Fish and Shellfish

It is rare to eat an excellent dish of fish or shellfish in France that does not include herbs, whether the herb is predominant or a subtle flavor among many.

Perhaps no other dish illustrates quite so eloquently the skills of fine French cooking as much as fish cooked with herbs. It seems to me that, over the years, I have found remarkably few really delicious fish recipes that call for no herbs at all. Even when a herb is not the predominant flavoring in a dish, I rarely prepare fish without herbs – invariably adding, at the very least, a bay leaf or a little parsley. Not only does the subtle presence of a fresh herb impart a new dimension to the taste of fish, it also, to my mind, appears that we are probably intended to eat the two together. Witness the beneficial effect of sorrel on salmon. The taste of the salmon is given a new depth by the slightly sharp, lemon flavor of the sorrel which, at the same time, makes a rich fish more digestible.