Showing posts with label Fish Soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fish Soup. Show all posts

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Five Fish Soups

Fish Soup - Photo: Pixabay
Fish stock.

Ingredients:- 2 lbs. of beef or veal (these can be omitted), any kind of white fish trimmings, of fish which are to be dressed for a table, 2 onions, the rind of 1/2 a lemon, a bunch of sweet herbs, 2 carrots, 2 quarts of water.

Mode:- Cut up the fish, and put it, with the other ingredients, into the water. Simmer for 2 hours; skim the liquor carefully, and strain it. When a richer stock is wanted, fry the vegetables and fish before adding the water.

Time. 2 hours.

Note. Do not make fish stock long before it is wanted, as it soon turns sour.

Crayfish soup.

Ingredients:- 50 crayfish, 1/4 lb. of butter, 6 anchovies, the crumb of 1 French roll, a little lobster-spawn, seasoning to taste, 2 quarts of medium stock or fish stock.

Mode:- Shell the crayfish, and put the fish between two plates until they are wanted; pound the shells in a mortar, with the butter and anchovies; when well beaten, add a pint of stock, and simmer for 3/4 of an hour. Strain it through a hair sieve, put the remainder of the stock to it, with the crumb of the rolls; give it one boil, and rub it through a tammy, with the lobster-spawn. Put in the fish, but do not let the soup boil, after it has been rubbed through the tammy. If necessary, add seasoning.

Time. 1-1/2 hour. 

Eel soup.

Ingredients:- 3 lbs. of eels, 1 onion, 2 oz. of butter, 3 blades of mace, 1 bunch of sweet herbs, 1/4 oz. of peppercorns, salt to taste, 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, 1/4 pint of cream, 2 quarts of water.

Mode:- Wash the eels, cut them into thin slices, and put them in the stewpan with the butter; let them simmer for a few minutes, then pour the water to them, and add the onion, cut in thin slices, the herbs, mace, and seasoning. Simmer till the eels are tender, but do not break the fish. Take them out carefully, mix the flour smoothly to a batter with the cream, bring it to a boil, pour over the eels, and serve.

Time. 1 hour, or rather more.

Note. This soup may be flavored differently by omitting the cream and adding a little ketchup.

Lobster soup.

Ingredients. 3 large lobsters, or 6 small ones; the crumb of a French roll, 2 anchovies, 1 onion, 1 small bunch of sweet herbs, 1 strip of lemon-peel, 2 oz. of butter, a little nutmeg, 1 teaspoonful of flour, 1 pint of cream, 1 pint of milk; forcemeat balls, mace, salt and pepper to taste, bread crumbs, 1 egg, 2 quarts of water.

Mode:- Pick the meat from the lobsters, and beat the fins, chine, and small claws in a mortar, previously taking away the brown fin and the bag in the head. Put it in a stewpan, with the crumb of the roll, anchovies, onions, herbs, lemon-peel, and the water; simmer gently till all the goodness is extracted, and strain it off. Pound the spawn in a mortar, with the butter, nutmeg, and flour, and mix with it the cream and milk. Give one boil up, at the same time adding the tails cut in pieces. Make the forcemeat balls with the remainder of the lobster, seasoned with mace, pepper, and salt, adding a little flour, and a few bread crumbs; moisten them with the egg, heat them in the soup, and serve.

Time. 2 hours, or rather more.

Oyster soup -1.

Ingredients:- 6 dozen of oysters, 2 quarts of white stock, 1/2 pint of cream, 2 oz. of butter, 1-1/2 oz. of flour; salt, cayenne, and mace to taste.

Mode:- Scald the oysters in their own liquor; take them out, beard them, and put them in a tureen. Take a pint of the stock, put in the beards and the liquor, which must be carefully strained, and simmer for 1/2 an hour. Take it off the fire, strain it again, and add the remainder of the stock with the seasoning and mace. Bring it to a boil, add the thickening of butter and flour, simmer for 5 minutes, stir in the boiling cream, pour it over the oysters, and serve.

Time. 1 hour.

Note. This soup can be made less rich by using milk instead of cream, and thickening with arrowroot instead of butter and flour.



Oyster soup -2

Ingredients:- 2 quarts of good mutton broth, 6 dozen oysters, 2 oz. butter, 1 oz. of flour.

