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Sole Au Gratin

A baked sole fillet topped with lemon, herbs, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Sole Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dish

  1. Butter a baking dish with half the butter and sprinkle with half the lemon juice, parsley, shallot, thyme, and seasoning.

  2. Pour in the stock and sherry, then lay the fish in the dish.

Assemble and bake

  1. Sprinkle the fish with the remaining lemon juice and other ingredients.

  2. Cover with brown bread crumbs and dot with the remaining butter.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the 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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sole
The main fish, which cooks gently in the stock and sherry and turns flaky when done.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavour, and browns the crumb topping as it bakes.
Sherry
Adds acidity and aroma, and its liquid helps steam the fish in the dish.
Stock
Provides moisture so the fish cooks gently and does not dry out.
Brown bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust over the fish as they bake.

The step that matters

Bake for the right time. Sole is delicate and overcooks quickly, so the 15-20 minute range should be checked against the fish's size. Fish is done when it turns opaque and flakes easily, and overbaking makes it dry and tough.

“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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