THE BOUILLABAISSE may be attempted in England with a result sufficiently satisfactory to warrant my being bold enough to recommend a simple recipe for it, adapted from that of Gouffé, as follows:—
Take any sort of small fish, such as flounders, little whitings, slips, red mullet, &c.—the greater the variety the better—cut them in pieces, and for two pounds of mixed fish, slice up four ounces of tomatoes freed from seeds, six ounces of onions, three ounces of carrot, one ounce of parsley, and half an ounce of celery; put these into a stew-pan with a clove of garlic, four cloves, two bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, and two shallots (one ounce), adding a tablespoonful of salad oil, a quarter of an ounce of salt, six peppercorns, half an ounce of capsicum sliced, and the finely peeled rind of a lemon.
Cover with a quart of cold water, or, better far, fish stock: boil for about half an hour, keeping the stew-pan closely covered, and, just before finishing, add a heaped-up tablespoonful of freshly chopped curled parsley. The parsley is absolutely indispensible; it ought not to be very finely minced, but it should be scalded before being added. The dish should be served in this manner:—
Remove the pieces of fish, brushing off any pieces of vegetable that may adhere to them, and pile them on a hot dish. Strain off the broth, add a teaspoonful of saffron to it and pour it through a strainer into a hot soup tureen with the parsley. Hand the fish round, and some sippets of dry toast also.