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Curried Sole

A fish dish of sole simmered in a curry gravy with onions and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,226 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Curried Sole

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the filleted sole into pieces, not too small.

  2. Soak the pieces in vinegar for 1 hour.

Make the curry

  1. Prepare gravy with fried onions and curry powder.

  2. Add the sole pieces and butter to the gravy.

  3. Simmer gently for 30 minutes or longer if the sole is thick.

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. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Sole
Firm white fish that flakes into tender pieces when gently simmered in the sauce.
Vinegar
Acidity that softens the fish pieces and gives a sharper, brighter flavour to the dish.
Curry powder
Provides the spiced aroma and flavour that defines the gravy.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the gravy.
Onion
Fried onions form the sweet, savoury base of the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 30 minutes or longer if the sole is thick. Fish proteins toughen and dry out when boiled hard, so a gentle simmer keeps the pieces tender while they cook through. Thick pieces need extra time to heat to the centre.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter):

  1. Mustardfits about as well
  2. Shallotfits about as well
  3. Onionthe original
  4. Cucumberfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, 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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