French · Normandy · soup

Marmite Dieppoise

Name: Marmite Dieppoise
Prep time: 52 min
Total time: 53 min
Cuisine: French · Normandy
Ingredients: mussels — 1000 g; monkfish — 400 g; sole fillets — 400 g; langoustines — 400 g; leeks — 300 g; celery — 100 g; button mushrooms — 200 g; unsalted butter — 60 g; dry norman cider — 400 g; dry white wine — 200 g; heavy cream — 300 g; curry powder — 5 g; saffron threads — 0 g; lemon juice — 15 g; salt — 10 g; white pepper — 3 g; chervil — 7 g

Marmite Dieppoise reads umami 5.7, richness 4.8 and salinity 4.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a French · Normandy soup, about 53 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 6.8 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.2 / 10
Sour & Bright — 5.6 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.0 / 10
Rich & Fat — 4.9 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 2.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 5.7 · Richness 4.8 · Salinity 4.5 · Citrus 4.4 · Marine & Briny 4.3 · Sourness 4.1 · Fruity 2.7 · Herbaceous 2.1 · Funk & Ferment 1.9 · Earthy 1.9 · Sweetness 1.8 · Allium 1.8 · Floral 1.7 · Warm Spice 1.5 · Bitterness 1.1 · Heat 0.7

What's in it (17)

mussels — 1000 g
monkfish — 400 g
sole fillets — 400 g
langoustines — 400 g
leeks — 300 g
celery — 100 g
button mushrooms — 200 g
unsalted butter — 60 g
dry norman cider — 400 g
dry white wine — 200 g
heavy cream — 300 g
curry powder — 5 g
saffron threads — 0 g
lemon juice — 15 g
salt — 10 g
white pepper — 3 g
chervil — 7 g

Time & effort: about 53 min (52 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 70.1 kcal, 5.2 g protein, 4.9 g fat, 3.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

A note on provenance before the cooking: this is a Dieppe idiom — cider, cream, the day's Channel catch — codified into its present form by restaurants in the town in the twentieth century, and the small hit of curry powder comes from Dieppe's spice trade rather than from a farmhouse kitchen. It is genuinely of the place, but it is not ancient, and it is worth saying so.
Put the mussels in a wide pan with 100 ml of the cider, cover and cook over high heat for 4 minutes, shaking twice, until they open. Discard any that stay shut. Lift them out, shell most of them, and strain the liquor through a muslin-lined sieve. Do that straining properly: Dieppe mussels carry fine sand and it will otherwise end up in every mouthful.
Melt the butter in a large casserole over medium-low heat and sweat the leeks and celery for 8 minutes until soft and translucent with no colour, then add the mushrooms and cook 4 minutes more.
Stir in the curry powder and the saffron and let them cook in the butter for 1 minute until they smell warm and open up. Adding them later to liquid leaves the curry raw and dusty.
Pour in the rest of the cider, the white wine and the strained mussel liquor. Simmer 10 minutes to cook off the alcohol and concentrate the broth.
Now poach in order of firmness, keeping the liquid at a bare shiver at about 80°C: the monkfish for 6 minutes, then the langoustines for 3, then the sole strips for 2. Lift each one out to a warm bowl as it is done. A rolling boil here shreds the sole and turns the langoustines to cotton.
Add the cream to the broth and reduce over medium heat for 8 minutes until it is lightly nappe and just coats a spoon. Season with the salt, pepper and lemon juice — taste before salting, because the mussel liquor is already salty.
Return all the fish and the shelled mussels to the pot, keep a few mussels in their shells for the top, and warm through off the heat for 2 minutes. Scatter the chervil and serve in deep bowls with bread. It should never boil again once the fish is back in.
Substitutions: turbot fillets can stand in for the sole fillets; large shell-on prawns (about 400 g) can stand in for the raw langoustines; parsley can stand in for the chopped chervil.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Mediterranean Baked Salmon with Olives and Capers — Mediterranean
Shrimp Scampi with Linguine — Italian-American
Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta — Italian-American
Lemon Pepper Shrimp Pasta — Italian-American
Skillet Shrimp Scampi with Zucchini Noodles — Italian-American

Keep reading: what umami, richness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.