Poaching

This has a far wider application in culinary practice, and refers usually to a process which has been called ‘a boiling which does not boil’. It is best illustrated in the use of a court-bouillon for fish, in which an aromatic liquid is prepared in advance by simmering water and wine, or water and wine vinegar, with root vegetables, herbs, and spices, and allowing it to cool. When the time has come to poach a fine fish, the court-bouillon is brought to the boil, the fish is put in, the heat raised until boiling is re-established, to seal the outer surface of the fish and conserve its juices. The heat is then turned down while the fish is gently poached with the lid on, the surface of the liquid only just being disturbed by a bubble rising here and there. With small fish the process is of course curtailed. The chief points to watch are: