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Sole, Fillets of, Baked, with Sweet Herbs
Fillet a large sole, and divide the fillets into halves. Rub these with a freshly-cut lemon, and leave them in a cool place for an hour or two. Prepare some savoury crumbs as follows. Mix two ounces of finely-powdered bread-crumbs with a little pepper and salt, a pinch of grated nutmeg, the grated peel of half a lemon, and a tea-spoonful of mixed sweet herbs. Dip the fillets first into clarified butter, then into the crumbs, and when the butter is set dip them in beaten egg and into the crumbs a second time. Butter a baking-dish thickly, place the soles in it, lay two ounces of butter here and there upon them in little pieces, and bake the fish in a brisk oven. Send shrimp, anchovy, or caper sauce to table in a tureen. If the flavour is liked, the dish in which the soles are baked can be rubbed quickly with garlic before the soles are put into it. Time to bake the fillets, eight or ten minutes. Probable cost of one large sole, 1s. 6d. Sufficient for four persons.
A double-crumbed baked sole that behaves like a fried fish without the pan. The whole thing hangs on speed: thin fillets in a hot oven for eight to ten minutes, no more.
- Brisk oven"brisk" indicates a hot oven, roughly 425F (220C) by modern reckoning, though Victorian ranges were judged by hand and eye rather than a dial. A slower oven risks the crumbs staying pale and the fish releasing liquid into the dish.
- The lemon rubRubbing the fillets with cut lemon and resting them an hour or two firms the flesh slightly and cuts any muddiness. Keep them refrigerated, not merely in a "cool place", and pat them dry before the butter dip or the coating will slide.
- Mixed sweet herbsA Victorian dried blend, typically parsley, thyme, marjoram and summer savory, sometimes with a little sage or basil. A teaspoon of dried mixed herbs or herbes de Provence without the lavender comes close.
- Clarified butter firstThe first dip is clarified butter, not egg, and the recipe wants it to set before the egg goes on. Chill the crumbed fillets ten minutes between coats; the two crumb layers are what give the crust its body.
- Breadcrumbs"Finely-powdered bread-crumbs" means dried crumbs sieved fine, not fresh soft crumbs and not panko. Two ounces is about half a cup.
- The fishDover sole is expensive and increasingly hard to source; lemon sole, plaice, dab or any thin flatfish fillet works on the same timing. A large sole yields four fillets, halved to eight pieces.
- DonenessThin fillets are done when the flesh is opaque and flakes at the thick end; the recipe's eight to ten minutes suits a large sole, and thinner fillets such as lemon sole may reach that point sooner. Rolling or folding the halves will add time and defeat the crust.
- The saucesShrimp, anchovy and caper sauces are butter-based, usually thickened with flour, with the flavouring stirred in at the end; anchovy sauce is in effect a white sauce with anchovy essence or mashed fillets. Finish any of them off the heat so they do not split.
- YieldFour as a light main course, as the original states, or six as a first course.
Sole was the prestige flatfish of the Victorian table, sent up from ports such as Dover and Brixham by rail to London markets, and at 1s 6d for a large one it sat well above herring or whiting but within reach of a comfortable middle-class kitchen. The optional garlic rub on the dish rather than the fish is in keeping with much English cookery writing of the period, which tended to treat garlic as a suspect flavour to be suggested faintly and with an escape clause. Shrimp, anchovy and caper sauces were among the usual accompaniments for baked and fried fish, butter-based and served separately in a tureen so each diner could take as much or as little as suited.