Bouillabaisse

It is not possible to normalize cooking. Indeed, it is an art where the chef will turn ingredients into success. However, the Bouillabaisse dish of Marseilles has precise ingredients it is important to use if you want to respect tradition and not mislead the gourmet.

This Bouillabaisse Charter is therefore a check-list respecting the art of the professional, specifying expected elements of a bouillabaisse of quality, to promote this regional dish

Table of Contents

• History of Bouillabaisse
• Fish:
• optional:
• Other ingredients
• Potatoes, tomatoes
• Preparation of the recipe:
• Boil 3 liters of water.Put the raw vegetables in the pot, pour over it the boiling water, salt, bring to boil and reduce heat.Simmer 20 min.
• Recipe for rouille:
  • Soak bread in milk.

History of Bouillabaisse

Originally, it was a fisherman’s dish, fisherman who, sorting the fish for sale, was putting aside certain species he would prepare for himself and his family. The name comes from the 2 words “bouille” or boil and “Abaisse” which means lower down; hence the meaning, when it bolis, lower the heat to simmer.

It is therefore a simple family dish, which over the years has been improved and can now include a stock and even crustaceans.

Serving Bouillabaisse Marseillaise is left to the discretion of the chef, but generally it is served in two different dishes: fish on one side, the broth on the stove. According to the taste of the guest, the two can be mixed in a bowl, or served separately.

But a basic rule remains: cutting the fish in front of the guests.

One would also serve sauces (rouille or aioli) possibly accompanied with garlic croutons.
The Bouillabaisse is a dish for which preparation requires a variety of fish described below. It is their particular taste that is famous for this dish, which must be composed of elements of choice.

Fish:

The Bouillabaisse should include at least 4 of the following species:
scorpion fish
Spider crab (live)
Fielas (conger eel)
white scorpion fish (Unranoscope)
Chapon (rockfish)
Galinette (mullet mullet)

optional:

Saint pierre (John Dory), gurnard
Slipper lobster (or rocky lobster or spiny lobster)
Anglerfish (monkfish)
crayfish

This list allows the choice depending on the arrivals and the number of guests. But it remains a fact essential to the quality of the Bouillabaisse, it is the extreme freshness of the fish that makes for a success.

Other ingredients

The other ingredients that contribute to the preparation of this specialty are in particular:
salt, pepper, saffron, olive oil
garlic, onions, fennel, parsley, bay leaf, dried orange peel.

Potatoes, tomatoes

also the fish stock, or soup: small rock fish.
Bouillabaisse is also accompanied by a traditional sauce: Rouille

Preparation of the recipe:

Peel, seed and chop the tomatoes. Chop the onions, crush the garlic. Put all of these in a large pot.

Add all the fish in the pot, add 25 cl of olive oil; also the fennel, bay leaf, parsley, pepper and dried orange peel.

Cover and cook 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Boil 3 liters of water.Put the raw vegetables in the pot, pour over it the boiling water, salt, bring to boil and reduce heat.
Simmer 20 min.

After this time, skim the soup through a sieve, crushing the vegetables and pieces of fish. Add the saffron.
Cook the fishes successively in the previous preparation boiled over high heat, according to size and firmness.
Fish should not be completely cooked, but just right. Then take them out of the broth and reserve in a hot plate.

Recipe for rouille:

Soak bread in milk.

Peel and crush the garlic. Add the soaked and drained bread, slowly add the olive oil (1/3) and the sunflower oil (2/3) while whipping like for a mayonnaise . Add salt and pepper and mix with 1 tablespoon of broth.

Serve the broth in plates or side bowls, and distribute the pieces of fish.Serve with croutons of bread rubbed with garlic and oil and grilled, and rouille.