JULIA CHILD DISCOVERS DOVER SOLE

"the most exciting meal of my life"

JULIA CHILD AND DOVER SOLE

We have written about this "best fish story of them all" earlier this year. Apparently Julia Child discovered Dover Sole meuniere long before we did and her reaction is recorded in a mouth-watering scene in the new Nora Ephron movie, "Julie & Julia"

"Julia Child’s first lunch in France centered on Dover sole sputtering in butter sauce. It was, she wrote in her memoir, “the most exciting meal of my life.”

For that scene, Ms. Ephron — an accomplished cook who wrote the screenplay, directed the film and personally tested every recipe in the movie except the aspic — would accept nothing short of perfection.

“I wanted that sole to look to the audience the way it had looked to Julia when it caused her famous epiphany,” she said.

But hey, no pressure.

Susan Spungen, the movie’s food stylist, had spent a dozen years as Martha Stewart’s food editor. She had been a caterer before that. She understood pressure. But she knew she was in the weeds the moment she arrived at a Manhattan restaurant to shoot the scene.

For starters, the chef that Ms. Ephron had recruited to cook the sole was instead pressed into service as the scene’s waiter. That left Ms. Spungen uncharacteristically unprepared. The restaurant didn’t have a nonstick pan, and the chef forgot to tell her that the secret to the dish was a light coat of Wondra flour.

Worse, she had only about 10 of the expensive fillets to work with. That wouldn’t allow for many mistakes. And even if she cooked one perfectly, how was she going to make sure the big fillet sizzled enough so the camera would pick it up?"

LUNCH WITH JULIA CHILD, JAMES BEARD AND CECILIA CHIANG.

Lunch with Julia Child, James Beard and Cecilia Chiang.

WHO IS CECILIA CHIANG?

Alice Waters, of Chez Panisse fame, says what Julia Child did for French cooking in the United States, Cecilia Chiang did for Chinese cuisine in America. In 1968 she founded the Mandarin Restaurant in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square. For almost 40 years, Cecilia presided over an elegant restaurant that achieved a national reputation. Visitors from all over the country came to seek authentic and fine Chinese dining. She held cooking classes that saw students the likes of Julia Child, James Beard, and Alice Waters. The restaurant closed in December 2005.

Cecilia's son Philip hooked up with a friend to open up a successful chain of restaurants that are doing well in these rough economic times - P.F. Chang’s Bistro.

FOOD MAVEN'S AT THE MANDARIN

About 10 years after the Mandarin opened, four of us, on a business trip to the west coast, walked into the restaurant for lunch. As I recall, Madam Chiang, herself, seated us. Since we were all "foodies" and had picked the Mandarin for its excellent menu, it took no time at all to spot the huge figure of James Beard at the next table. He was really big with a dome-shaped bald head. Seated next to him was Julia and there was no mistaking that voice. Next to her, according to our waitress, was Julia's sister, Dorothy. Everybody at the table was supersize. Later I found out that Dorothy McWilliams was 6' 4" and Julia was 6'2'' (size 12 shoes). The two other normal size women at the table, we guessed, were either food editors or (as we learned later) sales reps. for Rice-A-Roni.

A nice looking young woman asked if we would like to participate in a consumer food test and we, of course, said yes. Each of us was given a small portion of rice and a separate container of Chinese sauce - which we ladled on the rice. Then we answered a questionnaire about that special sauce with a (throwaway) question, at the end, about the rice. Now they served another portion of rice, another different sauce, another questionnaire. We learned later - after 4 different sauces - that each portion of rice was prepared differently. That was the real test. We didn't know that Rice-A-Roni was doing a food test at the Manderin that day.

Now it was time to order lunch. When the waitress asked for our order we pointed to the Beard, Child table, where Madame Chiang was hovering in the background and said cleverly, "we'll have what they're having". "Sorry", the waitress replied, "they're having a special lunch menu." Expletive!!!

