Tag: fish stock

  • 0049. Sauce Genevoise, Geneva Sauce

    0049. Sauce Genevoise, Geneva Sauce

     

    Escoffier recipe for making Geneva Sauce, Sauce Genevoise, at home (Escoffier, 49).

    This is a very rich and complex fish sauce. When you cook it, the house smells of salmon and red wine. Pretty yummy!

    Mise en place:
    Mise-en-place for Sauce Genevoise

     

    Sauce Genevoise

    In a large saucepan, sauté the carrots, onion and parsley in butter until tender. Add the thyme sprigs, bay leaf, peppercorns and salmon heads.

    Saute the vegetables and salmon heads

    I had my local fishmongers split and clean the salmon heads for me. (I suggest you do the same!)

    Salmon heads from the fishmonger

    Cover and let steam for 20 minutes. Uncover, drain off the butter, and add 750ml (1 bottle) of red wine.

    Add a bottle of red wine

    Simmer and reduce by half. Stir in 500g of Sauce Espagnole Maigre and gently simmer for an hour. Strain into a clean saucepan…

    Strain the Sauce Genevoise

    Add 500g fumét de poisson, an additional 500g red wine, and reduce some more! And while you’re at it, why not enjoy that remaining 250ml of leftover wine?

    Reduce the Sauce Genevoise

    Finish the sauce by whisking in 150g of cubed butter and some fish essence, anchovy paste or fish sauce to taste.

    Geneva Sauce

    Ingredients
    100g (3/4 cup) diced carrot
    80g (1/2 cup) diced onion
    20g (1/3 cup) chopped parsley
    35g (7 1/2 teaspoons) unsalted butter
    4 fresh thyme sprigs
    1 fresh bay leaf
    16 whole, black peppercorns
    1000g (2 pounds, or about 3) salmon heads, split in half and cleaned
    750ml (3 cups, or 1 bottle) red wine
    500g (2 cups) fish Espagnole sauce
    500g (2 cups, or 2/3 bottle) red wine
    500g (2 cups) fish fumét
    150g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter
    3g (1/2 teaspoon) fish essence, anchovy paste or fish sauce, to taste

    Equipment
    Salter digital scale
    Kitchen knife and cutting board
    Measuring bowls
    Large stockpot
    Wooden spoon
    Wire whisk
    Rubber spatula
    Strainer or chinois
    Medium Saucepan
    Plastic containers

  • 0139. Sauce Normande, Normandy Sauce

    0139. Sauce Normande, Normandy Sauce

     

    Escoffier recipe for making sauce normande, Normandy Sauce, at home (Escoffier 139).

    This sauce is special for serving with Sole Normande but also has a wide range of applications as a basis for other fish sauces. It is a very smooth, white, cream-based sauce with a light, but complex, taste. Perfect in recipes using whitefish, such as sole or tilapia.

    Not the easiest of recipes unless you already just happen to have some velouté de poisson, mushroom stock, mussel stock and fumét de poisson laying around…

    Mise en place for sauce normande:
    Mise en place for Normandy Sauce

     

    Sauce Normande

    In a large stockpot, whisk together fish velouté, mushroom stock, mussel stock and fish fumét. Bring to a simmer.

    In a bowl, whisk together lemon juice, egg yolks and 180g of heavy cream. Whisk this “sour” milk into the just-simmering sauce, and reduce it by one-third on low heat. This will take some time, as you’ll want to keep the heat low to avoid scorching the sauce.

    Once it has reduced, remove the sauce from the heat and strain into a clean saucepan. Finish the sauce by whisking in 114g of cubed, room temp butter and 120g of heavy cream.

    Let cool and store in a sealed plastic container.

    Normandy Sauce

    Ingredients
    660g (2 3/4 cups) fish velouté
    111g (1/2 cup) mussel stock
    130g (1/2 cup) mushroom stock
    167g (2/3 cup) fish fumét
    3g (1/2 teaspoon) lemon juice
    5 egg yolks
    180g (3/4 cup) heavy cream
    114g (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
    120g (1/2 cup) heavy cream

    Equipment
    Salter digital scale
    Kitchen knife and cutting board
    Measuring bowls
    Large stockpot
    Wooden spoon
    Wire whisk
    Rubber spatula
    Strainer or chinois
    Medium Saucepan
    Plastic containers

  • 0017. Sauce Espagnole Maigre, Fish Espagnole Sauce

    0017. Sauce Espagnole Maigre, Fish Espagnole Sauce

     

    Escoffier recipe for making sauce espagnole maigre, fish espagnole, or lenten espagnole sauce, at home (Escoffier, 17).

