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Sole Au Gratin

A baked sole fillet topped with mushrooms, eschalots, parsley, bread crumbs, butter, and stock, served in a gratin tin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Sole Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Butter an oval gratin tin.

  3. Mix the minced mushrooms, eschalots, and parsley.

  4. Spread half of the herb mixture at the bottom of the tin.

  5. Sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs.

  6. Lay the sole on top of the bread crumbs.

  7. Cover the sole with the remaining herb mixture.

  8. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  9. Dot the top with pieces of butter and sprinkle with more bread crumbs.

  10. Pour stock or broth around the fish, but not over it.

  11. Add white wine if desired.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes and serve in the gratin tin.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Mushroom + buttertop 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 protein, cooking gently in the oven to become flaky and moist.
Button mushrooms
Add moisture and savory, earthy flavor to the herb layers beneath and above the fish.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the bread crumbs brown on top.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping and absorb juices from the fish and herbs.
Eschalots
Contribute mild onion-like sweetness and aroma to the herb mixture.

The step that matters

Pour stock or broth around the fish, but not over it.. Liquid around the fish creates gentle steam so it cooks evenly without the delicate flesh breaking apart or becoming watery on top, while the topping can still brown.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, butter, bread, pepper, white wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Garlicfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, butter, bread, pepper, white wine. 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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