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Sole, Lemon

A baked lemon sole topped with anchovy sauce, butter, mushrooms, cheese, parsley, and black pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon sole and butter work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 29 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

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. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Slit the fish on both sides.

  3. Pour a little anchovy sauce over the fish.

  4. Butter a fire-proof dish.

Assemble

  1. Add chopped parsley to the dish.

  2. Add sliced mushrooms to the dish.

  3. Place the fish in the dish.

  4. Grate cheese over the fish.

  5. Dust the fish with black pepper.

  6. Add a few pats of butter on top of the fish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 30 minutes.

  2. Serve the fish in the dish used for baking.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lemon sole + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together29 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lemon sole + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,048 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + mushroomtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together12,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Lemon soles
Provide the delicate white fish that forms the main body of the dish.
Anchovy sauce
Adds a salty, savoury depth that seasons the fish as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the fish stay moist and the top brown.
Grated cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.
Mushrooms
Release moisture and add earthy flavour that blends into the baking juices.

Flavor stand-ins for the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon sole, anchovy, sauce, butter, mushroom, cheese, pepper):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Garlicabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Capersabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon sole, anchovy, sauce, butter, mushroom, cheese, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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