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Boiled Striped Bass, White Wine Sauce

A boiled striped bass served with a white wine, butter, and lemon sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,083 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Boiled Striped Bass, White Wine Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Poach the bass

  1. Clean and scale the striped bass.

  2. In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil.

  3. Add the bass and cook for about 15-20 minutes until done.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. In a saucepan, combine white wine, butter, and lemon juice; heat gently.

  2. Serve the bass with the white wine sauce drizzled on top.

  3. Garnish with fresh herbs if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Striped bass + lemontop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together29 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Striped bass + buttertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Striped bass
Forms the main body of the dish, turning from translucent to flaky as its proteins set.
White wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the sauce, balancing the richness of the butter.
Butter
Provides fat that gives the sauce a smooth, rounded texture and mouthfeel.
Lemon juice
Adds bright acidity that lifts the flavour of the fish and the sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the bass until just done. Fish proteins tighten as they heat, and past the point of doneness they squeeze out moisture, so the flesh turns dry and chalky. Checking early keeps it moist and tender.

“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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