Haddock

Finer flakes, same fryer. The chip is the fat the fish has not got.

Lean white flesh only tastes of anything once fat is added to it.

Sweetish flakes need acid or they read as bland by the third bite.

Crumb over batter: it gives off less water and stays crisp.

The green in the white sauce, chopped in off the heat.

Poaching liquid becomes the sauce. One pan, no stock.

Sweet soft allium under a fish that will not carry raw onion.

The northern default: pungency where the fish has no bite.

A gratin browns before the fillet has time to go dry.

In the white sauce, not on the fish. It rounds off raw flour.

Spice fills the space that mild flesh leaves empty.

Kelp-cured an hour: it firms up and stops falling through the pan.

Reads as butter to the nose, so the fish tastes twice as rich.