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Soles, or Other Fish, to Fry

A simple fried fish dish using soles or other fish coated in flour, beaten egg, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Soles, or Other Fish, to Fry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure the soles are fresh. Wash them thoroughly and wrap in a clean cloth to dry for 1 hour.

  2. Prepare bread crumbs by rubbing stale bread through a colander or hair sieve.

  3. Beat the egg in a bowl until well mixed.

Coat the fish

  1. Dust the fish with flour to absorb moisture, then wipe off excess flour.

  2. Dip the fish in the egg on both sides or use a brush to apply it evenly.

  3. Coat the fish with bread crumbs, ensuring even coverage.

Fry

  1. Fry the fish in hot oil until golden brown and cooked through.

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. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Bread + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10,383 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Soles
The main fish, whose flaky flesh cooks through within the crisp coating.
Egg
Binds the flour and bread crumbs to the fish so the coating holds during frying.
Bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
Flour
Dries the fish surface so the egg and crumbs stick evenly.

The step that matters

Drying the fish before coating. Moisture on the surface keeps the flour, egg and crumbs from adhering and can make the coating steam and fall off in hot oil. Dusting with flour and wiping off the excess helps the coating stick and crisp.

“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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