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Fillets of Sole a LA Colbert

Fillets of sole seasoned, rolled, baked, coated in heated brown crumbs, served with anchovy sauce and maitre d’hotel butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fillets of Sole a LA Colbert

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

  1. Wipe, trim, and season the fillets with pepper, salt, and lemon juice.

  2. Roll the fillets up from head to tail, with the skinned side in.

  3. Place the rolled fillets in a greased baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 12 to 15 minutes.

  2. Roll the baked fillets in the heated brown crumbs.

  3. Serve neatly on a plate and pour the anchovy sauce around the fillets.

  4. Top each fillet with a round of maitre d’hotel butter.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Lemon + anchovytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,080 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Sole fillets
Provide the delicate white flesh that is rolled and baked as the main dish.
Brown crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating on the outside of the rolled fillets.
Maitre d’hotel butter
Melts over the hot fillets, adding richness and moisture to the mild fish.
Anchovy sauce
Adds a salty, savoury flavour to the finished plate.

The step that matters

Rolling the fillets in the crumbs after baking. The crumbs need to be heated and applied to the hot, freshly baked fish so they stick and stay crisp. Cold crumbs or an underbaked fillet will not hold a coating well.

“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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