2 large onions
3 cloves of garlic
2 tomatoes
A sprig of thyme, 1 of fennel, parsley, 1 bayleaf
A strip of orange peel
1/2 cup of oil
Salt and pepper to taste
A good pinch of saffron
Sufficient boiling water to cover the fish
Slices of bread
(Provencal fish soup)
It is impossible to have a real bouillabaisse in many places, as most seas are lacking in the variety of fish, which goes to the making of the genuine soup. The recipe given below for bouillabaisse is that of the famous provencal chef, J. B. Reboul, but have substituted for the list of fish he gives, most of which are unobtainable in this country, a list of some of our most common fish.
A small lobster, fresh haddock, turbot or brill, gurnet, brean, whiting, eel, crab-the total weight of the fish should be 2 lbs., when the meat has been removed from the lobster.
Cut the fish into 2 inch lengths, keeping the coarse and the more delicate fish on separate plates. Put the chopped onions, garlic, well crushed with the blade of a knife, and the chopped tomatoes, in a saucepan, with the oil, the herbs and orange peel. Add the coarser varieties of fish, cover with boiling water, and cook for 5 minutes, on a very quick fire. Then put the remaining fish; continue boiling fast for another 5 minutes-10 minutes hard-boiling altogether. Remove from the fire, strain the liquid into soup plates on slices of bread, arrange the fish on a hot dish, sprinkle it with chopped parsley, and serve at the same time. The fish is sometimes put on the bread in the soup plates. The object of this very fast boiling is to blend the oil and water thoroughly. In slower cooking, the oil would not mix properly and would rise to the surface. And if the fish is cooked any longer, it will break and spoil in appearance and flavor.