Filets de Soles Joinville

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch wide sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid
• •Small heavy-bottomed saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Heatproof whisk
• •Parchment paper for the cartouche
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •14-inch oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the exact cuts

   Peel the raw shrimp and reserve every shell, then devein the tails. Drain the truffle and cut 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) into fine salpicon dice; cut the remaining truffle into eight thin slices. Pat the sole dry, season it lightly with about ½ teaspoon of the salt and half the white pepper, then fold each fillet into thirds with the skinned side inward and the narrow tail flap uppermost. Keep the folded fillets cold while you build their cooking liquor.

2. 2

   Make mushroom liquor

   Put the diced mushrooms, water, 1 tablespoon of the butter, 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon of the salt in a small saucepan. Cover and hold at a bare simmer for 7 minutes, then strain the mushrooms over a bowl without pressing them. Measure 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) of cooked mushroom dice for the salpicon. Return the liquor to the pan and simmer uncovered until about 1¼ cups (300 ml) remain. Lower the heat, add the peeled shrimp, and poach for 60 to 90 seconds, just until opaque and curled but still tender. Lift them out, measure ¼ cup (60 ml / 42 g) for the salpicon, and strain the liquor again.

3. 3

   Infuse shrimp butter

   Wipe out the saucepan and melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium-low heat. Add the reserved shrimp shells and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, pressing them firmly with a wooden spoon until the shells turn coral and the butter takes their color and scent. The butter may foam, but it must not brown. Strain this beurre de crevettes (shrimp butter) through a fine sieve, pressing the shells well, then keep it warm without letting it fry.

4. 4

   Poach the sole white

   Rub a wide sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter and arrange the folded fillets in one snug layer, tail flaps uppermost. Pour in enough mushroom-shrimp liquor to stand about ¼ inch deep, reserving the remainder, then dot the fish with another tablespoon of butter. Cover with a cartouche (parchment lid) and the pan lid. Bring the liquor only to a faint movement at the edge, lower the heat, and poach for 5 to 8 minutes, until the thickest folds are opaque and reach 145°F (63°C). If the liquor begins to boil, pull the pan from the heat and add a spoonful of cold reserved liquor at once. Ça se rattrape if you catch it before the edges curl. Transfer the sole carefully to a warm tray, cover with the damp cartouche, and strain the poaching liquor.

   Color is the enemy here. The butter should melt quietly, and the liquor should show only an occasional tremor around the pan's edge.
5. 5

   Build the white roux

   Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons plain butter in the cleaned saucepan over low heat. Stir in the flour and cook this roux blanc for 2 minutes without allowing it to color. Gradually whisk in 1 cup (240 ml) of the hot poaching liquor, adding each splash only after the last has become smooth. Simmer gently for 4 minutes, then whisk in ½ cup (120 ml) of the cream and cook until the sauce lightly coats the back of a spoon. If small flour lumps remain, strain the sauce now; forcing it to behave with harder boiling only makes it gluey.

6. 6

   Finish Sauce Joinville

   Whisk the egg yolk with ¼ cup (60 ml) of the cold cream. Whisk in a ladleful of hot sauce to temper it, then return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over the gentlest heat, whisking, until the sauce reaches about 165°F (74°C) and holds a smooth ribbon; never let it boil. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the warm beurre de crevettes a spoonful at a time, followed by the remaining teaspoon of lemon juice, the remaining white pepper, and enough of the remaining salt to bring the shellfish forward. If the sauce turns oily or separates, stop. Ça se rattrape: put 1 tablespoon of the reserved cold cream in a clean bowl and whisk in the broken sauce gradually until it reforms. Thin an over-tight sauce with reserved poaching liquor; enrich a thin one with a little of the remaining cream.

   The finished Sauce Joinville should be pale coral-ivory and glossy, not orange, thick, or floury. Add the shrimp butter away from direct heat so its emulsion holds.
7. 7

   Bind the salpicon

   Combine exactly 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) cooked mushroom, ¼ cup (60 ml / 42 g) cooked shrimp tails, and 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) diced truffle. Fold in 3 to 4 tablespoons of warm Sauce Joinville, just enough to cohere the dice into a spoonable salpicon. It should hold a low mound without swimming; if it loosens, add a little more mushroom and shrimp in equal weights so the book's three-to-one-to-three proportion remains intact.

8. 8

   Arrange the platter

   Warm an oval serving platter and spoon the salpicon into a low dome at its center. Arrange the sole around it in an overlapping oval, keeping the narrow tail flaps uppermost, then coat the fish and garnish with the remaining Sauce Joinville without burying their shape. Loosen the concentrated demi-glace with ½ teaspoon of hot poaching liquor, brush it sparingly over the eight truffle slices, and set one slice on each fillet. Bring the platter straight to the table while the sole is tender and the sauce still gleams. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger for evenly sized, skinless Dover sole fillets. Lemon sole or thin flounder is the honest substitute when Dover sole isn't available, but watch the pan rather than the clock because thinner fillets finish quickly.
• •A good preserved whole black truffle is the classical pantry's answer outside truffle season. Drain it well and cut it cleanly. Truffle-flavored oil cannot supply the firm dice or black slices this preparation requires.
• •Keep the salpicon ratio exact: equal weights of cooked mushroom and shrimp, with one-third their weight in truffle. That proportion comes from the source entry and gives richness without letting the truffle bully the shellfish.
• •The crayfish carapaces served as ornaments on the original platter. Leaving them off changes no flavor and saves the diner from navigating shells balanced on tender fish; this is brigade scaffolding, not the dish.
• •Serve with a mineral dry white wine, such as Chablis or another restrained white Burgundy. Avoid a heavily oaked bottle, which flattens the mushroom liquor and delicate shrimp butter.

Advance Preparation

• •The mushroom liquor and beurre de crevettes can be prepared 1 day ahead. Chill them promptly in separate covered containers, then warm each gently before continuing.
• •The mushrooms, shrimp, and truffle for the salpicon can be cut and measured up to 4 hours ahead. Keep them separately covered in the refrigerator so the truffle doesn't perfume everything indiscriminately.
• •For dinner-party service, finish the sauce base through the first addition of cream up to 30 minutes ahead and hold it over barely warm water. Add the yolk liaison and shrimp butter only after the sole is poached.
• •Do not poach the sole ahead. The fillets can be folded and refrigerated for 2 hours, but cooking and saucing them at the last moment preserves the supple texture that decides the dish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 310g)