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Dressed Fish

Sole fillet baked with sliced tomatoes, onions, breadcrumbs, butter, and tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Dressed Fish

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice the onion and tomatoes thinly.

Assemble and bake

  1. Stuff the sole with the mixture and place it in a buttered gratin dish.

  2. Layer the onion and tomato slices alternately over the sole.

  3. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and 1 ounce of butter.

  4. Top with a few brown bread crumbs mixed with a little Parmesan.

  5. Pour ⅓ cup of tomato sauce around the sole.

  6. Cover with buttered paper and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for about 10 minutes.

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

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Tomato + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,490 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sole (in the method)
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking gently in the sauce and steam.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that brighten the sauce and soften during baking.
Spanish onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens under the cover.
Bread crumbs
Form a crust on top that helps browning and adds texture.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the crumb topping brown.

The step that matters

Covering with buttered paper before baking. The cover traps steam so the delicate sole cooks through gently and stays moist, while the short bake keeps it from drying out or overcooking.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, tomato, parmesan cheese, bread, sauce, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, tomato, parmesan cheese, bread, sauce, pepper. 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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