Mode:- Beard the oysters, and scald them in their own liquor; then add it, well strained, to the broth; thicken with the butter and flour, and simmer for 1/4 of an hour. Put in the oysters, stir well, but do not let it boil, and serve very hot.

Time. 3/4 hour.

Prawn soup.

Ingredients:- 2 quarts of fish stock or water, 2 pints of prawns, the crumbs of a French roll, anchovy sauce or mushroom ketchup to taste, 1 blade of mace, 1 pint of vinegar, a little lemon juice.

Mode:- Pick out the tails of the prawns, put the bodies in a stewpan with 1 blade of mace, 1/2 pint of vinegar, and the same quantity of water; stew them for 1/4 hour, and strain off the liquor. Put the fish stock or water into a stewpan; add the strained liquor, pound the prawns with the crumb of a roll moistened with a little of the soup, rub them through a tammy, and mix them by degrees with the soup; add ketchup or anchovy sauce to taste, with a little lemon juice. When it is well cooked, put in a few picked prawns; let them get thoroughly hot, and serve. If not thick enough, put in a little butter and flour.

Time. 1 hour.



Monday, February 5, 2018

Bouillabaisse Is Not Just Any Fish Soup

French Bouillabaisse - Photo: Pixabay
The other night, I made clam chowder for my son who was visiting and my husband drank a little, only out of courtesy since he hates fish soups. His face--as he drank it--brought back the memory of Bouillabaisse. 

During the late seventies, with our two children, we stayed in a seaside village in southern France for a couple of days where a sandy beach with small eateries full of tourists cupped the sea and the steep, rugged, and probably granite hills in the background cut into a wide stretch of beach. The second evening we were there, we bought our way into a beach-barbecue or rather into a group waiting to have some Bouillabaisse cooked over a flaming fire. 

This summer ritual of sorts took place beneath a crescent moon with waterfront lights echoing on the Mediterranean and paying guests sitting around a somewhat primitive fire on the sands. The fire was lit with wood, some charcoal, and crushed papers under an iron grid. The flames leaped over the grid all the way to the second iron shelf with the large round pot over it. The cooking of the soup took probably 20 to 25 minutes, tops. It wasn't so much the soup, but the ambiance created around it, which the French know how to do best. This evening would be one to remember, especially when our untamed little ones sat quietly nestling to us, watching the fire and the meal cooking over it.

"In memory of dear old times,
Welcome the wine, whate'er the seal is;
And sit you down and say your grace
With thankful heart, whate'er the meal is.
Here comes the smoking Bouillabaisse!"
by William Makepeace Thackeray

What a ceremonial occasion this was! The basic idea was to boil everything fresh to make a broth of a soup and eat the boiled solids as the main meal with a glass of white wine. A few minutes before the soup was served, the chef placed several lengthwise sliced baguettes to toast on the top iron grid shelf near the pot. Then he spread butter on the toasted bread and put a piece of toast in each bowl. After that, he grated some cheese on each bowl with great showmanship, since "no theatrics, no food" has always been the French cuisine's motto. 

Two young French women clad in beach attire passed the bowls around the customers. I took a sip and I thought I am in Heaven. It tasted so delicious. 

My husband, however, almost gagged, with the soup about to come out of wherever it went, his nose or stomach, I'll never know. Luckily, because we had little kids with us, I had a load of Kleenex tissues in my bag. So, to save face, I lied. I told everybody that he was allergic to the fennel in the soup. 

Then, the annoyed chef, who probably didn't buy my lie, took the bowl away from him and dumped its contents inside a thrash container nearby; however, he--very politely--filled my husband's glass with wine and served him some toast with cheese. 

Right then, to top it all, one of my offspring asked out loud: "Why is Daddy so weird?" Oh, Boy!
Years later, while discussing our children's antics, we told this incident to a group of friends. One of them happened to be of French origin. Sounding truly defensive, he said that Bouillabaisse was the invention of the Marseilles fishermen and was originally made with seawater and very rare Mediterranean fish. True, Bouillabaisse chefs were so incensed over its bad replicas that they have formed a union to protect the exploitation of the Bouillabaisse. Those who created the bad versions were the unscrupulous money-hungry, tourist-hunting cooks who demeaned the authentic Bouillabaisse's name. Those counterfeiters aside, the Frenchman claimed, whoever did try true Bouillabaisse would never forget the experience.

Well, we never forgot ours.

May the French preserve the honor of their Bouillabaisse forever.

Author: Joy Cagil