A freshwater fish stew — classically built on eel, but also pike, perch, carp or tench — simmered in wine with onions, mushrooms and a bouquet garni, the sauce thickened to a glossy coat. Red-wine matelotes (à la marinière or à la bourguignonne) are the best known, but the great Alsace and Loire versions use Riesling or other dry whites. It is a fisherman's and riverside-inn dish, the catch of several river fish poached together in the one pot and napped in its own reduced cooking wine, garnished with glazed onions, mushrooms and fried croutons.
The name comes from matelot, 'sailor', and the dish is the river boatmen's and bargees' way with their own catch — several kinds of river fish stewed together in wine. It is documented in French regional cookery from at least the 18th century and appears in the classic repertoire; the eel matelote of the rivers Loire, Seine and Marne is the archetype, and Alsace's matelote au Riesling is a protected regional speciality of the Ill valley. The defining gesture is using the same wine in the pot as in the glass — a red Burgundy version is à la bourguignonne, a white-wine one à la marinière. The thickening with beurre manié and the garnish of onions, mushrooms and croutons are the marks of the codified dish.
Chunks of river fish, soft and flaking, sit in a sauce the colour of the wine that made it — deep claret in the red version, pale ivory in the Alsace one — silky and clinging from the marrow of the reduction and the final butter. Eel is fatty and gelatinous and holds together where leaner fish flake apart; the flesh is mild and sweet, the sauce winey and faintly tart. Glazed pearl onions, button mushrooms and crisp fried croutons rubbed with garlic ring the plate. It is rustic, hearty and unmistakably of the river, the bread and croutons there to mop the last of the sauce.
The cooking liquid is the dish: wine, onions and aromatics are simmered to draw out flavour, the fish poached gently in it until just set, then the liquor is reduced hard and bound. Eel is the ideal fish here because its high fat and connective tissue turn to silk in the pot and resist the flaking that breaks up lean fish; mixed river fish are added in order of firmness so each is just cooked. The sauce is thickened with beurre manié — equal parts soft butter and flour kneaded to a paste and whisked in off the boil — which thickens without the raw taste of a roux and adds gloss. The fish is lifted out before the final reduction so it does not overcook, then returned to be napped. In red-wine versions a brunoise of garlic and a flambé of Cognac or marc deepen the sauce.
Variations
Matelote à la bourguignonne uses red Burgundy; à la marinière and the Norman version lean on white wine and sometimes cider and cream; matelote au Riesling is the Alsace classic, pale and creamy. The pochouse (or pauchouse) of Burgundy's Saône valley is a close cousin, a white-wine matelote of several river fish thickened with cream — recorded separately in this collection. The Loire and Anjou make red-wine eel matelotes; the catch varies with the river. Some cooks bind the sauce with the fish's own blood (for eel) in the oldest country versions, though this is rare today.
On the Palate
Where Matelote sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
6 steps · 45 min active + 15 min waiting
- 112 min
Clean and cut the river fish into thick sections, keeping firmer and softer kinds separate.
- 212 min
Soften sliced onions in butter, add wine, a bouquet garni and a little garlic, and simmer to make the cooking liquor.
- 310 min
Poach the fish in the liquor in order of firmness until just set, then lift out and keep warm.
Watch outPoach the fish in order of firmness just to set, then lift out — eel takes longer, lean fish flakes fast; leave them in and the delicate ones break up.
- 412 min
Glaze pearl onions and button mushrooms separately in butter, and fry garlic-rubbed croutons.
- 58 min
Reduce the cooking liquor hard, then whisk in beurre manié off the boil to thicken to a coating sauce.
Watch outWhisk the beurre manié in off the boil — it thickens the reduced liquor to a glossy coating without the raw taste a roux would leave.
- 64 min
Return the fish to warm through, nap with the sauce, and garnish with the onions, mushrooms and croutons.
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