We were dressed to the nines, decked out in our cavallis, chanel clutches, jimmy choos and louboutin pumps, because we had to keep up with all the other beautiful people, who were also enjoying fish soup in the summertime. Or were they in the scorching heat this year? Whether or not, Tetou restaurant in the Cote D’Azure, “the King of Bouillabaisse”, was the place to see and be seen starting in May during the Cannes Film Festival. As I sip on my verre d’eau, sans gaz, I look around and wonder how a poor man’s soup created from the leftover bones of the fishermen’s catch that day has evolved into such a delicacy with status, you actually look forward to spending all your money on.
Bouillabaisse originated in the southern coastal city of Marseilles and as the apocryphal story goes, Venus served it to her husband Vulcan to lull him to sleep, while she consorted with her lover, Mars. Many Greek food writers have claimed that it was the Greeks, from Asia Minor, who founded Marseilles in about 600 B.C. brought with them a fish soup called Kakavia, which was the basis to the future bouillabaisse. Though there are several mentions in the culinary writings of the ancient Greeks of boiled fish in various ways and a fish stew, we can never be truly sure that such a soup was “brought” to the Western Mediterranean.
There are also other write-ups on fish stew in fifteenth century Italian cook books as well as in seventeenth century French cookbooks, stating that their specific recipe is the precursor of bouillabaisse. But since boiling fish is such a straightforward and obvious process, it’s not that easy to pinpoint one location as the origin.
So what’s the secret that lies behind its exquisite taste? Well it’s definitely not the fish, because all fish stews and soups have fish but it’s the connection, the beautiful unique chemistry between the saffron, fennel seeds and orange zest in the fish broth. Yes orange zest! It’s similar to getting a good dose of sunshine in your bowl. The soup has been termed the “magical synthesis” by famous provencal food writer Jean Noel Escudier or even soup of gold, soupe d’or, by famous French epicure Curnonsky. Funnily enough, though there‘s no indication of any magic in the word “Bouillabaisse; when you break down the word to bouillon abaisse; it simply means to reduce by evaporation.
The broth is the foundation from which the soup is built and it’s prepared from the bones of the whole fish as they’re being cooked, which are then filleted. Bouillabaisse shouldn’t be made for less than eight people, because it calls for a great variety of fish and you would need that many people to get the bare minimum amount of fish. According to chef Julia Child, who lived in Marseilles, “to me the telling flavor of bouillabaisse comes from two things: the Provençal soup base — garlic, onions, tomatoes, olive oil, fennel, saffron, thyme, bay, and usually a bit of dried orange peel — and, of course, the fish — lean (non-oily), firm-fleshed, soft-fleshed, gelatinous, and shellfish.” The broth is boiled at such a high temperature at first so the olive oil binds and doesn’t create a separate layer on top.
In Tetou, they use Mediterranean fish such as rascasse ‘scorpionfish’, daurade ‘seabream’, St. Pierre ‘John Dory’, Roujet ‘red snapper’ and lobster. The meal is served in two parts starting with grilled, round pieces of bread ‘crouton’ with spicy rouille perfectly spread on top and placed at the bottom of your shallow soup bowl; its vibrant orange color striking against the crisp whiteness. Rouille is a mayonnaise made from garlic, olive oil, saffron and cayenne pepper or chilli peppers. It’s one of my favorite items on the menu and I pile a few croutons on my plate with heaps of rouille. The first bowl of soup is like a tease, taste run for your taste-buds, to be enjoyed on its own with the rouille, which melts in the broth and lends it a spicy kick.
The cooked whole fish are then expertly filleted with surgical dexterity in front of the guests by an assigned professional-looking waiter in a grey blazer. The fillets are then served on plates that cover the soup bowls to seal in the heat along with slices of buttery, flavorful orange potatoes because they’ve been cooked in the broth. After you’ve had your fill of fish or more like an over dose, dessert is always recommended. If you happen to visit Tetou in May, the beignets with their variety of homemade jams: tomato, grapefruit, watermelon, peach, apricot and cherry are remarkable and shouldn’t be missed, otherwise you’d have to settle for their fresh, sweet-as-candy strawberry and raspberry tarts in the summer months.
