Soles a la Franpaise

Ingredients

• a pair of soles
• a quart of water
• half a pint of vinegar
• a pint of white wine
• a quarter of a pint of water
• a very little thyme
• a little sweet marjoram
• a little winter savoury
• an onion stuck with four cloves
• a very little bay-salt
• a piece of butter rolled in flour

Method

1. 1

   Skin and clean the soles, place them in an earthen dish with water and vinegar for two hours.

2. 2

   Dry them, then place in a stew-pan with white wine, water, thyme, marjoram, savoury, and onion.

3. 3

   Sprinkle with bay-salt, cover, and simmer gently until done.

4. 4

   Strain the liquor, add butter rolled in flour, boil until thick, and pour over the soles.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The thorough good cook (1895) by George Augustus Sala, page 95. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Soles a la Franpaise. Skin and clean a j)air of soles, and put them into an earthen dish, Avith a quart of water, and half a pint of vinegar. 156 THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK. Let them lie two hours, and then take them out and dry them with a cloth. Next place them in a stew-pan Avith a pint of white wine, a quarter of a pint of water, a very little thyme, a little sweet marjoram, winter savoury, and an onion .stuck with four cloves. Put in the soles, sprinkle in a very little bay-salt, cover them close, and let them simmer very gently till they are done. Then take them out, and lay them in a warm dish before the fire. Strain the liquor, put into it a piece of butter rolled in flour, and let it boil till of a proper thickness. Lay the soles in a dish, and pour the sauce over them. In the same manner you may dress a small turbot, or imy flat fish. 37. Fried Soles, Tartar Sauce. As a postulate, please to remember, Madame Housekeeper and Mrs. Cook, that one sauce should never be followed by another of the same colour. To do so is as false blazonry as it is in heraldry to put tincture on tincture or metal on metal. Your sole should be plainly fried. It is perhaps better to fry it in a mixture of lard and oil, since the milk remaining in the butter is sure to burn. The only way to use butter for frying is to clarify it, but that costs money. Lard by itself is quite good enough ; but be careful that it is entirely clean, and that it does not burn. If you will get over your prejudices you can fry your sole, and indeed, any kind of fish, in oil, as the Italians and the Jews do. The Jews, by the wa}-, fry fish better than any •other people in the Avorld. They turn out, fried, not only soles, but dabs, plaice, whiting, briU, smelts, etc., of a beautiful golden tint. Be careful to procure the very best Lucca salad oil from a first-class Italian warehouse. Begin by cutting off the fins of your sole, and dipping it FISH. 15< in f.oiir ; then egg-and-bread-crimib it, but don't put it in grease until this is boiHng hot ; allow the sole ten minutes- to fry or less, according to size. (For the Tartar Sauce^ see p. 348.) 38. To Stew Soles. Take the flesh from the bones of your soles, and cut each of them into eight pieces. Put a quart of boiled gravy into a stew-pan, a quarter of a pint of any white wine, some white pepper pounded, grated nutmeg, and a piece of lemon-peel. Stew these together nearly an hour, and add some cream, and a piece of butter mixed in flour. Keep the sauce stirring till it boils, put in the fish, and stew it a quarter of an hour. Take out the lemon- j)eel, and squeeze m some lemon-juice. The fish may be stewed whole in the same sauce ; or it may be cut as before directed, and a little gravy made with the bones and head. 39. Sole Pudding. Split a pair of soles

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.