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Sole, Paupiettes of Fillets Of
The farce or forcemeat must be made of whiting (see WHITING FORCEMEAT). Fillet several pairs of soles, trim them evenly, and season them with pepper and salt. Do not skin the white side of the sole, but remember to scrape it well. Spread a little forcemeat on the fillets on the white side, and roll them round to make the paupiettes. Butter a piece of paper large enough to contain two or three; roll them in that paper, and do the same for the others; then put them into the oven, bake them ten or twelve minutes, and drain and make them all equal: place them in a circle on a hot dish, and garnish prettily. Serve them with the same sauce as for whitings, or white sharp sauce.
A straightforward dish of rolled, stuffed sole fillets baked in buttered paper. The book assumes you have already read its entry on whiting forcemeat and its sauces, so most of the modernising is a matter of filling in what is cross-referenced.
- The hinge: roll on the skinned sideThe hinge: which face to spread — Fillet the sole and skin the dark side; leave the white skin on, scraped clean, as the book directs. Spread the forcemeat on the white-skin face and roll it up, so that the forcemeat is enclosed inside the roll.
- Whiting forcemeatWhiting is a small member of the cod family, mild and gelatinous. The binding is given in the book's separate whiting forcemeat entry, which is not reproduced here; a pounded fish forcemeat of this type is close to what a modern kitchen would call a mousseline. Cod, haddock, pollock or the sole trimmings themselves all work; keep everything cold.
- Oven temperatureThe book gives none. A moderate oven, 350-375F, suits a ten to twelve minute bake for paupiettes of this size; the fish should be just opaque and the forcemeat set at the centre.
- The paperButtered kitchen paper is baking parchment. Two or three paupiettes per parcel, buttered generously, seam side down, twisted or folded closed at the ends. A cocktail stick through each roll is a reasonable insurance the original does not mention.
- "Make them all equal"Most likely means trimming the ends flat after baking so the paupiettes match in height when set in a ring; the book does not say how it is to be done. Do it while they are still hot but drained.
- White sharp sauceIn nineteenth-century English usage a sharp sauce is one cut with vinegar, capers or lemon; the 'white' version is the same idea on a white base. A velouté or white wine sauce made with the fish bones, finished with lemon and capers, is a reasonable modern equivalent.
- YieldEach sole gives four fillets, so "several pairs" is scaled to the table. Reckon three or four paupiettes per person as a main course, two as a starter.
Paupiette comes from the French kitchen vocabulary for a thin slice of meat or fish spread with stuffing and rolled - its origin is disputed, being traced variously to the older poupe, a mouthful or morsel, and to the Italian polpetta/polpa - and by the nineteenth century such rolls were often served upright in a circle around a garnish, a presentation known as en couronne. The recipe teaches two transferable techniques at once: making a fish forcemeat, and cooking in buttered paper, the method that survives as cooking en papillote. The reliance on whiting for the stuffing reflects British market habits of the period, when whiting was cheap, abundant and valued precisely for the way its flesh binds when pounded.