Bouillabaisse
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes 
Cook Time 40 minutes 
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes 
Servings 4Ingredients
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
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
Yes, bouillabaisse is a bit of an effort to make, but you will be so rewarded I promise you. I had my first one in the south of France when a friend invited us for dinner, and there’s honestly nothing quite like it. The fragrant saffron broth, the fish, the rouille on the croutons floating on top. It’s one of my favourite things to eat. So roll up your sleeves, pick the best ingredients you can find, and get to it!
Where bouillabaisse comes from
Bouillabaisse is a dish from Marseille and it’s been their dish for a very long time. When the Greeks founded Massalia (which is what Marseille was called back then around 600 BC), they already had a fish stew called kakavia, made from the unsold or damaged fish the fishermen couldn’t sell at market, simmered with water, herbs, and whatever vegetables were to hand.
The name itself comes from Frédéric Mistral’s explanation: “boui abaisso” in the Provençal language means “when it boils, you lower it,” which is also a perfect description of how to cook this french fish soup. First you have to bring the broth up to a vigorous boil so the olive oil and liquid emulsify into one rich base, and then you drop the heat and the fish goes in to cook gently. If you miss that first rolling boil, you’ll get a thinner, less satisfying broth. The name is the recipe!
The dish made its way to Paris at the end of the 18th century, through a restaurant run by two brothers from Marseille, where it became fashionable and started being written about by people like Alexandre Dumas and Gustave Flaubert. From a fisherman’s pot on the shore to Parisian restaurant menus in one generation. Not bad right?
The saffron
Saffron is what gives bouillabaisse its colour, its perfume, and that slight edge of bitterness that keeps all the richness in check. Without saffron you have a perfectly nice french fish soup with good French herbs, but with it you have something out of this world! According to the Michelin Guide Vert, the four essential elements of a true bouillabaisse are saffron, rascasse (which means rockfish of all kind) , olive oil, and the absolute freshness of the fish. So the saffron is non-negotiable. Use good saffron threads and let them sit in a little warm water before they go into the pot so they have time to properly tint and perfume the broth.
The fish
Originally the pot was filled with Mediterranean rockfish full of flavour and full of bones: rascasse, grondin, saint-pierre, conger, vive, and others that were too awkward or bony to sell at market. Outside Marseille you won’t find exactly the same line-up, and that’s fine too as we don’t all have access to these fish. What matters is that you choose firm, flavourful fish, use several kinds rather than just one, and add some extra 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 is a spicy saffron and garlic mayonnaise spread on thick slices of bread rubbed with garlic, then floated on the bouillabaisse when served. And this is not a garnish, it’s part of the dish. The contrast between the sharp aromatic broth and the thick, rich sauce is a huge part of why this bouillabaisse food is so satisfying to eat. Make the rouille ahead so it has time to rest and the flavours settle properly before serving.
How to cook Bouillabaisse
For bouillabaisse seafood you need something wide enough that the fish can sit in the broth without being stacked on top of each other, deep enough that the liquid has room when it boils, and heavy enough to hold steady heat throughout. A good cast iron cocotte with a broad base works really well. It keeps the temperature even during that first vigorous boil and during the long gentle simmer, and it goes straight from hob to table for serving!
How to eat Bouillabaisse
Traditionally, bouillabaisse is served in two parts: the broth comes first, very hot, ladled into deep soup plates with the rouille-topped croutons floating on top. You eat that first, dipping the croutons into the broth, letting the rouille dissolve slowly into it. Then the fish and potatoes are brought to the table separately on a large platter and served alongside. That’s the traditional Marseille way, but to be honest, I prefer mine all in once as I can’t wait to have the explosion of all flavours.
For wine, a dry Provençal rosé is the obvious pairing. A white from Cassis or Bandol works beautifully too, something with enough minerality to hold its own against the saffron and the garlic.
This bouillabaisse dish is what I make for special occasions or a big table dinner party. Because it takes time and seafood isn’t the cheapest of ingredients today. But when I do, I go all out. I make sure I have the best ingredients so that the result is to die for!
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