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Sole Colbert

A sole fillet coated in flour, fried, then poached in wine and mushroom liquid, served with butter, shrimp, and whiting forcemeat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and truffle are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Sole Colbert

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sole

  1. Remove the fillets from the spine of the sole.

  2. Break the spine into several pieces.

  3. Remove any bones from the sole.

  4. Rearrange the fillets for a natural appearance.

Fry and fill

  1. Dip the sole in milk.

  2. Roll the sole in flour.

  3. Fry the sole until golden.

  4. Drain the fried sole on a linen cloth.

  5. Fill the space with butter.

  6. Garnish the inside with whiting forcemeat mixed with shrimp butter.

  7. Serve the sole hot on a folded napkin.

Poach and garnish

  1. Poach the sole in a buttered dish with white wine, mushroom cooking liquid, and small lumps of butter.

  2. Drain the poached sole.

  3. Cover the sole with vin blanc sauce.

  4. Garnish the poached sole with stewed mushrooms and shrimp.

  5. Add quenelles of whiting forcemeat topped with truffles.

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. Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  5. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Sole
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole in fillets around its spine.
Milk
Helps the flour coating adhere to the fish before frying.
Flour
Forms a thin coating that browns during frying and helps keep the fish moist.
White wine
Adds acidity and flavour to the poaching liquid, lightly seasoning the fish.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour, and carries moisture into the fish during poaching.
Whiting forcemeat
Provides a soft, delicate filling that sets as it cooks and contrasts with the fish.

The step that matters

Frying the floured sole until golden. Too little heat leaves the coating pale and greasy, while too much browns it before the fish cooks through. Even golden colour shows the flour has set and the fish is cooked.

“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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