Recipe no. 46 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 31.
Ingredients
- half a monkfish
- a sea bass
- half a whiting
- a sliced onion
- thyme, fennel, bay leaf
- a sprig of orange peel
- salt and pepper
- about ten slices of bread a centimetre thick
- aioli: 2 tablespoons per person
- 1 egg yolk per guest
Preparation
- Cooking the fishCut the fish into sections, put them into a saucepan with the onion and the aromatics, moisten a little more than to cover, season and let cook for about ten minutes.
- Preparing the breadCut the slices of bread and arrange them in a deep dish or a vegetable dish, then soak them with a few spoonfuls of broth.
- Binding with egg yolkAdd to the aioli already prepared an egg yolk per guest, then pour into it, little by little, the strained fish broth.
- Thickening over low heatStir this mixture in a saucepan with a wooden spoon over low heat until it begins to thicken, never letting it boil.
- ServingPour this smooth and velvety soup over the slices of bread, and dress the fish separately.
Reboul's text
Cut into sections half a monkfish, a sea bass and half a whiting. Put these fish into a saucepan with a sliced onion, thyme, fennel, bay leaf, a sprig of orange peel; moisten a little more than to cover, season with salt and pepper and let cook for about ten minutes.
During this time, cut about ten slices of bread a centimetre thick and arrange them in a deep dish or a vegetable dish.
When your fish is cooked, take it off to one side, soak the slices with a few spoonfuls of its broth, without however letting any remain at the bottom of the dish. You will have, separately and beforehand, prepared an aioli as indicated in the previous article; add to this aioli, of which you should have 2 tablespoons per person, 1 egg yolk for each guest, pour into it, little by little, the fish broth, strained of course; once well thinned, put it into a saucepan, and, with a wooden spoon, stir it while keeping it over low heat until the point where it begins to thicken. You will recognise this point of cooking when, on lifting out the spoon you are stirring with, it comes out coated to the point of no longer showing the wood. Take great care above all that your soup does not boil, otherwise it would curdle beyond hope of recovery.
It should be quite smooth and velvety, and, without further delay, pour it over your slices of bread.
Dress the fish on a separate dish, send it to table at the same time or afterwards, as the guests wish.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul himself gives certain Provençal names in this recipe: Bourride. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the other words used, in mistralian spelling: each of these forms is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary, and the link opens the entry. Our dictionary does not yet attest the word Bourride: we therefore quote it as the author printed it, without adding a form of our own.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| bóudroi | monkfish |
| merlan | whiting |
| tros | section |
| rusco | orange peel |
| jaune | egg yolk |
| cuié | wooden spoon |
| fiò | low heat |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 46, page 31. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.