Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Sole Fillets a LA Polonaise
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the fish
Skin and fillet the soles.
Flatten the fillets slightly, fold them, and trim the fillets neatly.
Place the fillets in a buttered sauté pan.
Season the fillets with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Add the white wine.
Cover the fillets with buttered paper.
Cook in a 400°F oven for about 10 minutes.
Make the border
Prepare a buttered border mold.
Decorate the sides of the mold with fancily cut truffle slices.
Fill the mold with fish forcemeat.
Poach the mold in a bain-marie.
Turn the mold out onto a hot dish.
Assemble and serve
Arrange the fillets in a circular row on top of the border.
Place a prawn or crayfish tail on each fillet.
Fill the center with a mixture of truffles, mushrooms, olives, and crayfish tails.
Carefully sauce with well-prepared tomato sauce.
Serve.
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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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,539 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,900 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,765 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
-
Mushroom + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,571 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
-
Mushroom + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,719 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Soles
- Provide the delicate white fish fillets that form the main body of the dish.
- Fish forcemeat
- Forms a firm, smooth fish layer that holds the border together when poached.
- Truffles
- Add a strong earthy aroma and decorative finish to the dish.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and moisture that gently steams the fillets as they cook.
- Prawns or crayfish
- Contribute sweet, delicate shellfish flavor and a contrasting texture.
- Tomato sauce
- Adds acidity and moisture that complements the rich fish and seafood.
The step that matters
Poach the mold in a bain-marie. Gentle, indirect heat lets the fish forcemeat set evenly and stay tender. Boiling or direct high heat can make it rubbery, weeping, or cracked when turned out.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, truffle, fish, crayfish, mushroom, olive, sauce):
- Tomatothe original
- Shallotfits about as well
- Asparagusfits less well
- Capsicumfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, truffle, fish, crayfish, mushroom, olive, sauce. 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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