Suffocated Fillets of Sole

The French word étouffée means, literally, “suffocated“—food gently poached in a pot with such a tight lid that no air whatsoever can get in. The word also appears in the Creole cuisine as estouffade and in the Greek as stiffado or stuffado. This is, of course, a non-seasonal dish; and sole cooked in this hermetically sealed way holds its own flavor juices and absorbs those of the herbs and vegetables. (