Bouillabaisse

Ingredients

• Small bony rockfish — for the broth1 kg
• Firm white fish — three or four species1.2 kg
• Fennel1
• Onions2
• Leek1
• Tomatoes500 g
• Garlic8 clove
• Saffron1 pinch
• Orange zest1
• Potatoes500 g
• Olive oil150 ml
• Egg yolk — for the rouille1
• Baguette — for the croutes1
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Soften the onion, leek and fennel in olive oil for ten minutes.

   12 min

2. 2

   Add the small fish whole, the tomatoes, garlic, zest and saffron and cook five minutes.

   7 min

3. 3

   Add two litres of water, bring it up and cook forty minutes, uncovered.

   42 min

4. 4

   Press everything through a sieve, working the flesh through, and return the broth to the pot.

   15 min

5. 5

   Cook the potatoes in the broth for fifteen minutes, then add the larger fish in order, firmest first.

   22 min

6. 6

   Make the rouille: egg yolk, garlic, saffron, a pinch of cayenne and olive oil in a thin stream.

   10 min

7. 7

   Serve the broth in bowls with croûtes and rouille, and the fish with the potatoes on a separate platter.

   10 min

About the dish

There must be at least four species, and small bony fish for the broth among them. One species makes a fish soup but not a bouillabaisse — the Marseille charter of 1980 says so explicitly.

The broth is made from heads and bones, then pressed through a sieve along with the flesh of the small fish. That pressing is what gives the body, not flour and not cream.

It comes in two services: the broth first, with croûtes and rouille, then the fish separately on a platter. Combining them in one bowl is considered a mistake in Marseille.

Worth knowing

• — The fish goes in by firmness: the firm first, the delicate five minutes later. All at once and half of it disintegrates.
• — The broth is not strained in the ordinary sense but pressed through. The difference matters: the pressed flesh is the thickener.
• — The true Marseille set is rascasse, gurnard and monkfish. Outside the Mediterranean you use what there is, and that is worth calling a version rather than a bouillabaisse by the charter.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

52 g

Fat

28 g

Carbs

38 g

More from France

• Ratatouille — A Provençal vegetable stew where each vegetable is cooked separately before they meet — otherwise it turns to mush.
• French onion soup — Soup from onions, stock and cheese-topped bread. All of the flavour comes from caramelisation, which takes forty minutes rather than twenty.
• Coq au vin — Chicken braised in red wine with bacon, mushrooms and small onions. Marinating the day before does half the work.