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Fillets of Soles and Anchovies

A dish of sole fillets seasoned, fried, and topped with anchovy and chili vinaigrette.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Fillets of Soles and Anchovies

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the fillets from the soles and take off the skins.

  2. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  3. Fry the fillets in olive oil.

  4. Place a weight on top to flatten them.

  5. Clean the anchovies and rinse off the salt.

  6. Cut each anchovy and sole fillet into lengths of four.

Arrange and dress

  1. Arrange the sole fillets and anchovies alternately in a china dish.

  2. In a small earthen pan, combine olive oil, tarragon vinegar, and minced chili. Mix well and pour over the arranged fish.

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. Pepper + tarragontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Olive + tarragontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,323 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Soles
Provide the flaky white fish fillets that form the body of the dish.
Anchovies
Add a salty, savory depth that seasons the fish as it sits in the dressing.
Olive oil
Carries flavor and adds richness, and helps the fillets brown when fried.
Tarragon vinegar
Adds bright acidity that cuts the richness of the oil and fish.
Pickled chili
Adds sharp heat and tang to the dressing.

The step that matters

Frying the fillets flat. Fillets that are not weighted can curl and cook unevenly. Pressing them while they fry keeps them flat so they brown evenly and cook at a uniform rate.

Swap the tarragon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, olive, vinegar):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Tarragonthe original
  3. Basilfits about as well
  4. Rosemaryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, olive, vinegar. 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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