Bouillabaisse

Dinner

Bouillabaisse is a fragrant, hearty summery fish stew brimming with tender chunks of fresh seafood, infused with saffron, herbs, and the subtle aniseed warmth of Pastis. Born from humble fishermen’s need to make the most of their catch, this iconic dish has evolved into a beloved French classic!

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 55 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients 

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Fish and seafood

• 200 gr sea bass whole
• 150 gr monkfish
• 100 gr red snapper
• 1 dover sole whole
• 200 gr shrimps preferably with shells on
• 500 gr mussels

Soup base

• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 1 fennel small
• 5 threads saffron
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 tomatoes ripe
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 450 gr firm-fleshed potatoes
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 3 bay leaf
• 1 l fish stock or prepare your own with whole fishheads
• 120 ml dry white wine
• 2 tbsp Pastis Ricard from Marseille
• salt to taste

Fish stock

• 500 gr fish bones, heads, and shells from the fish and shrimp
• 1 stick celery roughly chopped
• 1 onion quartered
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 l water
• 5 peppercorns

Rouille sauce

• 2 egg yolks
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp mustard Dijon
• 2 slices white bread crust removed
• 6 threads saffron
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 1 tsp Piment d’Espelette or cayenne pepper
• 65 ml olive oil
• 65 ml rapeseed oil
• lemon juice
• salt

Equipment

1 dutch oven

1 sieve

1 knife

1 chopping board

1 mixing bowl

1 whisk

Instructions

1. Prepare the fish and shrimps for stock and soup

• Start by carefully filleting the whole Dover sole and whole sea bass. Use a sharp knife to cut along the backbone and remove the fillets, setting these aside for the soup later. Keep the bones, heads and frames from both fish (all the parts left after filleting) as these are perfect for making a rich, flavourful fish stock. Peel your shrimps and put the shells aside.

2. Make the fish stock

• Rinse the fish bones, heads, frames, and shrimp shells thoroughly under cold water to remove any blood or impurities that can otherwise make the stock cloudy or bitter. Place these cleaned parts in a dutch oven. Add roughly chopped carrot, celery, quartered onion, garlic cloves, bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley stalks, and 1 litre of water.

  Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Avoid boiling rapidly, which can cloud the stock; a gentle simmer will extract flavours clearly. Let it cook uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes. This process draws out all the savoury juices and creates the flavorful base for your bouillabaisse.

3. Strain and blend vegetables

• Strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth to remove all bones, shells, and solids. Reserve the cooked vegetables separately from the clear stock.

  Using a blender or food processor, blend the cooked vegetables with a small amount of the strained stock until smooth. Return this vegetable purée to the clear stock and stir well to create a rich, textured broth that remains clear but carries body and flavour from the vegetables.

  Keep this combined fish stock and vegetable purée warm and set aside.

4. Prepare the remaining vegetables

• Slice the onion, fennel, and leek. Dice the tomatoes and potatoes into nice chunks.

5. Begin the soup base

• Gently heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the sliced onion, fennel, and leek, sautéing until the onion turns translucent and fragrant.

6. Add spices and tomatoes

• Sprinkle in the fennel seeds and saffron threads, followed by the minced garlic, tomatoes and tomato puree. Stir well and cook for a few minutes to allow the flavors to meld beautifully.

7. Deglaze and add stock

• Deglaze the pot with pastis and white wine, allowing the alcohol to reduce slightly. Then pour in the fish stock.

8. Cook potatoes and herbs

• Add the chopped potatoes and bay leaves into the pot, simmering gently over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes soften but hold shape.

9. Add seafood and cook

• Cut the reserved sea bass and Dover sole fillets into large chunks. Add these along with cleaned mussels and shrimps to the simmering broth. Cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until fish is opaque, shrimp is pink, and mussels have opened. Discard any unopened mussels.

10. Prepare the rouille sauce

• Infuse saffron threads in lemon juice. Blend egg yolks, garlic, Dijon mustard, soaked bread, saffron mix, salt, paprika, and piment d’Espelette using a whisk in a bowl. Slowly drizzle in olive oil and rapeseed oil while blending to form a creamy, emulsified sauce (similar to a mayonnaise). Adjust seasoning and chill briefly.

