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Sole, Filleted and Rolled

Sole fillets rolled with a shrimp and butter mixture, baked with stock and clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Sole, Filleted and Rolled

four portions
Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Pound the shrimps with ⅓ of their weight in fresh butter, bread crumbs, mace, and cayenne.

  2. Fillet the sole and divide the pounded shrimps into four portions.

  3. Spread a portion of the shrimp mixture on each fillet, roll from tail to head, and tie with twine.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the rolls in a thickly buttered baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and pour clarified butter over them.

  2. Add clear stock and essence of anchovy.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 12 minutes.

  4. Mix a little lemon juice with the sauce and strain it over the fish before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Shrimp + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together440 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  3. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  4. Shrimp + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Shrimps
Provide the main filling and a savoury, delicate seafood flavour in each roll.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and moisture to the shrimp filling and keeps the rolls from drying out.
Bread crumbs
Absorb butter and juices, giving the filling body and a lightly browned crust.
Sole
Forms the delicate, flaky wrapper that holds the filling as it bakes.
Clear stock
Adds moisture and liquid to the dish, creating a sauce around the fish.

The step that matters

Rolling and tying the fillets. Fish fillets are delicate and can tear or open while rolling. Rolling them snugly from tail to head and tying them keeps the filling sealed in during baking.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, butter, bread, anchovy, lemon):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, butter, bread, anchovy, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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