Boiled Bass
Ingredients
Directions
Place the cleaned bass in a saucepan and cover it with water.
Add 2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt.
Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
After about 5 minutes, check if a fin pulls out easily.
If it does, carefully remove the fish from the water.
Lay the fish on a platter and serve with a sauce.
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
- Is the main protein that cooks gently in the simmering water until its flesh turns opaque and firm.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the poaching water so the fish is lightly flavored as it cooks.
The step that matters
Checking the fin. Boiling at a rolling boil can overcook and toughen the delicate flesh. Testing whether a fin pulls out easily checks doneness early, since fish proteins set at moderate temperatures and become dry and rubbery when overcooked.
“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.
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