Fish soup

Fish soup from la belle-iloise, thick Soupe de Poissons

Fish soup from la belle-iloise is a thick Soupe de Poissons from Quiberon, reduced from fish, tomato paste, and spices. It comes in the can as a concentrate and is diluted with water at home before adding rouille, croutons, and grated cheese.

Fish soup from la belle-iloise is the classic soup from the house in Quiberon, Brittany. The can contains a dark red concentrate of fish, tomato paste, and spices, thickened with potato starch and rounded off with a spoonful of mustard.

Hearty, tomatoey, with a subtle spice

The Soupe de Poissons tastes hearty and tomatoey, and behind the tomato lies a seasoning that cannot be immediately deconstructed. The mustard provides a slight tang, the yeast extract provides depth, and the spice blend remains the house secret.

Its reddish-brown color comes from long reduction with tomato paste, not from a roux. The potato starch thickens it just enough for a spoon to stand up in it, while the broth remains clear in its seasoning.

As such, this canned product is a foundation rather than a ready-to-eat dish, as you determine how hearty the final bowl will be by adding water. Stirring in a spoonful of lobster mousse with cognac elevates the whole thing to something finer. If you prefer it the other way around, add a splash of cream to take the edge off the seasoning.

Rouille, croutons, and grated cheese

Warm the concentrate in a pot without letting it boil, and dilute it with half to two-thirds of a can of water. This keeps the fish flavor at the forefront and ensures the spices do not lose their sharpness.

The plate should then be served with toasted white bread slices and a generous spoonful of rouille, that saffron-yellow garlic mayonnaise that is served with every fish soup in Marseille as well as in Brittany. At la belle-iloise, the instructions for this have always been on the label. Sprinkle the grated cheese on last so that it just melts on the hot surface.

If you are making this into a dinner, add small potato cubes, fennel, or a piece of fresh fish and let everything cook through in the broth. The concentrate also goes further than its small size suggests when used as a base for mussels or a quick pasta sauce. The leftovers taste even rounder the next day as the seasoning continues to develop overnight.

Why Brittany thickens its soup

On the coast, soup was long considered to be what was left over from the catch: small fish, too bony for the market, were boiled down, strained, and reduced to a thick broth. Necessity gave rise to a dish with more flavor than any whole fish.

La belle-iloise adopted this method for their first soup in 1962, including straining and long reduction, so that neither bones nor skin remain. The fish is sautéed, deglazed with tomato paste and spices, and only then topped up with water. It differs from the southern French bouillabaisse in its significantly stronger seasoning and in the fact that the fish pieces are not served separately.

The pantry staple for nights without shopping

Unopened, the can stays in the cupboard for years; once opened, the remainder will keep for one to two days if covered and stored in the refrigerator. Diluted with water, one can is perfectly sufficient for two hearty portions. Further soups can be found on the shelf next to it, and the entire la belle-iloise assortment can be found in the selection from Quiberon.