Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Sole a LA Cardinal
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
Fillet the soles and roll them up with the bone side facing out.
Place the rolled soles on a buttered baking tray.
Pour clarified butter and chopped parsley over the soles.
Cover with a piece of buttered paper and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, combine milk, flour, and 1½ ounces of butter to make a smooth white sauce.
Season the sauce with salt and cayenne, then stir in the lobster coral.
Serve
Remove the fillets from the oven, arrange them on a dish, and pour the sauce over them.
Serve immediately.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking gently into tender, flaky fillets.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavour and keeping the fish from drying out.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, giving it a smooth, creamy body.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk and butter into a smooth white sauce as it cooks.
- Lobster coral
- Colours and flavours the sauce with its distinctive seafood aroma.
The step that matters
Making the smooth white sauce. Flour must be cooked with the butter before the milk is added, and the mixture stirred constantly, so starch grains swell evenly. Otherwise the sauce turns lumpy.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, flour, lobster, pepper):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Cinnamonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, flour, lobster, pepper. 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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