Stegt Rodspatte i Smor

Plaice belongs to spring. The season decides, and in Denmark it decides that rodspatte, the red-spotted flatfish that lives in the shallow sandy beds of the Kattegat and the Limfjord, is at its best from March through May. The fish are firm, sweet, and just-plump from the winter feed, and the Danish fishmongers put them out on ice with a kind of quiet pride. When you see them, you stop planning whatever else you were going to cook.

Stegt rodspatte i smor is one of those Danish dishes that has absolute confidence in its own simplicity. No breadcrumbs, no batter, nothing to hide behind. Just a whole plaice fillet dusted in flour, fried in butter until the skin crackles, and laid on dark rugbrod with a scatter of parsley and a wedge of lemon. This is the kind of cooking that works only when every part of it is honest. Good fish. Good butter. Good bread. That's the whole argument.

Pay attention to one thing: the moment the butter stops foaming and starts to smell of hazelnuts. That's brown butter, and that's when the fish goes in. Earlier and the skin won't crisp. Later and the butter burns and takes the fish with it. I'll walk you through every step so you're never guessing, but that one moment is yours. You'll smell it, and you'll know when it's right.