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Court-bouillon
Fry 3 sliced onions in 2 tablespoonfuls butter in bottom of stewpan, without burning; add 1 tablespoonful flour, mix well; add slowly 1 pint beef stock; when smooth, put in 1 pound sliced fish, 2 peeled and sliced tomatoes, and 1 cup claret or 1/2 cup vinegar; then another layer of fish and tomatoes. Simmer half an hour. Let the fish be skinned and boned.
Despite the name, this is not the classic French poaching liquid but a Louisiana-style fish stew, thickened with a light roux and reddened with tomato and wine. It comes together in one pan in well under an hour.
- The roux is the hingeThe onions and flour must colour without scorching — a pale gold at most. Burnt flour cannot be rescued and will taint the whole pot with bitterness, so keep the heat moderate and stir steadily.
- Half an hour is too long for most fishThirty minutes of simmering will reduce modern thin fillets to threads. Use thick, firm pieces cut 1 to 1 1/2 inches — catfish, redfish, drum, grouper, cod loin — and expect 10 to 15 minutes; the stew itself can simmer longer before the fish goes in.
- ClaretA dry red Bordeaux or any dry, unoaked red. The 1/2 cup vinegar given as an alternative is sharper than wine, not equivalent; use cider or red wine vinegar and taste before adding all of it.
- Beef stockThis recipe takes beef stock as its base, as a number of period fish stews do. Fish stock or a light chicken stock gives a cleaner result; if you use beef, keep it unsalted and mild so it does not swamp the fish.
- TomatoesTwo fresh tomatoes peeled and sliced were a summer ingredient. Out of season, about 1 cup of drained canned tomatoes gives more reliable body and acidity.
- StewpanA heavy pan or Dutch oven, wide and deep enough to hold two layers of fish and tomato without crowding.
- Don't stir once the fish is inThe layering is deliberate. Shake the pan or spoon liquid over the top rather than stirring, or the fish breaks up into the sauce.
- Yield and servingA pound of fish with a pint of stock serves three as a main course, four as a first course. Serve over rice, as Louisiana kitchens do, with the pan liquid spooned over.
The name causes endless confusion: in classical French kitchens a court-bouillon is the acidulated aromatic liquid in which fish is poached, but in Louisiana courtbouillon (often written and pronounced "coo-bee-yon") is the finished dish — a fish stew built on a roux with onion, tomato and wine, served over rice. This version, with its butter-and-flour roux, onion, tomato and claret, belongs to that Louisiana line rather than to the French poaching liquid.