“Fish in Sauce”

The term is arbitrary. It is most often used in a discussion of wine and food marriages to embrace a preparation-type that best accompanies a nervous and fruity, but full-bodied white wine—one of the white Burgundies, for instance. In that context, it nearly always means a sauce with a fumet and/or velouté base.

Fumet is stock; it is the preceding court bouillon packed full of fish carcasses and strained when finished. Velouté is fumet lightly bound with flour and butter roux and cooked gently, reduced and skimmed, over a period of ½ hour.