Court Bouillon Recipes
With A How To Make Guide
Court bouillon is a well flavored poaching liquid used for poaching meats or vegetables, but, primarily for poaching fish. It is usually cooked with a mixture of water, wine, and/or vinegar, also containing seasonings, herbs, and/or aromatic vegetables.
In this case, the term court means short, and bouillon means broth. This is basically stating that it takes very little time to cook, being that no protein such as fish, poultry, or meat is added to it during cooking it.
Initially, you'll want to bring the liquid just to a boil. Then immediately reduce the heat to simmer. Keeping the liquid at a simmer without allowing it to boil is the key. Boiling is violent. You want the flavors of the ingredients to infuse themselves with one another into the liquid. Boiling will cause more of the flavors to defuse out into the steam.
If you want, you can easily use these recipes in the microwave, rather than on the stove. Either way will be just fine, you'll achieve the same results.
Once you have used the court bouillon you can save it to reuse it later. Why waste it. It becomes richer in flavor with each use. Strain into a container, pressing on the solids to extract as much flavor as possible, and cover it. Refrigerate it up to three days, or freeze it for several months until you're ready to use it again.
Also note that if the fish is not completely covered in the liquid, add more water. Also, you can double the ingredients for larger sized or larger quantities of fish.
Court Bouillon Recipe
½ cup dry white wine
1/8 cup white vinegar
¾ cup onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup carrots, thinly sliced
½ celery, chopped
½ leeks, chopped
½ tsp dried thyme
3 parsley sprigs
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, whole
dash of cayenne pepper
salt to taste
6 black peppercorns
Combine all of the ingredients in a pot or poacher. Cover and bring to
a slow boil, simmer for 10 minutes. Allow it to cool. Add the fish,
completely submerging it. Bring the liquid back to a boil, then lower
heat to simmer for approximately 10-15 minutes or until the fish is
done. Allow it to cool for a couple of minutes.
Court Bouillon Recipe
2 quarts water (8 cups)¼ cup vinegar
½ cup onion, sliced
½ cup carrots, sliced
2 tbs green pepper, diced
½ cup celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, whole
½ tsp ginger
salt to taste
6 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
½ cup lemon juice
Combine all of the ingredients in a pot or large pan. Cover
and bring it to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. In
an ovenproof pan, submerge fish in the court bouillon. Cover and bake
in a preheated 350°F oven until the fish is done.
Court Bouillon with Milk
2 cups water1 cup milk
1 celery stalk, chopped
¼ tsp dried thyme
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
6 whole peppercorns
salt to taste
Follow any of the two above instructions for preferred cooking.
As stated above, adding or omitting ingredients is suitable. Some ideas
for that could include: freshly chopped sprigs of herbs such as
tarragon, green onions, parsley, lemon juice, anise, fennel seed, other
variations of whole peppercorns (i.e., green, white, pink, yellow,
mixed), or sea salt.
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