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Sole a LA Daumont

A sole fillet garnished with whiting forcemeat, shrimp butter, and served with vin blanc sauce, stewed mushrooms, Nantua shrimp, quenelles, and truffles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Whiting and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 236 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

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

Directions

Prepare the sole

  1. Garnish the inside of the boned sole with whiting forcemeat and shrimp butter.

  2. Rearrange the fillets for a natural appearance.

Poach and assemble

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

  2. Drain and place the sole on a serving dish.

  3. Cover with vin blanc sauce.

  4. Garnish with stewed mushrooms and shrimp in Nantua sauce.

  5. Add quenelles of whiting forcemeat and decorate 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Whiting + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together236 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Mushroom + truffletop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,900 recipes

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

  3. White wine + mushroomtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,704 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

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

  5. Butter + white winetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,039 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

Whiting forcemeat
Forms a light, delicate stuffing that sets when cooked and gives the fish a tender texture.
Shrimp butter
Adds fat and shellfish aroma that flavours the fish as it cooks.
White wine
Adds acidity to the poaching liquid, brightening the flavour of the fish and sauce.
Mushroom cooking liquid
Adds savoury, earthy flavour and moisture to the poaching liquid.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the poaching dish, enriching the sauce.

The step that matters

Poaching the sole. The sole is delicate and overcooking makes it dry and firm. Gentle poaching in a buttered dish with wine and liquid cooks the fish evenly and keeps its texture moist.

“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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