Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Curried Soles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the onion and soles
Fry the sliced onion in a small amount of butter until browned.
Drain the onion on a sieve.
Combine the curry powder, salt, and flour in a stewpan.
Rub half of the curry mixture onto the soles.
Fry the soles quickly in butter.
Make the curry
Place the fried soles on top of the drained onion in the stewpan.
Add boiling water or broth to the pan.
Shake the pan.
Boil for one minute.
When it begins to simmer, stir in the remaining curry mixture mixed with a few tablespoons of cold broth or water.
Stew the curry gently for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add lemon juice or chili vinegar just before serving.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Mild white fish that becomes flaky and tender when gently stewed in the curry.
- Curry powder
- Provides the main spice flavour and aroma of the dish.
- Onion
- Fried until browned, adding sweetness and depth to the curry base.
- Flour
- Thickens the curry sauce slightly as it cooks.
- Lemon juice or chili vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the curry flavour just before serving.
The step that matters
Stew the curry gently. Once the sauce simmers, a gentle stew keeps the delicate sole fillets tender and intact, while a hard boil would break them apart and toughen the flesh.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, flour, butter):
- Avocadofits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, flour, butter. 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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