To Boil Soles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and wash the sole thoroughly without skinning it.
Cover the sole with cold water in a pot.
Add the coarse sea salt and saltpetre.
Cook
Bring the water to a boil and skim off any foam.
Simmer the sole gently for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on size. For moderate-sized soles, simmer for 4 to 6 minutes.
Serve
Serve the sole with the white skin facing up, accompanied by shrimp, lobster, or anchovy sauce and dressed cucumber.
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
What each ingredient does
- Sole
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking gently to firm, flaky flesh.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the water and the fish during the poach.
The step that matters
Simmer gently. Once the water boils, a gentle simmer keeps the delicate fish flesh moist and tender. A hard boil toughens and breaks up the fish, so the timing should be checked against the size of the sole.
“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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