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Sole Au Gratin

A baked sole fillet topped with preserved mushrooms, Italian sauce, breadcrumbs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Sole Au Gratin

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

  1. Skin both sides of the sole, cut off the head and fins, and make several incisions across one side.

  2. Place the sole cut side up in a well-buttered gratin dish, season with salt and pepper.

Assemble

  1. Add ¼ cup of white wine, a few drops of lemon juice, a little mushroom liquor, and chopped parsley.

  2. Place sliced preserved mushrooms down the center of the fish and cover with Italian sauce.

  3. Sprinkle with brown breadcrumbs and dot with small bits of butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the sole.

  2. Serve the dish on a larger plate as it comes out of the oven.

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 + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  5. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

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 to a tender, flaky texture.
White wine
Adds moisture and acidity that flavour the fish and sauce as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the topping brown and the fish stay moist.
Brown breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping through browning in the oven.
Sliced preserved mushrooms
Contribute savoury, earthy flavour and moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Baking time for the sole. Fish protein sets and turns opaque quickly, and it becomes dry and firm if overbaked. Because the time depends on the sole's size, check for flaking near the shorter end of the 20 to 30 minute range.

“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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