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French · Dieppe

Marmite Dieppoise

The marmite dieppoise is Dieppe’s signature seafood stew — the Norman Channel coast’s answer to bouillabaisse, distinguished by its cream-based sauce, its cider-white wine liquor, and its emphasis on Northern Atlantic species. Unlike Mediterranean fish stews that rely on saffron and tomato, the marmite dieppoise builds its flavor on Normandy’s dairy richness and the natural sweetness of cold-water shellfish. The dish begins with a fumet made from sole or turbot bones simmered with leek, celery, shallot, bouquet garni, dry white wine, and dry cider (the cider is the Norman signature). The fish selection is canonical: sole (or turbot) fillets, monkfish medallions, and salmon or sea bass provide the firm-fleshed base; mussels, langoustines, and scallops provide the shellfish component; shrimp are added at the end. The cooking is sequenced: shellfish are steamed open in the fumet first and removed; the firm fish is poached at 78-80°C in the combined fumet-shellfish liquor; delicate fish added for the final 4-5 minutes. The sauce is the fumet reduced by half, enriched with 300ml crème fraîche and 50g butter whisked in, producing a glossy ivory sauce with extraordinary seafood depth. A final addition of blanched julienned leek provides the characteristic green-on-ivory visual contrast. The assembled marmite — fish, shellfish, and sauce in a deep terrine — should present a glorious abundance of sea creatures in their cream-cider bath. Bread, not potatoes, accompanies it. The Confrérie de la Marmite Dieppoise maintains exacting standards at their annual competition.

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ServesFour portions
Sourced0of 18 in BC
Cook
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I

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

For the fumet
500 g
sole or turbot bones
rinsed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
leek
roughly sliced
Your own market
2
celery sticks
roughly sliced
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
3
shallots
peeled and halved
Your own market
1
bouquet garni
bay, thyme, parsley stalks
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 ml
dry white wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 ml
dry Norman cider
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the fish
300 g
sole or turbot fillets
skin removed, cut into portions
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
300 g
monkfish
trimmed, cut into medallions
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
300 g
salmon or sea bass fillets
skin removed, cut into portions
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the shellfish
500 g
mussels
scrubbed and debearded
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
8
langoustines
live or very fresh, in their shells
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
8
scallops
shelled, corals intact if present
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 g
shrimp
raw, shell on; added at the finish
Your own market
For the sauce
300 ml
crème fraîche
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
50 g
unsalted butter
cold, cut into cubes
Your own market
For the garnish
2
leeks
white and pale-green parts only, finely julienned, blanched
Your own market
To serve
1
good country bread or sourdough loaf
sliced; no potatoes
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
II

The Method

1
Combine the fish bones, leek, celery, shallots, bouquet garni, white wine, and dry cider in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring to a bare simmer and cook for 20 minutes; do not allow to boil. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing lightly. The fumet should be pale, clear, and faintly sweet with cider.
2
Steam the mussels in a covered pan over high heat with a splash of the fumet until they open — 3 to 4 minutes. Remove immediately; discard any that remain shut. Strain the mussel liquor through muslin into the fumet. Add the langoustines, in their shells, to the combined liquor and poach for 3 minutes over a moderate heat; remove and reserve. Add the scallops for 2 minutes; remove and reserve. The combined shellfish-fumet liquor is now the poaching medium.
From the canon — Poaching is cooking a protein in liquid at a temperature below the boil — typically 75–85°C for most proteins, with variations specific to each. Poaching (Pocher) →
3
This is where the dish lives or dies: bring the combined liquor to exactly 78–80 °C — a trembling surface, no rolling boil — and slide in the monkfish medallions. After 3 minutes add the sole or turbot and the salmon or sea bass. After a further 4–5 minutes the flesh should yield to the lightest pressure without flaking apart; it must remain barely set at the centre. Lift all fish carefully from the liquor and keep warm.
4
Add the raw shrimp to the residual hot liquor off direct heat; they require only 1–2 minutes until they are pink and just firm. Remove and reserve with the other shellfish.
5
Return the poaching liquor to a wide pan over a brisk flame and reduce by half. Add the crème fraîche and continue to reduce until the sauce coats a spoon in a thin, pourable layer — it must not be pasty. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cold butter cube by cube until the sauce is glossy and ivory in colour. Adjust seasoning.
6
Warm a deep terrine or copper marmite. Arrange the fish portions and all the shellfish — langoustines in their shells, mussels in the half-shell, scallops, shrimp — in abundant layers. Ladle the sauce over the assembly. Distribute the blanched julienned leek across the surface so that its green shows clearly against the ivory sauce. Bring the marmite to the table unbroken.
III

Quality Hierarchy

01
Reserve — Turbot bones for the fumet (high gelatin, exceptional body); live langoustines; hand-dived scallops; raw milk crème fraîche from a Norman dairy.
02
Estate — Sole bones; very fresh langoustines on ice; farmed scallops; good commercial crème fraîche; a single-domaine dry Norman cider.
03
Market — Mixed white-fish bones; supermarket langoustines (fresh, not frozen); fresh mussels; full-fat crème fraîche; any dry Breton or Norman cider.
04
House — The minimum: three distinct fish species and three shellfish types, all fresh — frozen shellfish yield no useful liquor and collapse on reheating.
IV

Sensory Tests

◇Smell. The finished fumet carries a clean, sweet marine aroma with a distinct cider note; any muddiness or bitterness means the bones boiled rather than simmered.
◇Sight. Mussels open fully within 3–4 minutes; any that remain shut after this period are discarded.
◇Touch. The poached fish yields to the lightest finger pressure — a faint resistance at the centre, no flaking — indicating it is barely set and still moist.
◇Sight. The finished sauce is pourable and coats a spoon in a thin, glossy ivory film; it flows freely when ladled rather than sitting in heavy folds.
◇Where it lives or dies. The poaching temperature of 78–80 °C must be maintained throughout: a rolling boil destroys the texture of every species simultaneously and cannot be corrected.
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VI

What to Pour

The pairing
Bushmills Malt 10 Year Old
Old Bushmills Distillery · County Antrim — Bushmills Distillery
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia

Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.

Without alcohol

No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.

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The whole pairing
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Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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