The Classic Fish Dish That Sparked Julia Child's Love For French Cuisine

When Julia Child first sat down at a table in Normandy, France, she though she was simply having a meal, little did she know her life was about to take a new turn. Child and her husband feasted upon a meal of oysters, salad, and a dish known as sole meunière at Restaurant La Couronne. "It was my first French food and I never got over it," Child revealed in archival footage appearing in CNN's film, "Julia." "It came upon me that that was what I was looking for all my life. One taste of that food and I never turned back." Sole meunière later became one of Child's all time favorite foods.

Sole meunière is a classic French recipe. "Meunière" translates to "miller's wife," a reference to the process of flouring the dish before it is fried in butter. It is a simple but flavorful recipe that calls for a delicately-tasting fish that can be tricky to come by. Child offered instructions to make this recipe in her cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," and laid out easy-to-follow steps to recreate the meal.

To make sole meunière, start by taking thin filets of Dover sole and dredging them in flour with salt and pepper, then sautee them in butter to perfection. Each side of the fish will only require a short amount of time, a minute or two, for the skin of the fish to turn golden and crispy. Once the fish has been pulled, the butter in the pan is then used to make a sauce with lemon juice and parsley. This brown butter sauce is called beurre noisette and can be further enhanced with capers. Together, the flavors deliver earthy, tangy tastes that enhance the natural taste of the sole.

Dover sole is mainly sourced from the English Channel and can be found at specialty markets. Since this particular fish may not be available (or is prohibitively expensive) to all chefs, other flatfishes (like flounder) can be used to make sole meunière, and smaller pieces of salmon, trout, and snapper fillets can be prepared in a similar way.