Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Sole Pie
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 the fish
Remove the flesh from the bones of the soles.
Layer the flesh in a buttered pie dish.
Add a few oysters and their liquor between each layer of fish.
Season the fish with salt, pepper, and pounded mace.
Dot the fish with small pieces of butter.
Cover the dish with puff pastry.
Make the white sauce
Boil the fish bones in enough water to cover them.
Make stock from the boiled bones and strain the stock.
Mix the stock with an equal amount of cream.
Thicken the mixture with flour.
Season the sauce.
Bake and serve
Bake the pie in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
Once the pastry is baked, pour the white sauce into the pie through the hole at the top.
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.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Oyster + fishtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together496 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Soles
- Provide the main body of the pie, with flesh that cooks through and flavours the filling.
- Oysters
- Add a briny, savoury flavour to the fish layers as they cook with their liquor.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the fish as it melts during baking.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a crisp, browned crust that seals the pie and holds in the steam.
- Cream
- Makes the white sauce rich and smooth, giving it body and mild sweetness.
- Flour
- Thickens the stock-and-cream mixture so the sauce becomes smooth and pourable.
The step that matters
Pouring the sauce in after baking. The sauce is added only once the pastry is baked, so the crust stays crisp and the sauce is not overcooked or made to separate. Pouring it in too early can soften the pastry from below and thin the sauce as it heats.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, pepper, butter, sauce, fish, cream, flour):
- Capersfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, pepper, butter, sauce, fish, cream, flour. 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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