Recipe no. 108 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 58.
Ingredients
- sole
- white wine
- butter
- flour
- mussels
- oysters
- mushrooms
- eggs
- lemon
- crayfish
- bread
- gudgeon
- truffles
Preparation
- Preparing the filletsFirst remove the skin from your sole, then with a thin, long knife, split them down the middle to the bone, starting from the head to the tail. Follow the instructions given for mackerel fillets; you should obtain four fillets from each sole, that is, 2 from each side. You may fold each fillet in half or leave them at full length.
- Arranging and wineArrange them on the bottom of a buttered saute pan, season with salt and pepper, add a glass of white wine and keep aside ready to set on the heat.
- Stock and sauceWith the bones and a few small fish, make a stock as indicated in the previous article; strain once cooked and pour off to separate the liquid. Put a piece of butter the size of an egg and a spoonful of flour in a saucepan, stir a few moments over the heat without letting it brown, add liquid with the prepared stock and let it cook over a low heat; the sauce should be well thickened but not too heavy.
- Cooking and garnishA quarter of an hour before serving, put the fillets in the oven as prepared, with a lid on top or a buttered paper; 7 to 8 minutes are enough to cook them. Arrange them on the serving dish surrounded with mussels, cooked oysters taken out of their shells, and a few mushroom caps. Reduce the cooking liquid of the fillets by half, strain it into the sauce to which you add a binding made of two egg yolks, a piece of butter the size of an egg and the juice of a lemon; pour the sauce over the fillets, put them briefly in a hot oven, then, when ready to serve, put around the dish a few crayfish cooked in white wine, half-heart-shaped croutons of bread fried in butter, a few small gudgeon breaded and fried; failing these, very small fish fillets are used. Arrange in the middle a row of fine truffle slices, drizzle with a little melted meat glaze mixed with a tablespoon of fish stock and serve.
Reboul's text
First remove the skin from your sole, then with a thin, long knife, split them down the middle to the bone, starting from the head to the tail.
Follow for this the instructions given for mackerel fillets; you should obtain four fillets from each sole, that is, 2 from each side. You may fold each fillet in half or leave them at full length. Arrange them on the bottom of a buttered saute pan, season with salt and pepper, add a glass of white wine and keep aside ready to set on the heat.
With the bones and a few small fish, make a stock as indicated in the previous article; strain once cooked and pour off to separate the liquid.
Put a piece of butter the size of an egg and a spoonful of flour in a saucepan, stir a few moments over the heat without letting it brown, add liquid with the prepared stock and let it cook over a low heat; the sauce should be well thickened but not too heavy.
A quarter of an hour before serving, put the fillets in the oven as prepared, with a lid on top or a buttered paper; 7 to 8 minutes are enough to cook them; arrange them on the serving dish surrounded with mussels, cooked oysters taken out of their shells, and a few mushroom caps. Reduce the cooking liquid of the fillets by half, strain it into the sauce to which you add a binding made of two egg yolks, a piece of butter the size of an egg and the juice of a lemon; pour the sauce over the fillets, put them briefly in a hot oven, then, when ready to serve, put around the dish a few crayfish cooked in white wine, half-heart-shaped croutons of bread fried in butter, a few small gudgeon breaded and fried; failing these, very small fish fillets are used. Arrange in the middle a row of fine truffle slices, drizzle with a little melted meat glaze mixed with a tablespoon of fish stock and serve.
Small fish quenelles are often added to this garnish, but this is not required.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| fielet | fillets |
| vin | white wine |
| bouioun | stock |
| ùstri | oysters |
| champignoun | mushrooms |
| croustet | croutons |
| tourihoun | gudgeon |
| rabas | truffles |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 108, page 58. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.