    Also called Lenten Espagnole, this sauce is made with fish fumét and mushrooms instead of brown stock and meat (usually salt pork or bacon) as in regular Espagnole. Guess you can get away with having this rich sauce during Lent, eh?

    I made a quick version of this sauce instead of the two-day Escoffier method. (Ha! Only 6 hours.)

    Classic Sauce Espagnole Maigre
    fish stock + brown roux + mirepoix + bouquet garni + mushrooms + butter + wine + tomato
    Classic Sauce Espagnole
    brown stock + brown roux + mirepoix + bouquet garni + salt pork + butter + wine + tomato
    Modern Sauce Espagnole
    brown stock + brown roux

    Mise en place:
    Mise en place for Fish Espagnole

     

    Sauce Espagnole Maigre

    In a large stockpot, sauté a mirepoix of diced carrots, onion, mushrooms, thyme and bay leaf in the butter until translucent.

    Saute the mirepoix

    Then add the tomato paste and let brown. Deglaze the pot with the dry white wine and reduce until almost dry.

    What kind of dry white wine is best for fish-based sauces?

    Ever notice they never say what kind to use? It’s always the very vague ‘dry white wine’ you’ll see in recipes. I’ve found sauvignon blanc, chablis, and Noilly Prat vermouth work well. Each has its own flavor, and will affect your end result. But go for the lighter whites, stay away from the sweet whites like sauternes and reislings, or oaky whites like chardonnay.

    Add the fish fumét.

    Gently simmer to reduce the stock, skimming off any foam from the surface, for about 5 hours.

    Simmer the fish Espagnole stock

    Strain and add the brown roux to the reduced stock. Simmer gently for another hour, stirring so it does not stick.

    Brown roux can sometimes have a pronounced flavor. Try the sauce, and if it has a floury flavor, simmer some more.

    Sauce Espagnole Maigre

    Remove from heat, strain, and stir occasionally until the sauce is completely cold.

    Lenten Espagnole sauce

    Ingredients
    65g (1/2 cup) diced carrots
    40g (1/4 cup) diced onions
    65g (3/4 cup) diced button or brown mushrooms
    35g (7 1/2 teaspoons) unsalted butter
    33g (2 tablespoons) tomato paste
    100g (1/2 cup) dry white wine
    1000g (4 cups) fish fumét
    2 sprigs fresh thyme
    1 fresh bay leaf
    125g (1 cup) brown roux

    Total time: Prep: 15 minutes, Cook: 6-8 hours

    Yields: 2-4 quarts of stock, depending on how long you simmer it.

    Equipment
    Salter digital scale
    Kitchen knife and cutting board
    Measuring bowls
    Large stockpot
    Wooden spoon
    Wire whisk
    Rubber spatula
    Strainer or chinois
    Medium Saucepan
    Plastic containers

  • 0022. Velouté de Poisson, Fish Velouté

    0022. Velouté de Poisson, Fish Velouté

     

    Escoffier recipe for making velouté de poisson, fish velouté sauce, at home (Escoffier, 22).

    Velouté (“veh-looh-TAY”) is one of the five ‘mother sauces’ of classical French cuisine. Fish velouté, or velouté de poisson (“veh-looh-TAY day PWAH-sohn”) is used in making lighter-colored and compound sauces such as Sauce Bercy, Sauce Normandie, and others. Fish veloute is a white sauce lightly flavored with fish stock, or fumét, and thickened with a blond roux.

    Mise en place for fish velouté:
    Fish Veloute

     

    Fish Velouté

    Heat the fish fumét up in a medium saucepan, and gradually stir in the cold (or room temp) blond roux. Colder roux works best when it is mixed with a hot liquid. A couple general rules about roux: The darker the roux, the more flavorful it will be; and the lighter the roux, the less you’ll need to thicken a sauce. This is because the longer you cook your roux, the quicker the starch in the flour breaks down. A blond roux does well to both flavor and thicken a velouté de poisson, while keeping the velouté light in color.

    Veloute de Poisson

    Simmer for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid a skin forming on the surface, and voila! There you have it.

    Veloute de Poisson

    Ingredients
    1000g (4 cups) fish fumét
    155g (1 1/4 cups) blond roux

    Equipment
    Salter digital scale
    Measuring bowls
    Medium saucepan
    Wire whisk
    Rubber spatula
    Plastic containers

  • 0006. Fumét de Poisson, Fish Fumét, Fish Stock

    0006. Fumét de Poisson, Fish Fumét, Fish Stock

    Escoffier recipe for making fish stock, fish fumét, fumét de poisson, at home (Escoffier, 6).

    Fish Stock

    In French, fish stock is called fumét de poisson. If you buy your fish whole and clean it yourself, this is really easy to make with the leftover bones and scraps. And you’re not wasting anything!

