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Plaice, Fried
Fried plaice are best when they are filleted before they are fried (See PLAICE, FILLETED). Indeed, this is by far the most satisfactory mode of dressing this fish. If preferred, the plaice may be cut across into pieces about two inches wide. Sprinkle a little salt over the fish, and let it lie for two or three hours. Dry it well, dredge it with flour, then dip it into beaten egg and fine bread-crumbs, sprinkle a tea-spoonful of bread raspings over the top, and fry the fish in plenty of hot fat until it is brightly coloured. Drain well, and serve on a hot napkin. Garnish with green parsley. If preferred the plaice may be simply floured instead of being egged and breaded, or it may be fried in batter. (See BATTER FOR FRYING.)
A straightforward deep-fried fish, but two of its instructions belong to a kitchen that no longer exists: bread raspings and the hot napkin.
- Bread raspingsRaspings are the crusts of stale bread dried hard in a cool oven and then grated or rasped to a coarse, sandy crumb. They were kept in a jar as a standby; dried breadcrumbs or panko give the same extra crispness on top of the egg-and-crumb coat.
- The salting is the hingeThe salting -- two or three hours of salt draws water out of plaice, a notably wet, soft-fleshed flatfish. The entry does not say why it is done, but the likely effect is a firmer, drier surface that fries better. Dry the fish well afterwards, as the entry directs.
- Fat temperatureThe entry gives no temperature; 'plenty of hot fat' corresponds to modern deep-frying at roughly 350-375F. Fillets take about 3-4 minutes, the two-inch cross-cut pieces a little longer as they are on the bone. 'Brightly coloured' suggests a light golden brown rather than deep mahogany.
- Cutting acrossCutting a whole plaice into two-inch sections gives bone-in steaks that keep their shape but are awkward to eat. Filleting, as the entry says, is genuinely better here; a fishmonger will do it and the frame makes stock.
- Serve on a hot napkinA folded linen napkin laid on the serving dish absorbed frying fat at table. A wire rack over a warm tray does the job better and keeps the underside crisp; drain on the rack, not on paper, which traps steam.
- SubstitutionsPlaice is widely available in Britain and northern Europe but scarce elsewhere. Any small flatfish fillet behaves the same way, as does dab, lemon sole, or flounder; adjust nothing but the timing.
- YieldAllow roughly one whole plaice of 12-14 oz per person, giving two fillets, or about 6 oz of trimmed fillet. Lemon and a plain tartare sauce are common modern accompaniments; note that the entry itself calls for green (fresh) parsley as the garnish.
Plaice was for centuries among the cheapest sea fish landed on the English coast, abundant in the North Sea and the Channel and sold in quantities that made it a working household staple rather than a dinner-party fish, which may be why Cassell's treats it briskly and with several fallback options: floured, egged and crumbed, or in batter. Egg-and-crumb coatings of this kind were also used for fried fish sold with chipped potatoes from the later nineteenth century, though fried-fish shops appear to have leaned towards batter. The instruction to serve on a hot napkin belongs as much to the period's table manners as to its cookery, and the habit of saving crusts as raspings points to the same domestic economy.