Bouillabaisse 101 at Enderun w/ Food Bloggers

Let a French chef show you how a Bouillabaisse is done.

First of all, I'm really sorry we haven't moved on to the Mediterranean in our Around the World with Food Series. But since we're still in France, I'll let you in on the Bouillabaisee cooking demo by French Chef Marc Chalopin of Enderun. 

When I received an invite to Enderun's "Discover Cuisine" through Nuffnang, I just had to say yes since I was dying to see what it takes to whip up an authentic Bouillabaisse, a term I often encounter in my food books. And what better way than to actually see a French chef, handpicked by Alain Ducasse Formation (ADF) to run the ADF + Enderun culinary program in the Philippines, create one from scratch. 

Tricia Tensuan and Lou Molina from Enderun

Chef Marc Chalopin

Bouillabaisse, in simpler terms, is a classic French seafood soup originating from Marseille. It uses a rich mix of herbs and spices such as dry fennel, black peppercorn, bayleaf, fennel seeds and the expensive saffron. 

Though Chef Marc made it look surprisingly simple, cooking requires at least two hours and difficulty may arise from ensuring the clarity of the stew. It entails a three part preparation: cooking the seafood, creating the soup and whipping up the Provencale Sauce for the baguette slices. 

We were given recipes to read along as Chef Marc showcased his superb knife skills to fillet the fish and clean and skin the squid. Great thing the room is equipped with a long overhead mirror and three LCD TVs to capture the demonstration from various angles, thus enabling us to carefully examine the techniques he utilized such as:

• Using two knives in chopping the fish; one to slit through the fish and another to pound the other knife
• Creating 45 degree slits on the squid to create a flexible squid roll

Noemi Dado of pinoyfoodblog.com
Santelmo of pinoymuffintop.com (Remember, Santelmo won my Chocolate Cake birthday blowout!)

Rome of thecuisineuer.com
Jane of janedchua.com

Rome of thecuisineuer.com & Peach of thepeachkitchen.com

Chef Marc brilliantly entertained the bloggers throughout the whole demonstration with his charming humor and occasional Tagalog terms. He even went further and challenged some bloggers, those who were bullied by their own friends (haha), to help him out in the kitchen. 

Carlos Palma of foodiemanila.com

Jane of janedchua.com

Some had the more difficult task of continuously whipping the sauce until it resulted into a mayonnaise-thick texture. 

For plating, Chef Marc carefully laid out the seafood onto the bowl before tenderly pouring the stew on top. 

Though some were exhausted after the two hour demonstration, all of us immediately jumped to our feet to take a picture of the plated Bouillabaisse (see photo above). 

Baguette graciously drizzled with excellent olive oil

Baguette with Spicy Provencale Sauce

And of course, a great cooking demonstration demands a great finale - consuming the final product! I declared the two hours of waiting worth it as soon as I finished my own bowl of Bouillabaisse. It's a delightfully light seafood stew, packed with scrumptious, juicy prawns, clams and squid. Other bloggers even had seconds since the Bouillabaisse was extremely comforting. 

My favorite part was the baguette, lathered with rich, eggy, Spicy Provencale Sauce. I'm definitely making my own Provencale Sauce at home for my own consumption. I can't wait! 

Richard of talesfromthetummy.com (left)

During the entire cooking demonstration, the thought of taking culinary lessons kept crossing my mind, especially since Enderun now offers a 15 month Culinary Program, in partnership with Alain Ducasse Formation. Prior to this, Enderun only offered 4 year courses but due to public clamor, they are now providing a Certificate in Culinary Arts after an intensive 15 month Culinary Arts Program. It also includes rigorous internship, possibly in France. Wow. 

Entrance of Enderun

I'm still not quite certain but the short 15 month program is an offer that's currently seducing me. Haha. Let's see. A master chef in 15 months? Hmmm... :) 


For those who would want to whip up their own Bouillabaisse, here's the recipe from Enderun:


Ingredients:
1       pc           Lapu lapu (1 kg)
1       pc           Red Snapper (1 kg)
0.3    kg           Squid (big)
2       pc           Shrimp (big)
10     pcs          Clam (big)
10                    Black peppercorns
1       br           Dry Fennel
2       L            Fish Soup
10                   Saffron Pistils
2       pcs         Garlic Clove
1       pinch      Orange Zest
1       pc          Small Bayleaf
1/4    pc         Baguette


Soup (1-1.5L)
1.5     kg        Small fish
1        pc        Sweet Onions (50g)
4        pcs       Tomatoes
1        pc        Garlic Head
1        t          Fennel seeds
10      pcs       Black peppercorns
1        L         Chicken Stock


Spicy Provencale Sauce
1        kg       Small Potatoes
0.25   L         Olive Oil
1        pc       Garlic Clove
0.15   L         Fish Soup
1        pinch   Saffron Pistils
4        pcs      Sundried Tomato Petals
5        g         Sweet Pepper
1                   Egg Yolk


Preparing the Seafood:

• Scale and clean the fish. Cut off the fins. Remove the head & gills. Cut into 5cm steaks.
• Clean & prepare the squid
• Cook shrimp in boiling water w/ fennel seeds for a few minutes

Preparing the Fish Soup:

• Peel and slice onions
• Wash tomatoes & cut in six 
• Cut the garlic head in half
• Heat up a cocotte with olive oil and sweat onions, fennel seeds, garlic & peppercorns while covered for 10 minutes
• Add the fish. Cook for 5 minutes over low heat without stirring or wetting and always covered. 
• Add tomatoes. Press down lightly. Simmer covered for 5 minutes so the fish retain their juices.
• Cover with chicken stock to the same level of the fish. Simmer for another 20 munutes over low heat without cover.
• Strain through Chinois. Set aside.

Cooking the Bouillabaisse:

• Pour soup into a cocotte then add saffron, four crushed cloves of garlic, orange peels, a bayleaf & 5 grains of black pepper. Bring the soup to a simmer.
• Gently poach fish 4-6 minutes depending on the size. Drain the fish and set aside.
• In a sauteuse, place the clams with a little stock and cook covered until they open up. When done, remove the shell without the meat and set aside.
• Remove soup from heat; strain.
• Sear squid quickly with olive oil and season with salt. Set aside.
• Return and reheat all the seafood in the soup. 

Preparation of the Provencale Sauce:

• Peel and cut the potatoes into four pieces. Cook them in the fish soup with the saffron and Espelette spices until they are completely soft and juice is reduced.
• Peel the garlic clove. Crush it in a mortar.
• Add the sun-dried tomatoes and crush it all together.
• Add the potatoes and its cooking juices. Mix well and grind again.
• In this paste, add the egg yolk. Mix well. Salt. 
• Whisk in the oil with the paste until it reaches a mayonnaise-like thick texture. Set aside.
• Serve in a small bowl.

Finishing and presentation:

• Slice the bread at an angle into 5mm thick slices. Toast them. Rub with garlic on one side.
• Add the soup base ina large soup pan. 
• Arrange the seafood.
• Pour the rest of the soup in a soup tureen. 
• Serve the croutons. 
• Serve the provencale sauce on the side.

PS. Thank you to Enderun and Nuffnang for inviting me to this event. The people from Enderun were extremely warm and friendly. They made me feel comfortable and welcome the entire time even if I didn't bring a plus one. 
PS 2. Hello to all the bloggers I met for the first time. Aside from those mentioned above, I also met the writers behind yedilicious.blogspot.com, imomonline.net, http://bestfoodintown.info, http://magicpalayok.info and manilareviews.com. 


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