    Fish stock, or fumét, is a ‘foundation’ recipe, used as a base in fish soups, chowders, dishes and sauces like Lenten Espagnole, Normandie and Genevoise. You want a good, clean, subtle flavor for your stock. So use mild, lean, whitefish like sole, halibut, cod or flounder. Avoid fatty, oily fish like salmon, trout or mackerel. Their taste can overpower your stock. (Which is not to say that’s a bad thing — rich sauces such as Genevoise call for salmon and red wine!)

    You can use any lean whitefish scraps and bones for stock. If you don’t feel like gutting and cleaning the fish yourself, go to a local Asian market and buy some whole fish. You can have the butcher fillet it for you and ask them to split the heads, and keep the scraps for stock. Some places even sell fish heads and tails for this very reason.

    I went to Seafood City Supermarket (1420 East Plaza Blvd. Building C, National City, CA 91950, 619-477-6080) and bought a whole carp for an Escoffier recipe I was cooking. It’s a local favorite of mine for finding great buys on fish, and was even featured on Bizarre Foods. (Yes, I know, I know, I used carp — which is not the whitest of fish for the stock, but hey — it was what I was working with.)

    This version of the recipe differs from Escoffier’s slightly. Instead of all onion, we use half onion and half leek, which is milder. You could easily use the whole amount of onion and omit the leek. And optionally, we add a bit of thyme for more flavor.

    Fish scraps for fish fumet

    If you’re using them, rinse off the heads and tails. Roast the fish bones and scraps in a little canola oil in a 400ºF oven until browned, about 15 minutes. Roasting the bones will help give your stock natural color and enhance its flavor.

    Mise en place:
    Mise-en-place for fish stock

    In a large stockpot over low heat, sauté the chopped onion, leek and mushrooms in butter until they become translucent, about 5-10 minutes.

    Saute the vegetables for the base of the fish stock

    Add the roasted fish bones and scraps and cook for about 5 minutes more. Deglaze the pan with dry white wine and reduce until almost dry.

    What kind of dry white wine is best for fish stock?

    Ever notice they never say what kind to use? It’s always the very vague ‘dry white wine’ you’ll see in recipes. I’ve found Sauvignon Blanc, Chablis, Noilly Prat vermouth work well. Each has its own flavor, and will affect your end result. But go for the lighter whites, stay away from the sweet whites like Sauternes and Reislings, or oaky whites like Chardonnay.

    Add the roasted fish bones to the vegetables

    Add the water, chopped parsley, peppercorns, thyme and lemon juice. Simmer for 30 minutes, skimming any foam off the surface.

    Skim the stock

    Let cool, then strain the stock through a chinois. Reserve the stock in plastic containers.

    Finished fish stock

    Fish stock be refrigerated for several days, or frozen and used later. Note: do not cover and refrigerate hot stocks or sauces, as they can sour quickly in the fridge — always let them cool before you refrigerate!

    Ingredients
    1000g (2 1/4 pounds) fish heads, bones, tails and scraps
    Canola oil to cover bottom of roasting pan
    28g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter
    100g (2/3 cup) chopped white or yellow onion
    100g (1 cup) chopped leek
    128g (1 1/2 cups) chopped white button mushrooms
    200g (3/4 cup) dry white wine
    5000g (1 1/2 gallons) water, to completely cover fish bones
    20g (1/3 cup) chopped parsley
    12 black peppercorns
    60g (4 tablespoons) lemon juice
    5g (5 teaspoons) fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

    Equipment
    Salter digital scale
    Measuring bowls
    Cutting board and kitchen knife
    Large stock pots
    Wooden spoon
    Chinois, strainer or sieve
    Spoon or small strainer for skimming
    Small bowl
    Plastic containers

    Total time: Prep: 15 minutes, Cook: 45 minutes

    Yields: 2-4 quarts of stock, depending on how long you simmer it.

    From the Book:
    6 Fish Stock

    Place the onions, parsley stalks and mushroom trimmings into a pan, add the bones and trimmings of fish, cover with the water and add the wine and lemon juice. Bring to the boil quickly and skim carefully. Allow to simmer very gently for 20 minutes then add the peppercorns and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Pass through a strainer and use as required.

    Notes:
    1) The use of inferior quality white wine will cause the stock to go a grey colour and it is far better to omit the wine altogether rather than use one of doubtful quality.
    2) This stock is used mainly in the preparation of fish sauces; if it is to be used for making Lenten or fish Espagnole the ingredients should be stewed in a little butter before the liquid is added.

    A. Escoffier. Le guide culinaire: the complete guide to modern cookery, H.L. Cracknell & R.J.Kaufmann, transl.