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Sole, Filleted
If desired, the fishmonger will fillet the sole. If this has to be done at home, proceed as follows. Take a large sole, and cut off closely the head, tail, and fins. Remove both the skins by cutting them at the tail, and drawing them over the head. Lay the fish flat on the table, and with a sharp knife make a deep incision close to the backbone the whole length of the fish. Insert the knife to the head between the fin-bones and the fillet, just by the head, pass it under the fish from head to tail, and thus raise it, and remove it in one piece. In this way take off the four fillets, cut each one across, and trim the ends neatly; season them with pepper and salt, flour the fillets, and dip them in egg and bread-raspings; let them lie an hour, then fry them in hot fat till they are lightly browned. Drain them well, and dish them in a circle, with one fillet resting upon another. Send parsley, shrimp, tomato, Italian, ravigote, or Dutch sauce to table with them. If liked, the fillets may be rolled and tied with thin twine before being egged and breaded. Time, about three minutes to fry the fillets. Probable cost, one large sole, 1s. 6d. Sufficient for four persons.
A straightforward Victorian fish course: sole broken down into four fillets, crumbed, and fried fast. Most of what needs translating is the coating and the list of sauces.
- Bread-raspingsRaspings are the dried, sieved crumbs made by grating or pounding oven-hardened crusts — coarser and drier than fresh breadcrumbs, which is why they brown quickly without going soggy. Fine dry breadcrumbs or panko crushed a little finer both work.
- The hour's restThis is the instruction that matters. Leaving the egged and crumbed fillets an hour lets the coating hydrate and grip, so it does not slide off in the fat. Chill them uncovered on a rack rather than leaving them at room temperature.
- Which sole"A large sole" in a London book most likely points to Dover sole, typically sold whole at roughly 1–1.5 lb. Lemon sole, flounder, plaice or witch all fillet the same way; true Dover sole is expensive enough now that the fishmonger's offer to fillet it is worth taking.
- Frying heat and timeThree minutes only works in genuinely hot fat; the book gives no temperature, but around 350–375F is the modern equivalent, with enough fat to cook the fillets quickly. Sole fillets are thin and cook through almost as soon as the crumb colours; longer and they tighten and dry.
- Rolled fillets take longerIf you roll and tie them as suggested, use kitchen string rather than "thin twine" from the workbasket, and expect them to need appreciably longer than three minutes, since the fish is now several layers thick.
- The saucesDutch sauce is the period name for hollandaise. Italian sauce is a brown or white sauce with mushrooms, shallot and herbs; ravigote is a sharp herb sauce, either a warm velouté or a cold vinaigrette version. Shrimp sauce is a béchamel enriched with butter and small peeled shrimp.
- Yield and costOne large sole gives four fillets and, by the book's reckoning, serves four — modest by modern standards, since this was one course among several. One shilling and sixpence tells you sole was already a comparatively expensive fish.
The casual opening line — the fishmonger will do it for you — is a reminder of how densely served late-Victorian towns were, with a fish shop able to bone your dinner while you waited. Fried fillets of sole with a sauce sent separately in a boat were a fixture of the English fish course, and Dover sole in particular had the reputation of being among the finest fish on the market, and was priced accordingly. The long list of alternative sauces is characteristic of the dictionary format: one method, cross-referenced to whatever else the reader has already learned to make.