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Sole Alice

A historical recipe from A guide to modern cookery, by Escoffier, A. (Auguste) (1907).

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A historical recipe

A guide to modern cookery, by Escoffier, A. (Auguste) (1907). Project Gutenberg eBook #71395.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: raw meat or fish. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.

France

Known as a French recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

  • Raw or underdone meat. Raw or underdone meat or fish carries a risk. Cook to current safe temperatures.

Ingredients 3 ingredients

  1. one oz. of butter divided
  2. one finely-chopped onion
  3. six raw oysters

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. This sole is prepared, or rather its preparation is completed, at the table.
  2. Have an excellent fish fumet (No.
  3. 11), short and very white.
  4. Trim the sole;
  5. put it into a special, deep earthenware dish, the bottom of which should be buttered;
  6. pour the fumet over it and poach gently.
  7. Now send it to the table with a plate containing separate heaps of one finely-chopped onion, a little powdered thyme, and three finely-crushed biscottes.
  8. In the dining-room the waiter places the dish on a chafer, and, taking off the sole, he raises the fillets therefrom, and places them between two hot plates.
  9. He then adds to the cooking-liquor of the sole the chopped onion, which he leaves to cook for a few moments, the powdered thyme and a sufficient quantity of the biscotte raspings to allow of thickening the whole.
  10. At the last minute he adds six raw oysters and one oz.
  11. of butter divided into small pieces.
  12. As soon as the oysters are stiff, he returns the fillets of sole to the dish, besprinkles them copiously with the sauce, and then serves them very hot.
  13. N.B.—In order to promote the poaching of the soles, more particularly when they are large, the fillets on the upper side of the fish should be slightly separated from the bones.
  14. By this means the heat is able to reach the inside of the fish very quickly, and the operation is accelerated.
  15. The sole is always laid on the dish with its opened side undermost—that is to say, on its back.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Saucepan
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From A guide to modern cookery, by Escoffier, A. (Auguste) (1907). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #71395 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71395). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.