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Matelote
BOUILLON (FROM CUBES) RED WINE (PREF- ERABLY MEDOC) I TABLESPOON OLIVE OIL 12 MUSHROOMS 12 SMALL ONIONS SALT PEPPER I TABLESPOON BUTTER For this you need a large frying pan and a small one. Cut fish into convenient pieces and season with salt and pepper; put it in large pan with carrot, onion, garlic, celery, cloves and herbs. Cover with a mixture of half bouillon and half red wine. In the little pan, heat small peeled onions in olive oil until they begin to brown, and add. Simmer until done. In 1/2 hour both fish and onions will be tender, the onions nicely colored red and all liquid absorbed. Fry mushrooms in butter in small pan, and when done put on a platter with the fish and onions; add flour to what's left in the mushroom pan, pour over it 1 cup bouillon, stir well, and empty into the pan the fish was cooked in. Boil up this sauce and pour over the fish, onions and mushrooms on the platter. À la matelote, literally "Sailor's Style," is a celebrated French method of preparing fish, especially those caught in fresh-water.
A freshwater fish stew in the classic French manner, cooked down until the wine-and-bouillon bath has nearly vanished. The whole dish hinges on that reduction, so judge it by the pan rather than the clock.
- Choice of fishMatelote traditionally uses firm freshwater fish — carp, eel, pike, perch — cut into thick crosswise chunks so they hold together. Delicate fillets will fall apart in half an hour of simmering; use steaks or thick sections on the bone, or shorten the fish's time in the pan and simmer the aromatics first.
- The quantity of fish is not statedThe ingredient list as given begins partway through, so no weight appears. Twelve small onions and twelve mushrooms would suit something in the region of 2 to 3 lb of fish, serving four to six.
- Bouillon cubesCubes vary a good deal in salt and strength. Use about 2 cups of light stock, unsalted or lightly salted, and season the dish at the end rather than the beginning, since the liquid reduces almost to nothing.
- WineMédoc means a dry, tannic red from the left bank of Bordeaux. Any dry, medium-bodied red without oak sweetness works; avoid anything jammy, which turns cloying as the liquid concentrates. Half wine, half bouillon by volume, enough to just cover.
- "Until all liquid absorbed"The liquid is not absorbed so much as reduced and clinging. Keep the pan at a bare simmer, uncovered, and expect to move the fish to the platter before the reduction is finished if it threatens to overcook.
- The sauce thickeningNo flour quantity is given. For roughly a cup of bouillon, 1 to 1½ tablespoons of flour stirred into the mushroom butter gives a sauce that coats; cook the roux a minute before adding liquid or it will taste raw.
- AromaticsCarrot, onion, garlic, celery, cloves and herbs are called for in the method. A bouquet of thyme, parsley stems and a bay leaf, two or three cloves stuck into an onion half, and one crushed garlic clove is the standard reading. Fish out the cloves and herb stems before serving.
- Outdoor cookingTwo pans at once -- Two pans over a single heat source is awkward; if you are cooking over a fire, set the large pan over steady coals and do the onions and mushrooms in the small pan on a grate at the edge, where the heat is gentler.