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The dish made famous at the London Carlton Hotel in 1898 paired poached Dover sole with tart muscat grapes and fresh tarragon. I've applied modern culinary techniques to the same ingredients, preparing sous vide sole and compressed grapes, plated with a grape fluid gel, grape juice butter sauce and tarragon oil.

Dover sole is a high-quality fish — the king of the small flatfish — and you can peel the skin off in one piece, which is a great method for keeping the beautiful fillet intact. The six-part recipe combines the traditional flavor profiles with modern techniques for enhanced flavor and cleaner texture than the original.

Recipe

Sole Veronique, Grape Fluid Gel, Compressed Grapes and Tarragon Oil

Poached Sole Sous Vide

Ingredients

Fish Mousse

• 150 grams fish
• 150 grams heavy cream
• 20 grams egg white
• 3 grams salt

Stuffed Sole

• 2 sole, fillet
• Activa RM, as needed
• Sole mousse

Directions

1. Prepare water bath at 124 F/51 C.
2. Prepare the Dover sole fillets. Keep the two larger fillets to one side, dice the smaller fillets.
3. Place fillets in a blender, blend. Add eggwhite and blend again until smooth, add salt. Add heavy cream and blend until smooth.
4. Roll fish mousse into a cylinder and freeze.
5. Lay fillets down onto plastic wrap and dust skin side with Activa RM. Place the frozen mousse on top of one fillet, top with the second. Laying the head side of the top fillet touching the tail side of the other.
6. Roll up tightly, removing any air. Set in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Grape Fluid Gel

Ingredients

• 360 grams muscat grapes, juiced
• 40 grams white verjus
• 3.2 grams low-acyl gellan gum
• Xanthan Gum, as needed

Directions

1. Place muscat grape juice, Verjus and low-acyl gellan gum together and blend with a Bamix.
2. Heat mixture to 93 C/200 F and hold for 3 minutes to activate the gum.
3. Remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl of ice to set.
4. Once set firm, place into a blender and blend until smooth. Add xanthan gum to achieve the correct consistency.

Muscato Verjus Beurre Blanc

Ingredients

• 1 shallot, finely minced
• 150 milliliters moscato
• 150 milliliters verjus
• 30 milliliters tarragon vinegar
• 30 milliliters heavy cream
• 4 grams chives
• 450 grams butter, diced

Directions

1. Place minced shallot, Muscato, Verjus, and tarragon vinegar to a pot and reduce to a syrup.
2. Add heavy cream and reduce by half.
3. Add ice-cold diced butter whisking one piece at a time.
4. Add finely minced chives.

Compressed Grapes

Ingredients

• 100 grams muscat grapes, sliced thin
• 100 grams grape juice
• 60 grams verjus
• 12 grams fructose
• 1.3 grams malic acid

Directions

1. Whisk together grape juice, verjus, fructose and malic acid. Place into a vacuum pouch.
2. Blanch grapes in boiling water, refresh into iced water. Peel the skin.
3. Place peeled grapes into the liquid and seal on 100% vacuum.
4. Remove grapes from the pouch and slice finely.

Tarragon Oil

Ingredients

• 70 grams tarragon, leaves
• 100 grams grapeseed oil

Directions

1. Blanch chives. Refresh in iced water. Squeeze gently to remove excess water.
2. Blend with oil in Vita-Prep until nearly smooth, about 40 seconds. Be sure not to blend too much or the color will be lost.
3. Add mixture to a small saucepan and heat until entire mixture is frying, around 1 minute. Quickly drain through chinois and cheesecloth into a container sat on ice.

To Finish

1. Vacuum seal stuffed sole 100% vacuum and place in the water bath for 20 mins.
2. Remove from bath, season with Maldon salt. Cover with sliced grapes, overlapping to create a "fish scale" pattern.
3. Make a ring of fluid gel on the base of the plate. Place sauce in the center.
4. Cut a center piece of the cooked sole. Place in the center of the plate.
5. Cover the top of the fish tarragon oil.

Study seafood and sous vide in Culinary Arts at ICE.