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Plaice, Filleted
Skin the plaice. Lay it flat on the table, and with the point of a sharp knife cut right down the backbone. Insert the knife close to the head, slip it under the flesh, and pass it from head to tail. By this means the fillet may be removed entire and smooth. Trim the ends neatly, and the fish is ready to be fried or stewed. Almost all fishmongers send the plaice already filleted if desired to do so.
A knife-work entry rather than a dish: it describes the flatfish cut that every later plaice recipe in the book assumes you have already made. The instructions are sound, and only the context needs updating.
- Four fillets, not twoA plaice is a flatfish, so the cut down the backbone yields two fillets from the dark upper side and two from the white underside. The book's "the fillet" is shorthand for repeating the same stroke on each quarter.
- Skin first or lastThe original skins the whole fish before filleting, the older order of work; plaice skin will lift from the tail end if you nick it and pull against a cloth-gripped tail. Modern practice more often fillets first and skins each fillet flat on the board, knife angled down against the skin.
- The knifeA thin, flexible filleting blade is what makes the fillet come away "entire and smooth". A stiff cook's knife will tear the flesh and leave meat on the frame.
- Keep the knife on the boneThe hinge of the whole operation: angle the blade so it scrapes the rib bones, feeling them tick under the edge. Lift the blade and you leave flesh behind on the frame.
- Yield and portionsA 1 to 1.5 lb plaice gives roughly 6-10 oz of trimmed fillet, enough for one generous serving or two small ones. Allow two fish for two people if the fillets are being fried.
- Don't discard the framePlaice bones and head make a light stock in about 20 minutes; longer turns it bitter.
- Cooking timeSkinned plaice fillets are thin and cook in two to three minutes a side in a pan. They overcook easily, so treat long cooking times with caution.
- SubstitutesFlounder, dab, lemon sole, witch and small turbot all fillet by exactly this method. Plaice varies in quality by season and is at its poorest just after spawning in late winter and spring.
Plaice was the workhorse flatfish of British kitchens: abundant in the North Sea, landed cheaply, and sold in quantity in Victorian and Edwardian towns once rail and ice let inland fishmongers keep fresh fish. The closing line is telling: by the time this dictionary appeared, the fishmonger would fillet to order, so the household cook might only need to judge whether the work had been done well. Flatfish filleting itself is far older than the book, and the method described here, one stroke down the lateral line and one sweep out over the ribs to the fin, is essentially the cut still used in fish kitchens today.