Modern cookery for private families

by Eliza Acton

Small soles, 6 minutes; large, about 10 minutes.

TO BOIL SOLES.

The flesh of a fine fresh sole, when boiled with care, is remarkably sweet and delicate: if very large it may be dressed and served as turbot, to which it will be found little inferior in flavour. Empty it, take out the gills, cut off the fins, and cleanse and wash it with great nicety, but do not skin it; then either lay it into cold water in which the usual proportion of salt has been dissolved, and heat it rather slowly, and then simmer it from five to ten minutes, according to its size; or boil it in the manner directed in the first pages of this chapter. Drain it well on the fish-plate as it is lifted out, and dish it on a napkin, the white side upwards, and serve it quickly with anchovy, shrimp, or lobster sauce. It may also be sent to table thickly covered with the Cream Fish Sauce, Caper Fish Sauce, or Lady’s Sauce, of Chapter [VI].; though this is a mode of service less to be recommended, as the sauce cools more speedily when spread over the surface of the fish: it is, however, the continental fashion, and will therefore find more favour with some persons.

Very large sole, 5 to 10 minutes; moderate sized, 4 to 6 minutes.

FILLETS OF SOLES.

The word fillet, whether applied to fish, poultry, game, or butcher’s meat, means simply the flesh of either (or of certain portions of it), raised clear from the bones in a handsome form, and divided or not, as the manner in which it is to be served may require. It is an elegant mode of dressing various kinds of fish, and even those which are not the most highly esteemed, afford an excellent dish when thus prepared. Soles to be filletted with advantage should be large; the flesh may then be divided down the middle of the back, next, separated from the fins, and with a very sharp knife raised clear from the bones.[[47]] When thus prepared, the fillets may be divided, trimmed into a good form, egged, covered with fine crumbs, fried in the usual way, and served with the same sauces as the whole fish; or each fillet may be rolled up, in its entire length, if very small, or after being once divided if large, and fastened with a slight twine, or a short thin skewer; then egged, crumbed, and fried in plenty of boiling lard; or merely well floured and fried from eight to ten minutes. When the fish are not very large, they are sometimes boned without being parted in the middle, and each side is rolled from the tail to the head, after being first spread with pounded shrimps mixed with a third of their volume of butter, a few bread-crumbs, and a high seasoning of mace and cayenne; or with pounded lobster mixed with a large portion of the coral, and the same seasoning, and proportion of butter as the shrimps; then laid into a dish, with the ingredients directed for the soles au plat; well covered with crumbs of bread and clarified butter, and baked from twelve to sixteen minutes, or until the crumbs are coloured to a fine brown in a moderate oven.

[47]. A celebrated French cook gives the following instructions for raising these fillets:—“them up by running your knife first between the bones and the flesh, then between the skin and the fillet; by leaning pretty hard on the table they will come off very neatly.”

The fillets may likewise be cut into small strips or squares of uniform size, lightly dredged with pepper or cayenne, salt and flour, and fried in butter over a brisk fire; then well drained, and sauced with a good béchamel, flavoured with a teaspoonful of minced parsley.

SOLES AU PLAT.

Clarify from two to three ounces of fresh butter, and pour it into the dish in which the fish are to be served; add to it a little salt, some cayenne, a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, and from one to two glasses of sherry, or of any other dry white wine; lay in a couple of fine soles which have been well cleaned and wiped very dry, strew over them a thick layer of fine bread-crumbs, moisten them with clarified butter, set the dish into a moderate oven, and bake the fish for a quarter of an hour. A layer of shrimps placed between the soles is a great improvement; and we would also recommend a little lemon-juice to be mixed with the sauce.