Bourride (French Fish Soup)
⏳ Time
2 hours 30 minutes
🥕 Ingredients
21
🍽️ Servings
4
Description
An ancient southern French recipe that straddles the line between soup and stew. Unlike bouillabaisse, bourride exclusively uses various types of white fish. Chef John Smith, from a popular restaurant in the area, prepares the broth with seabass, dorado, cod, and mullet, but the selection can vary— the more diverse the fish, the better. The rich flavor of the soup is achieved through the flambé technique— at a certain point in the cooking process, cognac is added to the pot and ignited. Bourride is served with croutons and aioli. You can serve it in different ways— either place a crouton on the plate and pour the soup over it, or simply serve the sauce and toasted bread on the side.
Ingredients
- White fish - 17.6 oz
- Celery stalk - 0.7 oz
- Leek - 0.7 oz
- Onion - 2.1 oz
- Carrot - 2.8 oz
- Garlic - 3 cloves
- Dry White Wine - 2 fl oz
- Cognac - 0.9 oz
- Tomatoes - 9.5 oz
- Tomato Puree - 1 fl oz
- Fennel - 0.7 oz
- Thyme - 4 sprigs
- Bay leaf - 2 pieces
- Parsley - 15 sprigs
- Tarragon - 5 sprigs
- French Baguette - 1 piece
- Emmental cheese - 3.5 oz
- Cayenne Pepper - to taste
- Aioli Sauce - 4.2 oz
- Salt - 0.4 oz
- Olive Oil - 1 fl oz
Step by Step guide
Step 1
Clean the fish, gut it, and rinse it thoroughly. Remove the head and discard the gills. Fillet the fish, keeping the backbone, head, and bones. Rinse the head and bones thoroughly under cold running water.
Step 2
Finely chop the garlic. Peel and roughly chop the celery, leek, carrot, and onion. Cut the tomatoes into quarters.
Step 3
Chop the fish bones and heads into large pieces and sauté them until golden brown in olive oil in a large pot. Add the vegetables (except for the garlic and tomatoes) and continue to sauté for another 20 minutes.
Step 4
Add the garlic and reduce the heat to low. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and simmer, stirring, for 10–15 minutes.
Step 5
Add the chopped tomatoes and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Step 6
Pour in the white wine and let the liquid reduce by half.
Step 7
Carefully drizzle the contents of the pot with cognac and ignite.
Step 8
When the fire goes out, pour water into the pot until it is three fingers above the contents.
Step 9
Tie the fennel fronds, thyme, bay leaf, and parsley together with string and add them to the pot. Also, add the tarragon. Season with salt and simmer for 45 minutes.
Step 10
In a separate skillet, sauté the fish fillet in olive oil until it develops a nice golden crust. Drain the fillet on paper towels to remove excess oil.
Step 11
Strain the soup through a sieve. Add the pieces of fish fillet and simmer for another 15 minutes, until the fish starts to break apart. At the very end, add cayenne pepper. The soup should be quite spicy, but feel free to adjust it to your taste.
Step 12
Slice the baguette and toast the slices in the oven.
Step 13
Serve the soup with croutons, grated cheese, and aioli sauce.
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