what is bouillabaisse sauce made of

How to make bouillabaisse: Make a broth, fortified with lots of seafood shells and trimmings (available for a few dollars a pound at your fish counter). Add aromatics seasonings, including the typical ingredients of Provencal France: Garlic cloves, saffron threads, fennel bulb, olive oil and tomatoes.

Step 8: Poach the Remaining Fish in the Broth

Now its time to finish the bouillabaisse. Return the broth to a clean pot and poach all your remaining fish, whether whole or filleted, in it. Larger fish should go in first, since theyll take the longest, and smaller fish or fish fillets should go in last. Since fitting all this into the broth at once can be difficult, you can break this up into batches, too, cooking a couple of the larger fish first, then removing them and cooking the smaller pieces of fish after that.

If youre going to add mussels or other shellfish, cook them at the end, just until they pop open or are fully cooked through.

How to Serve Bouillabaisse

The classic way to serve bouillabaisse is not preassembled in a soup bowl and then brought to the table. Thats the kind of thing chefs like to do in fancy restaurants, but its not how this dish is meant to work.

Instead, pile up all your cooked fish on a platter, and set that on the table. Bring the broth to the table in a separate pot or soup tureen.

Its up to the diners to decide how to eat it.

They can eat the soup alone, spreading rouille on baguette toasts and floating them in the broth, followed by the fish. Or they can load up the soup with pieces of fish and eat it all together.

Then again, who am I to say how to serve this? Youve gone through all this trouble to re-create the spirit of bouillabaisse marseillaise at home, so eat it however you want. I think the authenticity police can sit this part of the conversation out.

Bouillabaisse French Fish Soup | Chef Jean-Pierre

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