The bouillon

• 1 litre good rich fish stock (made with fish bones, vegetables, and crustacean shells such as prawns or lobster)
• 150 g local white fish meat
• 200 g mixed vegetables (celery, onion, fennel, parsley stalks)
• 30 g garlic chopped roughly
• 60 g fresh ginger chopped roughly
• One good handful pepper corns
• One 6 cm cinnamon stick
• 2 egg whites
• Saffron for colour and flavour
• Red Boat fish sauce to taste

1Place the vegetables, fish meat, ginger and garlic in food processor and process to a fine paste. Whisk the two egg whites and fold into the vegetable paste.

2Bring the stock to a gentle heat, add the cinnamon and peppercorns. Before it begins to simmer, gently place the vegetable and fish mixture over the surface. Simmer very gently for an hour taking care to leave the layer of setting mixture unbroken. Remove from heat and using a sieve lined with muslin ladle the soup into a clean pan. Taste and adjust seasoning with fish sauce and add a little sweet wine. Add saffron for light colour.

Vegetables and fish for each bowl of soup

• 1-2 sliced leek roundels, steamed
• Curly green cabbage leaves in small slices, steamed
• 3-4 pieces of kohlrabi, sliced in half roundels, steamed
• Four 1 cm square dice of feta cheese
• Roundels of scallion (spring onion) steamed
• 1 poached quail’s egg
• A selection of small fingers of fish from the following:
  – Swordfish or tuna fingers, very lightly cooked
  – One medium king prawn, cooked and peeled
  – Small finger of salted mackerel, grilled
  – A small slice of local and available fish such as bass, bream, mullet, poached or steamed
  – Botargo, shaved
  – Caviar

3To assemble the soup: arrange the hot vegetables and fish in a “random” way in the bowl and pour the very hot soup over them. Decorate with caviar, the shaving of botargo, the poached egg and flat leaf parsley.

Replica by potter J.-J. Dubernard of a “Glazed White Ware II” pedestal dish from excavations in Corinth, Greece (photo Anemon Productions).

POMEDOR conference “Byzantine” dinner at the Paul Bocuse Institute (Écully, France): the soup (photo Anemon Productions).

POMEDOR conference “Byzantine” dinner at the Paul Bocuse Institute (Écully, France): guests and students of the “Worldwide Alliance” program (photo Paul Bocuse Institute).