Matelote à la Normande (Norman Fish Stew)

Name: Matelote à la Normande (Norman Fish Stew)
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: sole; gurnard (grondin); small conger eel (petit congre), cut into chunks; dry cider (cidre sec); Calvados (apple brandy); 1.5 deciliters per liter heavy cream (crème); Fish velouté (velouté de poisson — a sauce mère / mother sauce); mushrooms (champignons); mussels (moules), cooked; oysters (huîtres), poached and trimmed (ébarbées); crayfish (écrevisses); small croutons cut in heart shapes, fried in butter

Origin: Normandy, France

Source: Auguste Escoffier, 1907

Ingredients

sole
gurnard (grondin)
small conger eel (petit congre), cut into chunks
dry cider (cidre sec)
Calvados (apple brandy)
1.5 deciliters per liter heavy cream (crème)
Fish velouté (velouté de poisson — a sauce mère / mother sauce)
mushrooms (champignons)
mussels (moules), cooked
oysters (huîtres), poached and trimmed (ébarbées)
crayfish (écrevisses)
small croutons cut in heart shapes, fried in butter

Instructions

Arrange the sole, gurnard, and conger eel chunks in the cooking vessel. Moisten with dry cider and flambe with Calvados.
Reduce the cooking liquid. Bind the braise with fish velouté (a sauce mère — a light stock-based mother sauce). Adjust the seasoning and consistency by adding heavy cream at a ratio of 1.5 deciliters per liter of sauce.
Arrange the garnish around the fish: mushrooms, cooked mussels, poached and trimmed oysters, crayfish, and small heart-shaped croutons fried in butter.