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 ↓
Fried Sole
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix bread crumbs with flour, salt, and pepper.
Dry the fish thoroughly before coating.
Coat the fish with the egg yolk and a little white.
Fry
Heat oil in a frying pan to 350°F (175°C).
Fry the fish until browned on one side, then turn it over carefully.
Check doneness by inserting a fork into the thickest part; it should come out easily.
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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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Bread + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,383 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg 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
- Sole
- Is the main protein that is cooked through by frying.
- Egg
- Binds the breadcrumb coating to the fish so it adheres during frying.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned coating when fried in oil.
- Flour
- Dries the fish surface and helps the egg and crumbs stick evenly.
The step that matters
Dry the fish thoroughly before coating. Surface moisture keeps the coating from adhering and turns steam into a soggy layer instead of letting the crumbs crisp in hot oil.
“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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