Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Sole
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash, skin, and trim the sole.
Lightly dip the sole in flour seasoned with pepper and salt.
Coat the sole in beaten egg and then breadcrumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry in boiling fat until golden brown.
Drain on paper and serve with fried parsley.
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 + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- The main fish, which the coating and frying surround and cook.
- Egg
- Binds the breadcrumbs to the fish so the coating stays on during frying.
- Flour
- Dry coating that helps the egg stick and gives the crust a light surface for browning.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden crust when fried in hot fat.
The step that matters
Fry in boiling fat until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to crisp the breadcrumb coating quickly. If it is too cool, the coating absorbs more fat and turns greasy before the delicate fish cooks through.
“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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