A pedant writes: having once worked up a 'centre points of England' day ride (it's a hobby, I suppose), I think Lichfield beats Cambridge on distance from the sea. Coton-in-the-Elms is the supposed furthest point from the sea in the UK, and is about 5 miles to the east. Confusingly, the furthest point from the high tide mark (including tidal rivers) is different: that's in Wall, about a mile south of Lichfield.
What a beautiful, luscious, and —no doubt— perfectly delicious fish soup. Not a bourride by any means. Looks far more like a Basque ttoro, if ttoro were thickened with harissa mayonnaise, that is.
Bourride is not a non-recipe. It is even more a recipe than bouillabaisse is, for nobody ever had the crazy idea of making a charter for it, and everybody from Sète to Antibes knows what a bourride is.
I'll probably write a Substack on the matter since I love bourride so much, and I ate quite a few in my lifetime, but so far I'll list a few of its basic characteristics:
- No tomato in bourride. Ever. Now some will add tomato, but they're perfectly aware that they're working on a hybrid.
- Simple fish broth, it is OK to add some white wine to it, but not too much. Generally, bourride broth is only the water in which the fish that is going to be served in the bourride is boiled. No additions.
- Probably for this reason, there are typically very few vegetables in a bourride. It's just bourride broth, fish, and potatoes. Any vegetables used in the broth are usually discarded before adding the liaison.
- It's not a "whatever stuff the fisherman brought home" recipe (nevertheless, congratulations on your catch), but the fish species tend to be picked according to firmness (since the broth is supposed to be clear, without any soft-fleshed fish melting into it during the first stage of cooking). The favorite types of fish are monkfish (in 80 percent of the cases), turbot, and conger eel. If you have other firm fish like stargazer, weever, large gurnard, etc., feel free. Crustaceans are not unheard of —besides, who would be against adding langoustines to anything? But bourride is, deep down, a fish stew, not a seafood stew.
- The only possible thickener to finish the bourride is aïoli. Lots of it. Truckloads of it. With truckloads of raw garlic pounded into it (but not a hint of saffron; bourride is saffronless). Whipped into the broth just before serving and then poured over the fish. Never served on the side, since the sauce is already in the bourride.
- One interesting aspect of bourride is that (as seen from the best examples of it) it's totally smooth and that no fish sticks out of it or even shows at the surface. A perfect bourride looks like a pale yellow skating rink and you have to fish out the pieces of fish below the surface (the deeper the better). Best example I can find of that is the wonderful bourride at Chez Fonfon, in Marseille. This restaurant, despite many flaws, makes textbook bourride.
I live reasonably close to the Adriatic coast, (half an hour by car), but I worry about fresh fish in these temperatures.... But I love the sound of it.... Maybe in the winter ❄️
A pedant writes: having once worked up a 'centre points of England' day ride (it's a hobby, I suppose), I think Lichfield beats Cambridge on distance from the sea. Coton-in-the-Elms is the supposed furthest point from the sea in the UK, and is about 5 miles to the east. Confusingly, the furthest point from the high tide mark (including tidal rivers) is different: that's in Wall, about a mile south of Lichfield.
What a beautiful, luscious, and —no doubt— perfectly delicious fish soup. Not a bourride by any means. Looks far more like a Basque ttoro, if ttoro were thickened with harissa mayonnaise, that is.
Bourride is not a non-recipe. It is even more a recipe than bouillabaisse is, for nobody ever had the crazy idea of making a charter for it, and everybody from Sète to Antibes knows what a bourride is.
I'll probably write a Substack on the matter since I love bourride so much, and I ate quite a few in my lifetime, but so far I'll list a few of its basic characteristics:
- No tomato in bourride. Ever. Now some will add tomato, but they're perfectly aware that they're working on a hybrid.
- Simple fish broth, it is OK to add some white wine to it, but not too much. Generally, bourride broth is only the water in which the fish that is going to be served in the bourride is boiled. No additions.
- Probably for this reason, there are typically very few vegetables in a bourride. It's just bourride broth, fish, and potatoes. Any vegetables used in the broth are usually discarded before adding the liaison.
- It's not a "whatever stuff the fisherman brought home" recipe (nevertheless, congratulations on your catch), but the fish species tend to be picked according to firmness (since the broth is supposed to be clear, without any soft-fleshed fish melting into it during the first stage of cooking). The favorite types of fish are monkfish (in 80 percent of the cases), turbot, and conger eel. If you have other firm fish like stargazer, weever, large gurnard, etc., feel free. Crustaceans are not unheard of —besides, who would be against adding langoustines to anything? But bourride is, deep down, a fish stew, not a seafood stew.
- The only possible thickener to finish the bourride is aïoli. Lots of it. Truckloads of it. With truckloads of raw garlic pounded into it (but not a hint of saffron; bourride is saffronless). Whipped into the broth just before serving and then poured over the fish. Never served on the side, since the sauce is already in the bourride.
- One interesting aspect of bourride is that (as seen from the best examples of it) it's totally smooth and that no fish sticks out of it or even shows at the surface. A perfect bourride looks like a pale yellow skating rink and you have to fish out the pieces of fish below the surface (the deeper the better). Best example I can find of that is the wonderful bourride at Chez Fonfon, in Marseille. This restaurant, despite many flaws, makes textbook bourride.
I live reasonably close to the Adriatic coast, (half an hour by car), but I worry about fresh fish in these temperatures.... But I love the sound of it.... Maybe in the winter ❄️
Well done you!
I was taught the fumet thickened with aioli at FCI, supported by E.D, but that may be the one from Sète, I forget.
It is always thickened with aïoli, even in Marseille and East of there.