11. Serve

• Remove the bay leaves. Ladle bouillabaisse into warm bowls and serve with crusty bread spread with rouille. Traditionally, rouille-topped croutons are floated on the soup or dipped into it for an extra flavour boost!

Notes

• Authentically, bouillabaisse is made with Mediterranean fish native to the southern coast of France. Typical varieties include Bar (European sea bass), Saint-Pierre (John Dory), Rouget grondin (red gurnard), Lotte (monkfish), and Rascasse (scorpion fish), along with red mullet. For the fish stock, a mix of rock fish like scorpion fish and other firm white fish bones is traditionally used to create a rich, aromatic base.

About this recipe

Bouillabaisse is Marseille’s emblem in a bowl. It began as fishermen’s food, a way to turn unsold rockfish and shellfish at the end of the day into something comforting and generous, and over time it climbed from the bottom of the boat to the top of Marseille menus without ever losing that humble base.

Where bouillabaisse comes from

Its roots go right back to the Greek sailors who founded Marseille (back then called Massalia) more than 2,000 years ago. They made a simple fish soup called kakavia from exactly the same logic: use the bony, awkward fish no one wants to buy, simmer them with aromatics, and feed a lot of people well. The name “bouillabaisse” itself is Provençal and describes the method very literally: first you boil (bolhir), then you lower (abaissar) the heat. The broth of this french fish soup comes up to a strong boil so the olive oil and liquid blend into one rich base, then the heat drops so everything can simmer gently. Miss out that first rolling boil and you get a thinner, less satisfying broth.

The saffron

Saffron is what gives bouillabaisse its colour, perfume, and that tiny edge of bitterness that keeps all the richness in check. Without saffron, you have a perfectly nice french fish soup with French herbs, but with it, you have the real and tasty bouillabaisse dish. Saffron has been grown around Marseille for centuries, and it settled so firmly into Provençal cooking that people here will tell you calmly that a saffron‑less version is simply something else. It is worth using good threads and letting them sit in a little warm water before they go into the pot, so they have the chance to tint and perfume the broth properly.

The fish

Originally, the pot was filled with Mediterranean rockfish that are full of flavour and full of bones: rascasse, grondin, saint‑pierre, conger and others. They are awkward to eat on their own, which is why bouillabaisse is traditionally served in two parts: first the broth, then the fish. Outside Marseille, you will not find exactly the same line‑up, and that is fine. What matters is that you choose firm, flavourful fish, use several kinds rather than just one, and add some shellfish for depth. If the fish is good and you respect the method, it will taste of the sea you are near, even if it is not the Mediterranean.

The rouille

Rouille on the other hand is non‑negotiable. It is the saffron and garlic rich mayonnaise sauce that you spoon onto the croutons floating in the broth of the bouillabaisse. Rouille is not a garnish, it is part of the dish. The balance between the sharp, aromatic broth and the thick, aioli-style sauce is a huge part of the pleasure to consume the final portion of the broth. It is worth making the rouille ahead so it can rest and the flavours settle before you eat.

The right pot

For bouillabaisse, the pot does more than just contain things. You need something wide enough that the pieces of fish can sit in the broth in a single layer, deep enough that the liquid has room to rise when it boils, and heavy enough to hold steady heat. A good cast‑iron cocotte with a broad base works well. It keeps the temperature even during that first vigorous boil and the long, gentle simmer, and it can travel straight from hob to table, which suits a bouillabaisse dish that is meant to be shared straight from the pot.

The charter

Marseille cares about bouillabaisse enough to have written down what it believes the “real” version should be. In 1980, local restaurateurs created a sort of charter setting out which fish to use and how to serve the dish if you want to call it a true bouillabaisse. It does not have the force of law, but it does show how strongly the city feels that this soup belongs to a particular place and a particular way of doing things. At home, you do not need to follow it line by line, but understanding that spirit helps: generous fish, a proper saffron broth, rouille, and the sense that the whole table is sharing something rooted in Marseille rather than just eating “french fish soup.”