La Meurette—The Burgundian Stew of Fish in Red Wine

This is the classic French dish which proves that red wine and fish do sometimes go together perfectly. The secret is that the Burgundians use the rich, oily-fleshed fish from their lakes and rivers to balance their rich red wines. In our saltier part of the world, we can still strike a good balance with a mixture of about ⅓ freshwater fish, about ⅓ oily-fleshed saltwater fish and ⅓ shellfish—always with some eel as an essential ingredient. In our Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf waters the princ