🇫🇷 France · Saintonge and Charente (Charente-Maritime), also Vendée
ChaudréeCharente fish chowder
A fish soup of the Atlantic coast of Charente, a white-wine court-bouillon holding several kinds of small fish with onions and, in many recipes, potatoes, simple in the Charente and richer at Fouras with butter and sole.
Origin and history
Chaudrée is the fish stew of the Charente and Vendée coast, a white-wine court-bouillon of small fish that a boat's crew could not sell. Its name is traced to the chaudière or chaudron, the pot it was cooked in, and Routard calls it the Charentais or Vendéen cousin of Brittany's cotriade. Anne Willan writes that the word travelled with cod fishermen to the Grand Banks and became 'chowder'.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 10 min
- Hands-on
- 35 min
Ingredients
- 900 g2 lb mixed skinless fish fillets, always including cod, plus sole, whiting, gurnard or similar; in 5 cm / 2 in chunks, firm fish and delicate fish kept apart
- 110 g1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, half for the pot, half diced for the bowls
- 675 g1 1/2 lb onions, about 4, quartered
- 400 g14 oz waxy potatoes (optional), Fran Warde's Charentaise form; boiled in their skins for 10 minutes, then peeled and sliced; leave out for Willan's version
- 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 whole cloves, pressed into one piece of onion
- 500 ml2 cups dry white wine
- 750 ml3 cups water, plus more if needed
- 30 g1 oz flat-leaf parsley, stems tied into the bouquet garni, leaves chopped
- 1 large bouquet garni, bay, thyme and parsley stems
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 lemon, half juiced, half in wedges
- 4 slices baguette, toasted or fried in butter, for the croûtes
Method
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1. Melt half the butter in a wide flameproof casserole over medium heat.
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2. Spread the quartered onions and chopped garlic over the bottom, tucking the clove-studded onion piece among them, and layer the sliced potatoes on top if using.
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3. Lay the firm fish on the potatoes and the delicate fish above it.
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4. Pour in the wine and enough water to just cover the fish, add the bouquet garni, salt and pepper, and bring to the boil, skimming off the foam often.
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5. Reduce to a simmer and cook 4 to 6 minutes, until the fish is just tender and flakes at the thickest part.
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6. Lift out the fish with a slotted spoon and keep it warm.
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7. Boil the broth hard for 25 to 30 minutes, until reduced by about half and the onions are soft and golden.
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8. Meanwhile toast the croûtes and chop the parsley leaves.
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9. Discard the bouquet garni and cloves, add the lemon juice and taste for salt and pepper.
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10. Return the fish to the pot for a minute to warm through without breaking it.
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11. Put a few cubes of cold butter in each hot bowl, ladle in the chowder, scatter with parsley and serve very hot with a lemon wedge and croûtes.
Notes
- The fish is whatever the boats landed. The Eatwell101 recipe names raiteaux (small skate), cuttlefish, small eels and mixed fish; La Langue Française cites soles, gurnard, red mullet, eels and small cuttlefish (casserons). Use several kinds, firm ones such as cod on the bottom and delicate ones such as sole on top.
- This version follows Anne Willan's Fouras recipe, which has no potatoes and gets its body from onions, butter and reduced broth. Fran Warde's Charentaise recipe adds sliced potatoes, and Eatwell101 lists potatoes and cream or milk as variants.
- Willan cites La Cuisine du Poitou (1932) for finishing with lemon and butter; the cold butter goes in the hot bowls. Serve it very hot with croûtes.
- The broth can be cooked ahead; reheat gently and add the fish last so it does not overcook.
Adapted from Anne Willan, The Country Cooking of France (2007), La Chaudrée, Fouras version and Fran Warde, New Bistro (2009), Chaudrée Charentaise (potato method).
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.