Mediterranean Seafood - Prospect Books

276 mediterranean seafood
l’Alose à la Tressanaise
Shad cooked in the style of the village of Tressan serves six
Les Plats régionaux de France by Austin de Croze was one of the first (1928) and
best compilations of its kind. The original, printed on paper of atrocious quality,
has for long been unobtainable; but a handsome facsimile edition
appeared in 1977 under the imprint of Daniel Morcrette.
Austin de Croze observes that the shad is ‘a real packet of spiny bones’, yet
has flesh of unrivalled quality. Hence the importance of knowing how to
prepare it correctly. This recipe was furnished by M. Francis Marre, Chimiste-
Expert at the Court of Appeal in Paris, whose home was at Tressan, where shad
fished in the Hérault are prepared in this way.
Catch a shad weighing nearly 1½ kg (3¼ lb) and dip it into boiling water for
a minute as soon as possible after capture. Scale it with care, cut off fins, tail
and head, open the belly with a pair of scissors and gut the fish completely.
Wash the inside very carefully with water to which vinegar has been added.
Next, remove the backbone, cut the fish into sections about 8 to 10 cm (3" to
4") in thickness and leave these to soak for two hours, also in water to which
vinegar has been added.
Take an earthenware marmite with a close-fitting lid, line the bottom with
strips of bacon and add the shad steaks, which should come up to about two
thirds of the height of the vessel. Add also 100 g (3½ oz) of ham (not smoked),
cut into small cubes; 75 g (2½ oz) of fresh pork rind; 8 bay leaves and a
bouquet garni; salt and pepper to taste; two sliced lemons; a wineglassful
(150 ml or 5 fl oz) of good brandy; and ½ litre (17½ fl oz) dry white wine. Put
the cover on the marmite, sealing it down with bread dough, and take it to the
bread-baker, in whose oven it should remain for at least 8 hours. At the end of
this time you will find that the small bones have ‘melted’ and that your fish,
reposing in a thick jelly, constitutes ‘as delicious a dish as you could dream of
having’. (Most readers will have to use their own oven, which should be set at
very slow – 240°f, 115°c, gas ¼.)
l’Anchoïade
1. The basic recipe for anchoïade calls for salted anchovies (the kind which you
buy from a barrel or a huge can); the other main ingredient is stale bread –
which of course is always there when you don’t need it and vice versa.
Fortunately this recipe is so simple that you can use it at short notice when
stale bread happens to be at hand. (Or you can do what is often done in
Provence – leave out the bread altogether, using the anchovy mixture as a dip
to be eaten with crudités such as carrot or celery sticks, for dunking cubes of
boiled potato, or to go with hard-boiled eggs.)
MediterraneanSeafood.pdf 208 26/06/2012 10:52