(1277). Soles A La Trouville (Soles A La Trouville)

Suppress the heads and skin from two well cleaned soles; split them down on the dark side in order to remove the large bone; season the fish, and fill in the empty space with a fish farce (No. 90) with cooked fine herbs (No.387), mixed with a salpicon of blanched oysters. Range the soles on a baking dish or sheet, moisten them with a court bouillon with white wine (No. 39); season, and let the liquid reach boiling point, then finish cooking the soles in a moderate oven. After they are done, strain their stock and reduce it to a half-glaze; incorporate into it slowly some reduced veloute (No. 415), also a few spoonfuls of oyster broth. Dress the soles on a dish, cover them over with the sauce, and surround the sides with small quenelles (No. 90) made with red butter ( No. 580), and the ends with a cluster of fried oysters. Send a surplus of the sauce to the table in a sauce-boat.

(1278). Soles, Venetian Style - Fillets (Filets De Soles A La Venitienne)

Detach entirely the fillets from six fine, very thick soles; remove the black skin, beat to flatten lightly and fold each one in two, pare and place them in a sauteing pan, having it well buttered, the pointed ends laid toward the center; add a little salt and lemon juice, saute without coloring, and when done dish up in a crown-shape, cover with a Venetian sauce (No. 555), and garnish the pointed end with a crawfish claw from which the smaller movable claw has been removed, garnish with a paper frill (No. 10); serve.

(1279). Soles Baked Italian Style (Soles Au Gratin A L'Italienne)

For this dish select medium sized soles, lay them on the table the white side underneath, then proceed to cut off the heads on the bias: from this side suppress the gills and empty the sole thoroughly; cut off the thin tail end and scrape the surface with the dull edge of a knife to detach slightly the skin covering the tail, keeping the tail bone in position with the same side of the knife; seize the skin with a towel, and tear it off violently with one stroke. Use a pair of large scissors to remove the small bones found on the outside, and scrape the white skin, then wash, wipe, and make a straight incision on the skinned side to the middle bone, then detach the fillets half an inch on each side. Butter a baking dish, lay in it the soles, having the skinned side down, and pour over two gills of white wine, salt and pepper; lay a few pieces of butter on top, and let the stock come to a boil, then set the dish into the oven for five minutes; when through lay six channeled mushroom heads (No. 118) in a straight row on top, cover with an Italian sauce (No. 484), and dredge over a thin layer of bread-raspings; pour over melted butter, and color in a hot oven for twelve to fifteen minutes; then serve.

(1280). Fried Soles (Soles Frites)

Fried soles arc 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.

(1281). Stuffed Soles - Fillets (Filets De Soles Farcis)

Spread on a raised-edged buttered baking sheet a layer of quenelle forcemeat (No. 90) to the thickness of half an inch, smoothing well the surface. Take twelve fillets of soles, not too large, pare and season them properly, poach these slightly in a sautoir with melted butter; drain and let get partially cold under a light weight; pare them once more and range them at short distances from each other on the layer of forcemeat, placing them on the poached side. Brush over with melted butter and finish cooking in a slack oven as well as the forcemeat. After removing the pan from the oven, cut the forcemeat all around the fillets with the tip of a small knife, lift one after the other up with a palette, forcemeat and all, and dress them in two rows on a long dish, one overlapping the other; garnish between the rows with poached oysters and the ends with a bunch of crawfish tails. Cover the bottom of the dish and the oysters with a normande sauce (No. 509; serving more in a separate sauce-boat.