The Mediterranean coast and the fish of Provence

The French Mediterranean coast runs from the Languedoc lagoons eastward through the Camargue, Marseille and the Var to the Riviera, and its cooking belongs to a sea of warm, clear and relatively poor water. Mastering the Art of French Cooking treats the fish dishes of Provence as a distinct family within French cookery, defined by olive oil, garlic, tomato, saffron and the aromatic herbs of the scrubland rather than by the butter and cream of the north.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking presents the Provençal fish repertoire through its soups and stews, above all the bouillabaisse of Marseille and the soupe de poissons, and it makes plain that these dishes begin with the character of the catch. The Mediterranean offers many small and varied fish rather than great shoals of a single species, and the rockfish of the coast, such as the rascasse (Scorpaena scrofa), the grondin, the congre (Conger conger) and the vive, supply the gelatinous, strongly flavoured broth on which the soups depend. Fish of this kind are bony and unremarkable on the plate, and the cook turns them to account by simmering them hard in the liquid until their flavour passes into it. The seasonings are those of the region itself. Olive oil is the cooking fat, garlic, onion and tomato form the base, and the book calls for saffron, fennel, thyme, bay and a strip of dried orange peel, a combination that gives the Provençal broth its recognisable fragrance. The soup is boiled briskly so that the oil and the water emulsify, a point on which the method of the bouillabaisse turns, and it is finished with the sauce rouille, a paste of garlic, pepper and oil bound with bread or potato, together with toasted bread, so that the table receives the broth and the fish as separate courses or as separate dishes in one service. The same coast supplies the loup de mer or bar (Dicentrarchus labrax), the daurade (Sparus aurata), the rouget and the red mullet, which the book treats more simply, grilled or baked with fennel, olive oil and herbs, since their quality asks for little. Fennel stalks laid beneath or burned beneath a grilled fish are a characteristic southern practice, and the aromatic smoke they give is part of the dish. The anchovy, the sardine and the salt cod of the markets, brandade de morue being the best known of its preparations, show how the coast also cooked with preserved fish, which allowed the sea to supply the inland table throughout the year. The lesson of the Provençal fish kitchen, as the book gives it, is one of proportion and freshness. The cook buys what the sea has given that day, chooses the fish by the eye and the firmness of the flesh, and builds the dish around a small number of strong, local flavours, with the oil, the garlic and the herbs of the hillside speaking for the region as clearly as the fish itself.