La rouille des pêcheurs

Rouille, a fiery sauce of hot red peppers, egg yolks, olive oil and garlic, originally thickened with boiled potato or with breadcrumbs moistened with fish bouillon, was invented by the fishermen of Martigues to give a strong, manly flavour to their homely dish of poached fish and aromatics. The middle classes did not know of its existence until the end of the nineteenth century, when it became the traditional accompaniment for bouillabaisse, first in the region of Martigues and then