Plaice from the fryer

Plaice is one of the classic chip-shop fries: a flat white fish, usually milder than haddock, often a thinner fillet than a large cod, in the same wet batter as the rest of the board. People who want fish and chips but not a thick piece of cod ask for plaice. People who have always had plaice will not be talked into haddock by a website.

Salt & Vinegar in Coulsdon lists plaice at £9.50. That is the same published price as small cod and rock salmon, not the £11.50 of large cod and haddock. Same band does not mean same fish. Say plaice. “The cheaper one” is how you get whatever the fryer thinks you meant. The photograph is fried fish. It is not a labelled plaice from this range. A stock picture cannot show you tonight’s fillet width.

What frying does to a flat fish

A flat fillet cooks faster than a thick loin. That is a reason some shops like plaice on a busy night, and a reason the piece in the paper can look smaller than a large cod even when the batter is the same colour. This guide does not invent a gram weight for Coulsdon plaice. If size is the whole question, large cod at £11.50 is the printed bigger fillet. Plaice is the named flat fish at £9.50.

Bones: plaice can hide small bones more easily than a tidy cod loin. If you are ordering for someone who will not pick bones, say so at the counter, or pick king bites or a kids’ cod-bites box instead. This is practical, not a scare.

On the Coulsdon ticket

Plaice, chips from £3.00, mushy peas £2.00 or curry sauce £2.40 if you want them, salt and vinegar on the chips. Phone 020 8660 6990 if you are collecting from 85 Stoats Nest Rd, CR5 2JJ. Monday to Saturday 12:00–21:45. Sunday the fryer is off.

Haddock, rock salmon and the rest of the non-cod list sit on their own page. This page is plaice as a fried fish, so the name has a home of its own. Independent guide, not the official shop. Prices change. Ask in the shop when you are spending for a table.

Questions