"A nice bit of North Sea haddock, Miss Sophie..."

Haddock is one of those fish that in recent times has been rather typecast in the British seafood spectrum. During the last century, in Scotland and the north of Britain, it became such a matter of routine to smoke haddock that people these days routinely assume that's the only way it comes. But as a fresh fish haddock is quite lovely, if you can get it -- it's seasonal, normally only appearing in the shops for a few months starting in April. It freezes brilliantly, though, so even if Miss Sophie was celebrating her birthday in the winter, she could still have had some for her second course.

Because the fish course at this dinner is coming in between two fairly substantial courses (the spicy mulligatawny soup and the relatively vigorously spiced roast chicken), British dinner protocol of the time suggests that the fish course should be something comparatively delicate, a relief from and contrast to the stronger flavors on either side.

Period recipes for fresh haddock are surprisingly thin on the ground in English sources, possibly because of the limited fresh-fish season. Some sources, like the Larousse -- which would have been a reliable '20s and '30s resource in an upper-crust kitchen such as Miss Sophie's -- simply say "Treat haddock as cod." To find any significant variety in treatment, or anything much beyond the "crumb it and panfry it / bake it" school of thought, you have to start digging out cookbooks from places like Iceland, which would not have been present in an early 20th century British kitchen.

So we've kept the treatment of Miss Sophie's haddock fairly simple: clarified butter, a dusting of paprika to give it some color, and a short time in the oven, after which the fish is served accompanied by a favorite white-fish sauce of the period.

(Dinner For One aficionados, please note: while in the video Miss Sophie appears to be eating a single small whole fish, it's important to know that this stage-food fish is not a haddock -- as haddock routinely run up to a meter long, and even the relatively small ones that might find their way to a British fishmongers' would be much too large for Miss Sophie's plate.)

Ingredients:

For each diner:

• A piece of fresh or frozen haddock weighing approximately 1 lb / 450g
• 1/3 cup / approx 250g salted butter for clarifying
• Sweet paprika (just a few pinches for dusting)
• Salt and pepper to season

Maitre d'hotel sauce for the fish:

• 2-3 ounces of very soft butter
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 2-3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh parsley

To cook the fish:

Preheat the oven to approximately 200C / 400F. Find a heavy cast-iron (or similar) skillet with a heatproof handle.

If you don't already have clarified butter prepared, do it this way:

On the stovetop: Melt the butter slowly and when melted, pour into a tall, relatively narrow container. In the microwave: Put the butter into a small microwave-suitable container, as tall and narrow as possible. Cover it with a loose lid or a little clingfilm (pierced) to keep it from spattering: microwave for 30 seconds or so.

In both cases you will be left, after a few minutes' time to settle, with a clear layer of clarified butter floating on top of a milky layer of the milk solids from the butter. You are only going to be using the top layer.

Pour about half your clarified butter into the skillet you're going to be baking the fish in. On the stovetop, heat it until fairly hot.

Put the haddock int the skillet, skin side down (if your haddock has any skin on it). Brush the top of the fish with the remaining clarified butter. Sprinkle it lightly with paprika, then salt and pepper it, and put the fish in the oven.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. While the fish is baking, prepare the maitre d'hotel sauce. (Or if you prefer, prepare it before you put the fish in the oven. It will hold that long.)

This sauce does not hold well, so the later you prepare it -- that is, as close to the time the fish will come out of the oven -- the better.

Warm the butter until it is about to start melting, but hasn't quite done so. Add the lemon juice and the parsley and beat everything together very well with a whisk until well combined and creamy.

(If the sauce "breaks" or otherwise gives you trouble, it's all right to warm it very gently while beating -- either on the stovetop or over a bowl of hot water -- until it reaches a liquid consistency.)

At the 10-12 minute point, test the fish for doneness. It should have gone opaque and still be just slightly springy to the touch. If you're in doubt, or the piece of fish is more than an inch or so thick, give it another 3-4 minutes, but no more.

When the fish is done, remove it from the skillet immediately (you don't want it to keep cooking) to a warmed serving plate. Garnish with some parsley and then nap it with the maitre d'hotel sauce.

Nothing is said in Dinner for One about what side dish Miss Sophie might have for this course, but new potatoes sprinkled with parsley do very well.

"White wine with the fish, James...."

Haddock is not as delicate a fish as cod, but more delicate than the more robust seafood like swordfish: so a wine with enough character to stand up to a more pronounced fish flavor is a good idea. A Gewurztraminer might be a good choice, but so might a more flinty-natured Chablis, or one of the more characterful Italian wines like an Orvieto.

The courses served at Miss Sophie's 90th Birthday dinner, and the recipes for them:

• "Sherry with the soup": Miss Sophie's Mulligatawny Soup
• "White wine with the fish": Miss Sophie's Haddock with Maitre d'Hotel Sauce
• "Champagne with the bird": Miss Sophie's Poulet roti
• "Port with the fruit": The traditional British fruit plate

Don't know what all this is about? Click here for more info.