Boiled Bass
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the fish
Place the cleaned bass in a saucepan and cover it with water.
Add ½ cup of coarse sea salt.
Bring the water to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.
Check if a fin pulls out easily.
If so, remove the fish from the water.
Serve
Transfer the fish to a platter.
Surround the fish with 6 hard-boiled eggs.
Serve with a sauce of your choice.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Bass
- Main protein, which turns opaque and firm as it gently poaches in the water.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add richness and a soft, creamy contrast to the firm fish.
The step that matters
Checking the fin. Fish is ready when a fin pulls out easily. Past that point, the proteins keep tightening and the flesh turns dry and tough, so check before the cooking time runs out.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.