It won't matter if the sun doesn't come out when you serve this soup,. Marseille fish soup, or soupe de poissons as it's known, is something I crave all the time, the assertive flavors redolent with the very soul of Provence transports me back to the old port of Marseilles where I first tried it many decades ago. I could always tell which staff members or clients had traveled to the South by the dreamy, far-off look at the very mention of it.
It invokes pastis-fueled Marcel Pagnolian dreams of men playing petanque in village squares scented by the sweet garrigue. I once was talking to a movie producer customer of mine who spent a good deal of time working on movie sets around Nice, France. We talked at length about Provence and her food, when he abruptly asked, in an almost childlike soft tone, if I knew how to make fish soup correctly. Author Waverly Root writes at length about his frustrating search for an authentic fish soup in 'the Food of France'.
He narrowed it down a version served in Saint Tropez, 65 miles east of Marseilles, largely because the addition of a local chemical-green colored fish. For most of his narrative, finding the elusive fish was maddening "because the mistral had been blowing without a let-up during the whole period.
This is supposed to discourage the fish, or at least some of the fish, which do not allow themselves to be caught in weather they feel is unsuitable for the purpose. The effect of the mistral on the fish may be a legend, but the effect on the fishermen was observable. They preferred to stay ashore and play petanque Soupe de poissons or soupe aux poissons. Further in Waverly Root's narrative he provides a compelling argument as what should be the correct title.
Soupe de poissons implies a soup with fish floating inside. In soupe aux poissons, no fish is visible. It is there all right, but it has disappeared into the liquid. The body of the fish has gone. The soul remains. The fish is ground, crushed, pulverized, and then cooked until it has become liquid itself, and the soup is then strained to eliminate any telltale traces of the ingredients that provides its greatness.
