Provençal recipe

Skate with caper sauce

Recipe no. 87 Reboul, 1909 Fish

Recipe no. 87 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 52.

Ingredients

Preparation

  1. Initial cookingCut the skate into pieces, plunge these into boiling water and leave it thus for 7 to 8 minutes.
  2. CleaningTake the skate out, spread it on a cloth and remove the skin cleanly.
  3. Preparing the court-bouillonBeforehand prepare a court-bouillon made of a few litres of water in which you will have put a sliced onion and carrot, a sprig of parsley, peppercorns and the necessary salt.
  4. Final cookingKeep the court-bouillon boiling on the stove and, a quarter of an hour before serving, put the pieces of skate in it, side by side. At the first boil move it aside and leave it thus, covered, until it is time to plate.
  5. ServingServe accompanied by a caper sauce.

Reboul's text

Cut the skate into pieces, plunge these into boiling water and leave it thus for 7 to 8 minutes. Take it out, then spread it on a cloth and remove the skin cleanly.

You will have beforehand prepared a court-bouillon, made of a few litres of water in which you will have put a sliced onion and carrot, a sprig of parsley, peppercorns and the necessary salt; keep it boiling on the stove and, a quarter of an hour before serving, put the pieces of skate in it, side by side. At the first boil move it aside and leave it thus, covered, until it is time to plate.

Serve, accompanied by a caper sauce. (See this sauce.)

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.

ProvençalEnglish
raioskate
trospieces
aigowater
ceboonion
pastenargocarrot
juvertparsley
pebrepepper
sausalt
bouiboiling
fournèustove

Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 87, page 52. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.