Combining Methods

The table provides a sense of the diversity of fish stew recipes. There exist almost as many varieties of fish stews as there are combinations of fish, most of which are the natural outcome of combining ingredients available in a particular region, even though many of the stages of preparation are the same. The simplest fish stews are made by first preparing an aromatic liquid with vegetables such as onion, garlic, and fennel, the trimmings from the fish, and wine. When the flavors of the vegetables and trimmings have infused in the wine, the liquid is then strained into a straight-sided saucepan and the pieces of fish are poached in the liquid. When the fish is finished poaching, it is removed with a skimmer and kept warm while the poaching liquid is converted into a sauce. In traditional French recipes where red wine is used, beurre manié is most often used, but more modern nouvelle cuisine versions will often simply reduce the cooking liquid and finish it with butter. White wine–based fish stews are most often finished with cream or a mixture of cream and egg yolks.