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Sole, with Fine Herbs

A sole fillet baked in a butter, stock, and sherry sauce with shallots, parsley, anchovy, and Harvey’s sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Sole, with Fine Herbs

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. Melt the butter in a sauté pan.

  2. Add the stock, sherry, shallots, parsley, salt, and pepper, and warm gradually.

  3. Wash and skin the sole, then add it to the pan when the mixture is hot.

Cook and serve

  1. Cover closely and cook in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 40 minutes.

  2. Just before serving, stir in the anchovy and Harvey's sauce.

  3. Place the sole on a hot dish and strain the sauce over it.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

  5. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Sole
Is the main protein, cooked gently in the sauce so it stays moist and tender.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping build a rounded flavour in the pan.
Stock
Provides the liquid base of the sauce, carrying the flavour around the fish.
Sherry
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce as it reduces slightly during cooking.
Anchovy sauce
Adds a savoury, salty depth that enriches the sauce without tasting strongly fishy.

The step that matters

Cover closely while baking. A tight cover traps steam so the fish cooks gently in its own liquid. Without it the liquid evaporates and the sole can dry out and toughen.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sherry, parsley, anchovy, sauce, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Carrotfits less well
  4. Potatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sherry, parsley, anchovy, 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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