Recipe no. 92 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 54.
Ingredients
- carp
- water
- lemon
- bacon fat
- onion
- carrot
- garlic
- anchovies
- red wine
- butter
- flour
- salt
- pepper
Preparation
- PreparationScale, gut and wash the carp well. Let it soak a few hours in fresh acidulated water.
- BraisingLay the carp in a fish kettle at the bottom of which one will have put strips of bacon fat, rounds of onions and carrots, 2 cloves of garlic, a bouquet garni, and 2 or 3 anchovies cut into pieces. Season and cover it to let it sweat over a low heat.
- Adding liquidWhen the vegetables begin to catch, baste the fish with a glass of red wine, which you let reduce completely. Finally add liquid with half a litre of boiling water and as much red wine. Let it cook covered, basting it from time to time (assuming a large carp of about 2 kilos).
- SauceWhen the carp is cooked, move the fish kettle aside. Strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan to skim off the fat. Put in another saucepan a piece of butter the size of an egg with a good spoonful of flour. Cook it a few minutes over the heat and add liquid with the cooking liquid. Bring to the boil and work in a piece of butter the size of an egg when ready to serve, with the juice of a lemon.
Reboul's text
Scaled, gutted and well washed, let it soak a few hours in fresh acidulated water. Then lay it in a fish kettle at the bottom of which one will have put strips of bacon fat, rounds of onions and carrots, 2 cloves of garlic, a bouquet garni, and 2 or 3 anchovies cut into pieces; season and cover it to let it sweat over a low heat. When the vegetables begin to catch, baste the fish with a glass of red wine, which you let reduce completely. Finally add liquid with half a litre of boiling water and as much red wine. We assume here a large carp of about 2 kilos. Let it cook covered, basting it from time to time.
Once you have made sure it is cooked, move the fish kettle aside; strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan to skim off the fat. Put in another saucepan a piece of butter the size of an egg with a good spoonful of flour; cook it a few minutes over the heat, and add liquid with the cooking liquid. Bring to the boil and work in a piece of butter the size of an egg when ready to serve, with the juice of a lemon.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| escarpo | carp |
| lard | bacon fat |
| cebo | onion |
| pastenargo | carrot |
| aiet | garlic |
| anchoio | anchovies |
| vin | red wine |
| burre | butter |
| farino | flour |
| braseja | braised |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 92, page 54. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.