Shall we cook?
Breton Soup
Backstory
I have lost count of how many times I’ve heard:
“Fish soup? No, thank you!”
For many people, this dish means boiled potatoes, carrots, onions, rice, and a sad tin of salmon or saury floating somewhere in the middle. I want to show you that there are other ways — not just one or two, but many. Let me introduce you to the fish soups I cook at home at least a couple of times a month I used to travel to France quite often but now I live here as well. I live in a wonderful part of the country, in Finistere, or French land’s end. If you’ve ever been to a French supermarket, you’ve probably seen the jars of fish soup purée in the seafood section. They’re not bad — quite tasty, actually — but I prefer fresh food and rarely use anything from a tin. Still, that very jarred soup was what inspired this recipe. Whenever I go shopping, I can’t walk past the fish counter. I love buying whole, uncleaned fish — the fishmongers adore me for it, because they don’t have to do any work. I usually buy… well, everything, really. I love fish and seafood, and I am very lucky to be living by the Atlantic.
Kitchen Equipment
5‑litre pot — this recipe yields about 5 litres of soup
Well‑sharpened knives — for cleaning fresh fish, peeling vegetables, chopping vegetables and herbs
Kitchen scissors — for trimming fish (especially useful for removing fins from larger fish such as salmon)
Cutting boards — one for fish; one for vegetables
Colander and cheesecloth — for straining the stock
Three deep bowls — one for strained stock; two for separating the cooked fish
Deep frying pan or wok — for sautéing the vegetables
Ingredients
For the fish broth
Sardines — 5 small fish (about 250 g)
Mackerel — 1 fish (about 200 g; Atlantic mackerel is fine)
Herring — 1 fish (about 200 g)
Salmon trimmings — head, bones, fins from a large fish
I usually buy a salmon weighing 2.5–3 kg, fillet it, and use all the trimmings for the soup.
Onion — 1 medium
Bay leaves — 2
Black peppercorns — 5
Allspice berries — 3
Cloves — 3
Sea salt or unrefined rock salt — 1 heaped teaspoon
Sugar — 1 tablespoon
Herb stems from small bunches of parsley, celery, and dill
For the Vegetable Base
Celeriac root — 100 g
Onion — 1 medium
Carrot — 1 medium
Leek — 1 small (or half of a large one)
Fennel bulb — half of a small bulb (about 100 g)
Fresh tomatoes — 2 medium
Tomato paste — 2 tablespoons
Sweet pepper — 1 (preferably yellow, red, or orange)
Natural vinegar — 1 tablespoon
To finish
Pearl barley — 2 tablespoons (or one handful)
Lemon — half
Garlic — 3 cloves
Fresh coriander — half a bunch
Method and Cooking Time
it took me nearly three days when I made this soup for the first time. These days it takes me about one day to have the soup ready to be served. Of course, I do not mean me standing with a ladle by the pot for 24 hours. I can separate the soup preparation on to three main stages or steps:
1. Preparing the fish and making the broth, I usually spend up to an hour on preparing the fish (cutting the heads and the tales off, fileting etc) and about 40 minutes on making the broth (20 minutes to bring everything to a boil and then boiling the broth for another 20 minutes). Give it up to 2 hours in total.
2. Preparing the vegetable and seaweed base. Everything depends on your ability on preparing the fresh vegetables. I do not peel carrots or potatoes, but I do cut of the skin of celeriac and I do wash properly leeks. Half an hour will do
3. finalising the preparation.
Making the broth
This is my usual broth base, but it’s not a strict formula. The soup turns out slightly different every time — it depends on my mood and on what spices I decide to add. I treat any recipe as a canvas and paint on it with flavours.
Cover everything with water so the fish is fully submerged. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat with the lid slightly open for about an hour. This prevents the foam from boiling over. Depending on the fish, you may still need to skim it occasionally.
When the broth is ready, let it cool down, then strain it through a colander. Don’t throw away what’s left — pick out the fish flesh from the bones. That will go back into the soup. If you don’t feel like doing this, give it to the chickens or the cats.
For the Vegetable Base
Celeriac root — 100 g
Onion — 1 medium
Carrot — 1 medium
Leek — 1 small (or half of a large one)
Fennel bulb — half of a small bulb (about 100 g)
Fresh tomatoes — 2 medium
Tomato paste — 2 tablespoons
Sweet pepper — 1 (preferably yellow, red, or orange)
Natural vinegar — 1 tablespoon
To finish
Pearl barley — 2 tablespoons (or one handful)
Lemon — half
Garlic — 3 cloves
Fresh coriander — half a bunch
