Why it works: Anchovy and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,048 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat, 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 the fish
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Remove the skin from the sole and make an incision large enough for stuffing.
In a bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of butter, shallot, parsley, and anchovy sauce. Stuff the mixture into the sole and place it in a buttered gratin dish.
Layer and bake
Layer the sliced tomatoes and onion over the sole alternately. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, the remaining butter, and a few bread crumbs mixed with Parmesan.
Pour 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce around the sole. Cover with buttered paper and bake for about 10 minutes.
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.
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Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,048 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Shallot + parsleytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,718 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Tomato + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,490 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,158 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Tomato + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together20,622 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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, cooking gently in the oven to become flaky and moist.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps the bread crumbs and fish brown lightly.
- Tomatoes
- Add moisture and gentle acidity that flavour the fish as it bakes.
- Spanish onion
- Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens in the oven beneath the cover.
- Parmesan cheese
- Adds savoury flavour and helps the bread crumb topping brown.
The step that matters
Covering with buttered paper before baking. The buttered paper traps steam around the fish so it cooks gently and stays moist rather than drying out in the oven heat.
Flavor stand-ins for the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, anchovy, sauce, tomato, onion, parmesan cheese):
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Chiveabout as good a flavor fit
- Shallotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, anchovy, sauce, tomato, onion, parmesan cheese. 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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