My wife and I live part of the year in St.-Rémy-de-Provence. We love bouillabaisse, that magical dish that seems to capture the spirit of Provence. So when our friend Pascal, a retired chef, invited us over for homemade bouillabaisse, we were quick to accept.
Legend has it that bouillabaisse was invented long ago by the fishermen of Marseille. Not wanting to eat the high-class fish that fetched the best prices, they instead created a dish from the bony, unappealing rockfish that no one wanted.
Bouillabaisse is made in two stages. First comes the fish soup called, logically enough, soupe de poisson. To make it, rockfish are cooked with onion, fennel, garlic, tomato and white wine “very important” says Pascal.
This mixture is seasoned to the chef’s taste, with top-grade saffron being the essential ingredient. Then it is ground up, bones and all, into the richly flavored soupe.
Meanwhile, other fish are marinated and then cooked whole in the hot soupe. The cooked fish are fileted and served with boiled potatoes and other vegetables.
A bouillabaisse meal starts with a first course of soupe de poisson, along with little round toasts and rouille, a kind of spicy saffron mayonnaise with lots of garlic. The second course is the fish and vegetables.
When we got to Pascal’s house he had already made the soupe and had a platter of fish marinating in olive oil and saffron, ready to be cooked.
Pascal explained how he had made his soupe. “I buy the cheapest fish at the market,” he said. “They are bony and ugly but delicious if you know how to cook them.” I looked at the rascasse and could see what he meant about ugly.
Secrets of
Bouillabaise
Keith Van Sickle, author of Life in Provence, finds out how to make a real bouillabaise and how this famous fish dish got its name...
Photo: Paul Gallagher