until they shatter at the first bite. The architecture that holds a hundred different fillings.
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Panerede Rodspaettefingre med Remoulade
Created by Chef Freja
Strips of Kattegat plaice in golden breadcrumbs, fried in butter and oil and served with cold homemade remoulade. The most generous appetizer in the Danish repertoire and the easiest way to feed a room.
Appetizers & Snacks
Danish
Dinner Party
Potluck
Special Occasion
25 min
Active Time
15 min cook•40 min total
Yield6 servings as an appetizer
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.
Plaice from the Kattegat, the shallow sea between Jutland and Sweden, has been a defining Danish fish for centuries, and stegt rodspaette med persillesovs, whole pan-fried plaice with parsley sauce, is still considered by many cooks to be the national dish. The breaded finger version is a 20th-century domestic adaptation that grew out of the Danish lunch culture and the home cook's wish to serve fried fish at gatherings without the bones and the careful filleting at the table. Remoulade itself reached Denmark from France in the late 1800s but was reinvented locally with curry powder, finely chopped pickled vegetables, and a sweetness that the French original never had. The Danish remoulade you eat today is one of those rare condiments that traveled abroad, was adopted, and then became something the host country considers entirely its own.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
plaice fillets
Quantity
600g
skinned and pin-boned
plain flour
Quantity
100g
eggs
Quantity
2 large
fine dried breadcrumbs
Quantity
150g
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more for seasoning
white pepper
Quantity
freshly ground, to taste
unsalted butter
Quantity
60g
neutral oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons
lemon wedges
Quantity
to serve
good mayonnaise
Quantity
200ml
cornichons
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
capers
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
pickled yellow cauliflower or piccalilli
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
mild curry powder
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Dijon mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
caster sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
white wine vinegar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fresh dill
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
chives
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| plaice filletsskinned and pin-boned | 600g |
| plain flour | 100g |
| eggs | 2 large |
| fine dried breadcrumbs | 150g |
| fine sea salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more for seasoning |
| white pepper | freshly ground, to taste |
| unsalted butter | 60g |
| neutral oil | 3 tablespoons |
| lemon wedges | to serve |
| good mayonnaise | 200ml |
| cornichonsfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| capersfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| pickled yellow cauliflower or piccalillifinely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| mild curry powder | 1 teaspoon |
| Dijon mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| caster sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| white wine vinegar | 1 teaspoon |
| fresh dillfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| chivesfinely chopped | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy frying pan, 28cm
- •Three shallow dishes for the breading station
- •Sharp filleting knife
- •Tray lined with kitchen paper
Instructions
- 1
Make the remoulade first
Stir the mayonnaise, chopped cornichons, capers, pickled cauliflower, curry powder, mustard, sugar, and vinegar together in a small bowl. Fold in the dill and chives. Taste it. It should be tangy, faintly sweet, gently warm from the curry, and full of small crunchy pieces. Cover and put it in the fridge while you work on the fish. Remoulade needs at least twenty minutes to come together. The flavors marry, the curry softens, the pickle stops shouting. Make it first and it will be ready when you need it.
Chop the cornichons and capers finer than you think. The remoulade should hold together on a fork, not slide off in chunks. - 2
Cut the plaice into fingers
Lay the plaice fillets flat on a board and pat them completely dry with kitchen paper. Wet fish will not bread cleanly. Cut each fillet lengthwise into strips about two centimetres wide. You want each piece thick enough to hold its shape in the pan but slim enough to cook through quickly. Season the strips on both sides with salt and a little white pepper.
- 3
Set up the breading station
Put the flour in one shallow dish, beat the eggs in a second, and spread the breadcrumbs in a third. Line them up in that order. The flour gives the egg something to cling to. The egg is the glue. The breadcrumbs do the crisping. If you skip the flour, the egg slides off. Each step has a job.
Use one hand for the dry steps and one hand for the wet. If you use the same hand for both, you'll end up with breaded fingers and bare fish. - 4
Bread the fingers
Take each strip of plaice and dust it in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip it into the egg, letting the surplus drip off. Then press it gently into the breadcrumbs, turning to coat all sides. Lay the breaded fingers on a tray as you go. Don't pile them up. Crumbs will fall off. Work through all the fish before you start frying so you can give the pan your full attention.
- 5
Fry in butter and oil
Heat half the butter and half the oil together in a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Butter alone will burn before the breadcrumbs go golden. Oil alone has no flavor. Together they give you the deep golden crust and the nutty richness that makes Danish fried fish taste right. When the butter is foaming and smells of hazelnuts, lay in the fingers in a single layer with space between them. Fry for about two minutes on the first side without touching them, then turn each one and fry for another minute and a half. The breadcrumbs should be a deep, even gold and the fish inside should be just set and white. Lift them onto a tray lined with kitchen paper and salt them while they're hot. Wipe the pan, add the rest of the butter and oil, and fry the second batch the same way.
Don't crowd the pan. Crowded fish steams instead of frying, and the crust goes soft. Two batches is the right answer for most home pans. - 6
Serve at once
Pile the fish fingers on a serving board or platter while they are still hot from the pan. Put the cold remoulade in a small bowl alongside, and scatter lemon wedges around the edge. The hot crisp fish against the cold tangy sauce is the whole point of the dish, and it only works in the first ten minutes. Tell your guests to dip generously. Tak for mad.
Chef Tips
- •Plaice is at its best from April through June when the fish are firm and sweet from the cold spring water. Outside the season, ask your fishmonger what's good. Lemon sole or dab will work the same way and belong to the same family of flat fish.
- •Make the remoulade the day before if you can. It's better on the second day. The curry mellows, the pickle softens, and the whole thing tastes more like itself.
- •Use fine dried breadcrumbs, not panko. Panko is Japanese and gives a different, jagged crust. Danish breaded fish wants a tighter, finer coating that holds close to the fish.
- •An ice-cold beer or a glass of crisp dry white wine is what you drink with this. A small aquavit alongside if the company is right.
Advance Preparation
- •The remoulade can be made up to three days ahead and kept covered in the fridge. The flavor deepens with time.
- •The plaice can be cut into fingers and breaded a couple of hours ahead. Lay them on a tray, cover loosely, and keep them in the fridge until you're ready to fry. Don't bread them any earlier than that or the crumbs will go damp.
- •Fry just before serving. This dish does not hold. The whole pleasure is the contrast between the hot crisp fish and the cold sauce, and that window is short.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 160g)
Calories
590 calories
Total Fat
40 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
30 g
Cholesterol
135 mg
Sodium
780 mg
Total Carbohydrates
31 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
24 g
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