Julia Child’s Sole Meuniere
The unforgettable and classic recipe for Julia Child Sole Meuniere, simply made with lightly breaded fillets of sole that is served with a lemony caper butter sauce.
Julia Child’s Fillet of Sole Meuniere
Sole meuniere is one of our favorite Julia Child fish recipes (as well as Mussels Mariniere) and is unforgettably known as one of Julia Child’s first dishes that she enjoyed in France. This simple dish has not only changed the future of her career, but also home cooks all over the world, including me! I originally made this recipe(with permission from Julia’s publisher, Alfred Knopf), years ago in collaboration with her publisher to celebrate Julia’s 100th birthday.
Unlike the original dish that Julia had, which was served whole tableside, Julia’s classic recipe uses prepped boneless fillets of sole, making the decadent recipe a breeze.
Fillets of sole are lightly dredged in flour and cook in minutes. The fish is light and flakey but able to hold up in cooking. The sauce has a handful of ingredients, including clarified butter, a good amount of fresh parsley, lemon juice and capers.
Clarified Butter vs. Butter
Both clarified butter and regular butter are used in Julia’s recipe. Clarified butter has a higher smoke point because the milk solids are removed. This gives the fish time to pan-fry until a beautiful golden brown crust forms without the risk of burning.
Once the fish is done and the sauce is working, a few tablespoons of butter is added for texture and flavor.
Instead of clarifying your own butter, you can substitute with ghee, which offers the same high smoke point as well as a delicious nutty aroma.
To make your own clarified butter: Melt butter in a small pot and and remove the foam at the top. Line a sieve with cheesecloth and pour melted butter through sieve into another bowl, leaving any milk solids behind.
A Few Tips on Making Sole Meuniere
- Use paper towels to dry the fish fillets very well before cooking, this will help form a nice golden crust.
- Sole fillets are thin and only need 2 minutes of cooking per side.
- Because there are minimal ingredients, use the freshest you can find, such as fresh lemon juice.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan, depending on how wide your skillet and filets are, start with 2 fillets so they have room to brown evenly.
What to Serve with Sole Meuniere
- Creme fraiche mashed potatoes
- Sauteed asparagus with lemon
- Boiled potatoes with butter and parsley
More Julia Child Recipes
Julia Child’s Sole Meuniere
recipe for Julia Child Sole Meuniere, simply made with lightly breaded fillets of sole that is served with a lemony caper butter sauce.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 841kcal
Cost: $10
Equipment
skillet
Fish Spatula
Ingredients
- 4-6 fillets of sole boneless and skinless
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons clarified butter or ghee
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 2-3 tablespoons capers
- 2-3 tablespoons fresh parsley hard stems removed, leaves finely chopped
Instructions
- Use paper towels to pat the sole fillets dry very well and season both sides with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge fillets in flour, shaking off any excess
- Bring a wide skillet to medium heat and add clarified butter.
- Place fillets in, not overcrowding the pan, about 2 fillets per skillet and brown on the first side, for about 1-2 minutes. Flip over and cook on the the side for 1-2 minutes or until fish is lightly golden brown.
- Remove fish to a platter and in the same skillet, melt butter and add capers and lemon juice. Use a spatula to scrape any bits from the bottom and reduce heat. Stir in chopped parsley.
- Spoon lemon caper sauce over fish and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- Sole fillets are thin and only need 2 minutes of cooking per side.
- Because there are minimal ingredients, use the freshest you can find, such as fresh lemon juice.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan, depending on how wide your skillet and filets are, start with 2 fillets so they have room to brown evenly.
Nutrition
Calories: 841kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 114g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 449mg | Sodium: 842mg | Potassium: 1490mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 649IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 201mg | Iron: 3mg
This recipe was originally posted in June 2012 in collaboration with YC Media and Alfred Knopf for Julia Child’s 100th birthday celebration. The recipe is excerpted from The Way to Cook with permission from Julia’s published, Alfred Knopf and reposted in March, 2022 with added tips, updated food photography and nutritional info.
This isn’t the way I learned it… I watched Julia;s assistant make this recently on PBS, a show called weeknight dinners or something. The lemon is supposed to be peeled, like an orange, and the sections added to the butter/caper/parsley in the pan. As they disintefrate, the lemon de-glazes the delicious fish bits in the pan. The parsley is not a garnish, it’s an important flavor of the sauce.
If you make it right, it is one of the best things you’ll ever put in your mouth.
Hi Kathleen. I know I followed the recipe exactly as in her book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”. I don’t remember peeling lemon, and I would because I LOVE lemon peel and zest. Perhaps her assistant made a different version? However, I would love to try that version as well.
I have been trained under a French 2 star and how we did it was to take out the fried fish, then melt the butter in the same pan, throw a ton of parsley in, then remove from heat and add a squeeze of lemon. This was because the lemon immediately stops the cooking and keeps the butter from browning! But I’m not going to challenge Julia Child! It looks delicious!
Hahah what an interesting technique! I have learned to never stray away from her instructions 🙂
There is no Sole Meuniere recipe in either volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, at least not in the books I have.
Ah, my apologies, I just looked it up… Sara Moulton’s recipe was an adaptation, with a Grenobloise sauce… no zest, or pith, the sections of lemon are just like you’d section a tangerine to eat. It was a revelation for me. This was my first experience with the dish, so I didn’t realize it was an adaptation, but I can tell you I love the sauce so much I make it about once a week.
Also notable, Sarah just pan fried the fish in oil, so it was a bit crispy. I love the texture, with a bit of crunch. Cuts down on the butter. used canola, so I could cook the fish quickly and have it tender on the inside, crunchy out. The butter I save for the sauce, and since it’s not clarified, it’s a lot less hassle. In thinking about it, I guess she was simply updating the recipe. She used trout, I used Tilapia
Here’s Sara’s recipe. Also on that episode, a souffle omelet I want to try. Have you done one of those? Thanks for making me hungry!!!
http://saramoulton.com/2013/02/sauteed-fish-fillets-meuniere-with-sauce-grenobloise/
If you don’t want to go thru the trouble of clarifying the butter you can use Indian Gee which basically is clarified butter. It is now widely available in stores of on AMAZON.