Boiled Bass
Ingredients
Directions
Place the cleaned bass in a saucepan and cover it with water.
Add ½ cup of coarse sea salt.
Bring the saucepan to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.
Check if a fin pulls out easily; if so, remove the fish from the water.
Transfer the fish to a platter and surround it 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
- The main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks in simmering water.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Serve as a ready-cooked accompaniment on the platter, adding richness alongside the fish.
The step that matters
Checking for doneness with the fin test. Cooking too long makes the delicate fish flesh dry and tough, while removing it too early leaves it undercooked. The fin pulling out easily signals that the flesh has set and is ready to lift from the water.
“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.