🇫🇷 France · Brittany (Lorient and the south)
CotriadeBreton fish and potato soup
A Breton fish soup of several kinds of fish (mackerel, hake, pollock, conger and whatever the catch brings) cooked with waxy potatoes, onions, garlic, a bouquet garni and white wine, with salted butter. The broth is drunk as a soup and the fish and potatoes follow.
Origin and history
Cotriade is the traditional fish dish of the Breton fishing ports. The Lorient tourist office says it is attested in writing in 1877 in southern Brittany and is probably older, and that its name comes from the Breton kaoter, a cauldron. Sailors cooked it aboard from their share of the catch and drank the broth first before eating the fish.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h
- Hands-on
- 30 min
Ingredients
- 1 kg2.2 lb mixed whole or cut fish, at least 2 kinds, such as monkfish, mackerel, hake, conger; cut in thick slices
- 1 kg2.2 lb waxy potatoes, peeled, cut in thick rounds
- 4-5 onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 200 g14 tbsp (7 oz) salted butter (beurre demi-sel), the Lorient quantity; use less for a lighter broth
- 1 bouquet garni, thyme, bay, parsley
- 200 ml3/4 cup dry white wine
- 1.5 l1 1/2 quarts water, just enough to cover
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- 6 tbsp olive oil, for the vinaigrette
- 2 tbsp vinegar, for the vinaigrette
- parsley, chives, shallots, chopped, for the vinaigrette
- bread, to serve
Method
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1. Melt the butter in a large cast-iron pot or heavy casserole and cook the onions until they are well browned, about 15 minutes.
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2. Add the potatoes, season, then add the garlic, bouquet garni, white wine and water just to cover.
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3. Simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are nearly tender.
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4. Meanwhile whisk the olive oil, vinegar, chives, shallots and parsley into a vinaigrette and season it.
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5. Lay in the fish, firmest pieces first (monkfish, conger), then the delicate ones (hake, mackerel). Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring very gently so the fish stays whole.
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6. Ladle the broth into bowls over bread and eat it first as a soup.
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7. Then serve the fish and potatoes on plates, with the vinaigrette.
Notes
- Lorient tourist office describes cotriade as the dish sailors cooked aboard on returning from fishing, using the godaille, their extra share of the catch, and they drank the broth first, then ate the fish.
- The fish depends on the day's catch. Lorient's recipe lists monkfish, mackerel, hake and conger and asks for at least two species; the Christian Science Monitor recipe uses four types among mackerel, porgy, sardines, whiting, redfish, cusk, cod, hake or halibut, with leeks instead of garlic, and mentions sorrel as an occasional addition.
- Lorient uses 200 g of salted butter for 1 kg of fish. The older recipe from Paul Féval's novel, quoted by La Langue Française, has no butter or potatoes but conger, ray, mullet, dorade and mackerel with onions and a dash of vinegar.
- Lorient suggests garlic croutons and a few mussels as garnish, a muscadet or dry Breton cider alongside, and buttered salted bread. Modern versions add shellfish such as mussels, langoustines or crab.
- Serve the fish and potatoes right away and keep the broth to eat as soup with bread.
Adapted from Lorient Bretagne Sud Tourisme: Cotriade, Christian Science Monitor, 1980: Cotriade (Brittany Fisherman's Stew), and La Langue Française: Cotriade.
At the festivals
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