HIDDEN COMMENTS FROM BEARD AND CHILD

It's taken me 30 years to find the autographs I got from James Beard and Julia Child. After our long-g-g-g lunch I approached M. Chiang and got a copy of her book, "The Mandarin Way", which she autographed to my wife, Shirley. I walked over to the Beard/Child table where lunch was still in progress with many, many bottles of wine on the table. Cecelia Chiang was right behind me. "Of course", bubbled James and Julia, they would be delighted to sign Madam Chiang's recent book. Since the title page was already filled, they flipped to the back of the book, the recipe index page and - assuming I was a member of staff - signed the book as you see above. Those comments have been hidden in the back of the book until the recent blast of publicity for Nora Ephron's Movie, "Julie & Julia" motivated me to find them.

THE BEST FISH STORY OF THEM ALL

ENGLISH DOVER SOLE

This is about one of the best tasting meals in the world - if you can find it? Dover Sole, actually English Dover Sole, is expensive and you won't find it in your local fish market unless you live in a large coastal city. If you can find the real thing in a fine restaurant it will be the most expensive entre on the menu ($40-60).

In America, flounder is often mislabeled as fillet of sole- a misnomer because all of the fish called "sole" (except for imported European Dover Sole) are actually varieties of flounder. 

Dover Sole, technically speaking, is the only authentic member of the sole family sold in this country. The name derives from the English port of Dover, a major market for the thick, meaty fish. Dover Sole used to be sold frozen, but jet transportation now makes it available fresh in restaurants and markets, although for a hefty price.

In my opinion, the only way to cook the real Dover Sole is Sole Meunière. Since I doubt that you can find Dover Sole in your local fish market, I include these cooking tips only to show you how a good restaurant will prepare this simple, elegant meal.

Don't let this toney title turn you off. Sole Meunière is a classic French dish consisting of a filet of sole served with a brown butter sauce and lemon. Sole has a light, flaky texture when cooked and has a mild flavor. Since sole is a flatfish, a single fish will yield four filets rather than the two filets that a roundfish will produce.

The basic recipe is hardly a recipe at all. It's just a simple saute (sometimes called pan-frying in English). After dredging the fillets in flour, pan fry in olive oil and butter. You can add lemon, capers and shallots if you wish. The brown, roasty flavours on the outside go beautifully with the delicate, nutty flavour of the sole.

The cooking process will be quick. Because there are so many variables (heat, size of pan, thickness of fillets), more specific guidelines are almost useless. For home cooks, the challenge will be to dare to get the pan hot enough to brown the fish evenly without overcooking.

(Dover) Sole used to be one of the least expensive dishes on European menus. It was, when we drove through Belgium 20 years ago. When I discovered that plain "sole" on the menu was Dover sole, I ate nothing else. Overfishing and skyrocketing popularity elevated this ugly flatfish to it's current exalted pricey position.

Vladimir Horowitz, the late piano grand master, married to Arturo Toscanini's daughter, would eat nothing but Dover Sole for dinner.

According to Peter Gelb, at that time , President of Sony Classical Records," his (Horowitz) fears about his diet appeared to be the major hurdle to realizing his dream of returning to Russia. At the time, his evening meal consisted of fresh Dover Sole and asparagus, a routine repeated night after night for several years, all faithfully recorded in his bound red book."

"Horowitz only agreed to his historic return to Moscow after I had set up a highly commercial worldwide television broadcast of his concert (and promised to air lift to him a daily supply of fresh Dover sole—the only food he would eat for dinner)."

"Ambassador and Mrs. Hartman offered to turn over their spacious living quarters in Spasso House to Horowitz and, even more crucially, agreed to engineer the first Dover Sole and asparagus airlift into Moscow. Hartman organized his fellow ambassadorial corps -- the British ambassador was to be responsible for the sole, the Italian ambassador for the asparagus, the French ambassador for the Dom Perignon rose that Mrs. Horowitz preferred -- and the Hartmans' chef was in charge of obtaining copious quantities of fresh caviar on the black market. Members of Hartman's staff who greeted the arriving food flights wore T-shirts imprinted with the words "Dover Sole Air Lift."