Matelote of Any Kind of Firm Fish

History

This recipe, "Matelote of Any Kind of Firm Fish," appears in Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-Wife, first published in 1824 and regarded as the first regional American cookbook. Randolph drew on a wide range of traditions — the book "includes recipes from England, France, Spain, the East Indies, the West Indies and New England" — and matelote is one of its French-derived dishes, listed alongside recipes "for fricando and fricassee, for haricot and matelote and salmagundi".

As printed, the recipe directs the cook to cut the fish "in pieces six inches long," stew it with onion, parsley, thyme, mushrooms, "a little spice, pepper and salt," with "red wine and water enough for gravy," set it "on a quick fire and reduce it one-third," thicken it "with a spoonful of butter and two of flour," and serve it "with bits of bread fried in butter" and the gravy poured over. (The Virginia House-Wife first appeared in 1824; the widely available Project Gutenberg text is an 1860 printing.)

Matelote itself is a French fish stew, normally made with freshwater fish and cooked in white or red wine, "traditionally garnished with small onions and mushrooms that have been cooked with the fish". The name is the feminine form of matelot, "sailor". The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française dates the word to the 16th century, defining it as "a dish consisting of one or more kinds of freshwater fish, stewed with wine and herbs"; the term is recorded in English use from the 18th century onward.

The historical record consulted here does not document matelote as a marker of social status, wealth, or cosmopolitan taste, nor does it tie the dish specifically to the Chesapeake planter class; those claims are omitted for lack of a source. Likewise, no source consulted attributes the dish's origin specifically to the Seine or the Loire.

Ingredients

• firm fish
• onion
• parsley
• thyme
• mushrooms
• a little spice
• pepper
• salt
• red wine
• water
• 1 spoonful butter
• 2 spoonfuls flour
• bread

Instructions

1. Cut the fish into pieces six inches long. Place in a pot with onion, parsley, thyme, mushrooms, a little spice, pepper, and salt. Add red wine and water sufficient to make a gravy. Set over a quick fire and reduce by one-third.
2. Thicken the gravy with a spoonful of butter and two spoonfuls of flour mixed together. Transfer the fish to a serving dish and arrange bits of bread fried in butter around it. Pour the thickened gravy over all.