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Sole Pie

A baked pie of sole fish, oysters, mashed potatoes, and a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Sole Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the bones from the soles and cut them into pieces.

  2. Layer the fish pieces in a dish with a layer of bearded oysters.

  3. Season with coarse sea salt.

Top and bake

  1. Cover with mashed potatoes and brown it under the broiler.

  2. Serve with melted butter and soy sauce.

  3. Add gravy, oyster liquor, and cream.

  4. Top with a pie crust and bake in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Oyster + saucetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Soles
Forms the main body of the pie, giving flaky, tender fish pieces.
Bearded oysters
Add briny, savory flavor and some moisture to the fish layer.
Oyster liquor
Adds savory brininess and moisture to the filling.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother texture to the filling.
Mashed potatoes
Form a soft topping that browns to a golden crust.
Pie crust
Encloses the filling and bakes to a crisp, golden top.

The step that matters

Browning the potato topping under the broiler. The broiler delivers intense radiant heat that browns the potato surface quickly through the Maillard reaction, so it can scorch before the layers beneath warm through. Watch it closely and remove it once evenly golden.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, butter, sauce, cream):

  1. Horseradishfits about as well
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Potatothe original
  4. Onionfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, butter, sauce, cream. 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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