Pacific rockfish & bones
- Provenance
- Producer details will appear here when verified.
- History
- Marseille's fishermen built bouillabaisse from what could not be sold at market — the rock fish, the heads, the bones. Luxury came later.
Sealed, numbered and signed by the hand that made it.
THE SUPPER COLLECTION
Bouillabaisse Base
Rockfish, fennel and saffron, pressed through a mill twice. Add your own fish.
$22
Pre-launch
Release notes on the Cellar List.
Pre-launch: we're not taking orders quite yet. Add pieces to your case and it will be held for you — join the Cellar List for first notice when we open.
Pantry / shelf-stable
Intended as an ambient-storage item. Recipes, packaging and validated shelf-life vary by product — final storage and shelf-life instructions will be confirmed on the product label before release.
- Origin
- Producer details will appear when verified
- Batch
- TBC · PRE-LAUNCH
- Pairing
- Bandol rosé, or a white Cassis
- Batch size
- Made in small released batches
- Keeping
- Intended for ambient pantry storage. Final storage and shelf-life instructions will be confirmed on the product label before release.
- On the palate
- Intense, saline, anise-scented, with a saffron perfume that fills the room.
Where this dish comes from
Bouillabaisse began as a fisherman's meal in the south of France — the rockfish too bony to sell, simmered with seawater, fennel and whatever else was on the boat. The name is thought to come from a phrase meaning to bring to the boil, then lower it.
A related dish, cooked in a similar pot, has been made on the Aegean coast for over two thousand years and remains essentially the same idea. Saffron and orange peel entered the recipe as later Mediterranean trade goods.
Bouillabaisse is a defining dish of southern French coastal cooking, with a long-standing local charter defining its traditional preparation.
How we make it
Everything — heads, bones, skin — is pressed through a mill, since the body of a proper bouillabaisse comes from milled bone rather than added cream or flour.
Saffron is added off the heat at the last moment, since boiling it turns the flavour medicinal and loses its perfume within minutes.
Rockfish reduction, milled twice
6 hours
- 01Whole small rockfish sweated with fennel, onion, leek and orange peel.
- 02Simmered hard — this is the one soup that wants a boil, to emulsify the oil.
- 03Pressed twice through a food mill, bones and all, then sieved.
- 04Saffron and pastis added off the heat, then jarred.
Bring to a simmer, poach your fish in it for six minutes, and serve with rouille.
THE INGREDIENT LEDGER
Every defining ingredient, named where we can: what it is, and what it has meant to the people who kept it. Producer and sourcing details will appear here as they are verified.
Saffron
- Provenance
- Producer details will appear here when verified.
- History
- Saffron has been the world's costliest spice since Minoan Crete painted its harvest on palace walls; each flower gives three threads, picked before the sun opens them.
Fennel, orange peel & garlic
- Provenance
- Producer details will appear here when verified.
- History
- Wild fennel and dried orange peel are the Provençal signature — without them it is fish soup, not bouillabaisse.
Recipes, packaging, storage instructions and shelf-life vary by product and validated production method. Follow the instructions on the label; keep chilled items refrigerated.
