The French Touch: Favorite Fish Stews

In France, wherever there is water, you will find fish stew. In the north, along the Channel coast, white fish such as cod is simmered with mussels in Chaudrée, the ancestor of American chowder. On the Atlantic, Basque fishermen take the same cod and spice it with chili and plenty of garlic in Ttoro. I will always remember the amazing Bouillabaisse I enjoyed on the

waterfront in Marseille, a banquet of a dozen different fish and shellfish moistened with a red-gold broth perfumed with saffron. On the side came croûtes fried in olive oil, a crisp contrast to the fish, with glowing, almost fiery Sauce Rouille.