Sole Russian-Style

History

This recipe appears in La Mejor Cocinera, Recetas de Cocina, a Spanish home-cookery book issued by the Madrid publishing house Editorial (Saturnino) Calleja. The catalog of the Real Academia de Gastronomía / Biblioteca Nacional de España records an edition dated 1921, published in Madrid by "Editorial Saturnino Calleja" and running to 393 pages, and the antiquarian book trade records a 1923 Editorial Calleja printing from Madrid. The book credits no individual author — "Calleja" is the publisher, not the cook. As printed, the preparation is straightforward: the sole are cleaned and the dark skin removed, salted, and laid in the very dish in which they will be served; a fine béchamel ("una bechamelle fina") is made from flour, manteca (lard) and milk, poured over the fish, which is then garnished with langostinos and almejas (clams) and baked in a gentle oven. The label "a la rusa" ("Russian-style") is not unique to this dish within the book: the same collection also carries an unrelated "Chuleta de ternera a la rusa," so in this cookbook it reads as a recurring style-name rather than a marker specific to the sole. Beyond the recipe as printed and its publication by Editorial Calleja in Madrid in the early 1920s, the sources consulted do not document an origin story for this preparation, a substantiated connection to Russia, or any social or class meaning attached to it.

Ingredients

• sole fillets
• salt
• flour
• manteca (lard)
• milk
• langostinos (Norway lobsters / scampi)
• almejas (clams)

Instructions

1. Clean the sole fillets, removing the dark skin. Season with salt and arrange them in the serving dish.
2. Prepare a fine béchamel (béchamel) sauce: make a roux with flour and manteca (lard), then whisk in milk until smooth and creamy. Pour this sauce over the sole.
3. Garnish the dish with langostinos (Norway lobsters) and almejas (clams). Bake gently in a moderate oven until cooked through.