Sole is the most aristocratic of the flatfishes — above all the Dover sole (Solea solea), a slender, oval, sand-brown bottom-dweller of the eastern Atlantic and North Sea whose thin, boneless fillets are firm, fine-grained and gently sweet. Its clean white flesh holds together beautifully and carries delicate flavour, the qualities that made it the star of classical French cookery and the canonical fish for sole meuniere, lightly floured and pan-fried in foaming butter.