No. 1280

Fried Soles

Soles Frites

Fried soles are prepared the same as a la Colbert (No. 1271), by slightly detaching the fillets without breaking the bone; dip them in milk and flour, and plunge in hot frying fat to cook; when done and of a fine color, drain, wipe, salt, and dress the fish on a napkin; garnish with fried parsley and quartered lemons.

← No. 1279 Soles Baked Italian Style Sole, Flounder & Turbot No. 1281 Stuffed Soles—Fillets →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes you have already read No. 1271, so the whole method hangs on one operation he barely describes: loosening the fillets from the backbone while leaving the fish whole. Get that right and the rest is a two-minute fry.

The hinge: freeing the filletsSkin the dark side, then run a thin flexible knife along each side of the backbone from head to tail, releasing the flesh but leaving it attached at the edges and snipping the rib bones. The fillets curl back in the fat and cook through in the time the coating takes to color; an intact fish would not.
Fat temperatureThe recipe says only "hot frying fat." In modern terms, frying of this kind is usually done at roughly 350-375F. Below that the flour coating soaks; above it the flour scorches before the fish sets. A whole small sole takes about 3 to 4 minutes.
Milk and flour, not breadcrumbsThis is a deliberately bare coating — a dip in milk, a dredge in seasoned flour, straight into the fat. Shake off the surplus or the crust turns pasty. Flour the fish at the last moment; if it stands, the coating goes gummy.
Which fishTrue Dover sole is a European species and expensive where available. Petrale, Dover (Pacific) or lemon sole, or small flounder, all work; the technique matters more than the species. Look for fish 3/4 to 1 lb each, one per person.
Fried parsleyDry curly parsley sprigs thoroughly, then fry 15 to 20 seconds in the same fat, off the heat if it is very hot. Wet parsley spits violently and the leaves go from bright green to brown almost instantly.
Salt after fryingSalting the flour is fine, but the finishing salt goes on the moment the fish leaves the fat, while the surface is still slick enough to hold it.
The napkinDressing fried fish on a folded napkin was standard nineteenth-century service — the linen absorbed fat at the table. A rack or a warm platter lined with paper does the same job and lets the crust stay crisp.
Frying mediumA kitchen of this period would most likely have fried in clarified beef fat or lard; the recipe does not say. Any neutral oil with a high smoke point behaves the same; the flavor difference is real but the method is unchanged.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer wrote The Epicurean (1894) after decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book is organized as a professional reference rather than a domestic cookbook — which is why No. 1280 is only a few lines long and points back to No. 1271 for the actual knife work. Fried parsley and lemon quarters were a common garnish for fried fish in restaurant service in this period. Genuine Solea solea had to be brought from Europe, and American menus of the 1880s and 1890s often applied the name to local flounders, a habit that persists on fish counters today.