From Julie & Julia · 2009 · Reconstructed
Sole Meunière
Serve when
Serve it at the very first bite in Rouen — the forkful that makes Julia close her eyes and decide, then and there, to learn to cook.
Before you start
The fish itself only takes minutes in the pan, but this lands in the movie's first scene — have it plated and ready before you press play.
Cook-along start: before the movie
In the movie
Theatrical
- 00:01:51 Julia Child's culinary awakening: newly arrived in France, she eats sole meunière at a restaurant in Rouen and calls it the best thing she has ever tasted — the meal that sets the whole story in motion.
"The whole experience was an opening up of the soul and spirit for me." Julia's first meal in France — sole meunière, browned butter, a squeeze of lemon — is where the film locates the spark. It's not an elaborate dish; it's a simple one executed flawlessly, and that contrast is the point. Everything that follows, two books and two kitchens later, starts with this plate.
Ingredients
Method
- Pat the sole very dry and season with salt and white pepper. Dredge in flour and shake off all excess — a thin coat, no more.
- Heat the clarified butter in a large skillet until it shimmers. Lay in the sole and fry until golden, 3–4 minutes, then turn once and finish, basting, 1–2 minutes more, until the flesh flakes at the touch of a fork at its thickest point. Move to warm plates.
- Pour out the frying butter. Add the cold butter to the pan and cook to a nut-brown beurre noisette, then take off the heat and add the lemon juice — it will foam.
- Stir in the parsley and spoon the butter over the fish at once.
- Serve immediately with lemon wedges. It should taste of exactly three things done perfectly: fish, butter, lemon.
Beyond the recipe
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