Bourride is a Mediterranean fish dish bathed in a sauce infused with garlic and inflected with hints of orange and sunshine. If you’ve been to the French Riviera you may have had the luck to encounter it. Elsewhere there’s little chance you would have run into this undeservedly lesser known cousin of bouillabaisse. I’ve rarely seen it in restaurants in Paris. Which is why, shortly after tasting it for the first time, I learned how to make it.
Bourride / Bourride
The star of bourride is aïoli, aka garlic mayonnaise. Unlike a normal mayonnaise, aïoli consists only of egg yolks, garlic and olive oil — no mustard, no lemon juice. The first step in making the dish is to create a fragrant broth that includes a strip of dried orange peel. While the broth is cooking, you make the aïoli and cut up some veggies — carrots and finocchio — as well as the fish. But which fish?
There are probably as many recipes for bourride as there are chefs in Provence. Some use monkfish (lotte), which has the considerable advantage of holding together nicely when it is boiled. But any firm, white-fleshed fish may be used. In the photo above, I used cod.
To complete the dish, the veggies are sautéed in olive oil, simmered until nearly tender in the broth, and then the fish is added. Aïoli is swirled in at the end, with an extra yolk added to thicken the sauce. Serve and prepare for applause.
Because of the delicate chemistry of the sauce, bourride must be served immediately upon preparation. Which raises the question of what to serve as a first course. My recommendation would be to offer hors d’oeuvres during cocktail hour — something that may be eaten before moving to the table, like parmesan apéritif chips, a savory cake with walnuts and roquefort or chicken liver pâté on toast. Then, while your guests are enjoying themselves, you can disappear to the kitchen and finish the dish.
Following up, you could serve a salad of tender leaves (mesclun), with cheese during or after, and a fruity dessert, for example poires au caramel (caramelized pears). And a good bourride deserves a good wine, from the region if possible, such as a chilled white from Cassis or rosé from Bandol. Bon appétit! And…
Happy cooking.
Can you use regular mayo instead of making an aioli yourself?
Hello Maria. You could add garlic and olive oil to store-bought mayonnaise to make an ersatz aïoli, but frankly I wouldn’t recommend it — as homemade mayonnaise is hugely superior and can be prepared in just five minutes. If you’ve never done it before, this might be a good time to try. There’s a how-to video on the site — click on Videos on the black bar at the top of the page and you’ll find it. Any extra mayo may then be kept in a jar in the fridge for a couple of weeksm for use with anything from the popular French starter ‘oeufs durs mayonnaise’ to cold roast chicken, roast beef, shrimp or cooked veggies. Good luck!
This looks delicious. I’ve never had bouillabaisse because of my shellfish allergy, but this I could eat. Yum.
Beautiful, Meg! I had bourride in Marseille and have been dreaming about it ever since!