Bouillabaisse – A Classic French Broth [Recipe]

Bouillabaisse is a typical French culinary dish, common in the Mediterranean region, a broth prepared from assorted white fish, sea creatures, vegetables and aromatic herbs.

Want to jump straight to the recipe? Use the interactive index below. Want to know more about Bouillabaisse before cooking, you can follow the reading in order and you won’t regret it.

History of Bouillabaisse

The Legend: Venus, the Roman goddess of love, created Bouillabaisse to make her husband Vulcan sleep so she could be with Mars. Her Lover.

Already, many European gastronomic historians point to Bouillabaisse as a descendant of kakavia, a traditional soup of the ancient Greeks, who colonized Marseille around 600 BC.

A dish if developed over the centuries by the poor fishermen of the region to feed their families by placing various species of fish and sea creatures and water in an iron cauldron.

At the end of the 18th century, it began to be served in restaurants. And in the 1980s a group of 11 local restaurateurs drew up the Bouillabaisse Marseillaise Chart, codifying the ingredients and how to prepare and serve it.

The broth served in a soup plate and the fish meat from the stew served with toast and Rouille sauce.

The great distinguishing feature of this dish labeled as “d’or soupe” or golden soup is the original aroma and flavor derived from the combinations of ingredients that make Bouillabaisse something special.

Bouillabaisse Recipe

• • Type of Preparation: Main Dish
• • Cuisine: French
• • Yield: 10 servings
• • Preparation Time: 20 minutes
• • Cooking time: 1 hour and 40 minutes
• • Total Time: 2 hours
• • Calories: Bouillabaisse = 514.21 Kcal / Rouille Sauce = 135.00 Kcal 

Bouillabaisse Ingredients

• • 2kg of three types of firm whole fish;
• • 1.2 kg of shrimps in their shells;
• • 300 grams of cleaned scallops;
• • 500 grams of cleaned mussels;
• • 4 tablespoons of olive oil;
• • 1 cup chopped onion,
• • 4 cloves of garlic, minced,
• • 1 leek only white part chopped,
• • 1 chopped fennel bulb,
• • 1 piece of orange peel without the white part,
• • 400 grams of peeled tomatoes,
• • 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds,
• • Thyme, parsley, green onion and basil to taste,
• • 1 tablespoon turmeric powder;
• • 250 ml dry white wine;
• • Pepper and salt to taste;
• • 2 to 3 liters of water;
• • 1 medium potato (Rouille sauce);
• • 1 small egg yolk (Rouille sauce);
• • 2 cloves of garlic (Rouille sauce);
• • 1 cup of olive oil (Rouille sauce);
• • Salt and black pepper to taste (Rouille sauce);
• • 1 pinch of saffron powder (Rouille sauce);

How to Prepare the Bouillabaisse

Start by preparing the Rouille sauce:

Cook the potato in salted water, drain and peel;

In a bowl, squeeze the potato while still warm, add the minced garlic and mix together.

Always stirring, add the egg yolk, saffron, salt and pepper.

While stirring, continue to pour in the olive oil until the mixture is creamy like mayonnaise. Set aside.

Sauce ready, then it’s time to prepare the Bouillabaisse:

Dilute the saffron in 250 ml of dry white wine. Set aside.

Remove the heads and bones from the fish and remove the shells from the shrimp. Set aside.

In a pan sauté the onion, garlic, fennel, leek, black pepper and fennel seeds in olive oil.

When the onion is transparent, add the shrimp shells and the heads and bones of the reserved fish.

Let it cook for 10 minutes and add the tomatoes and the saffron diluted in the wine.

Let it cook for another 10 minutes and add the water and fresh herbs.

On low heat, simmer for about 50 minutes.

Turn off the heat, transfer to a container and strain well to obtain enough broth.

Return the strained broth to the pan and add the fish from largest to smallest, one by one, 2 minutes apart.

Cook for another 25 minutes. Add the shrimp, scallops and mussels and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Set aside.

Dish Finishing

Heat the reserved sauce and transfer to a saucepan.

Pour the very hot broth into the container to be served.

Remove the fish meat and distribute on a platter along with bread toast to be savored drizzled with the Rouille sauce.

A tip to vary the way you serve it

You can serve the Bouillabaisse without removing the fish meat as a soup with or without the Rouille sauce on top.

To see our other recipes here on the site, click here.