{"id":11289,"date":"2017-01-21T20:18:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-21T19:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/?p=11289"},"modified":"2019-11-29T23:37:42","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T22:37:42","slug":"fish-with-sauce-ramolade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coquinaria.nl\/en\/fish-with-sauce-ramolade\/","title":{"rendered":"Fish with ‘sauce ramolade’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Straight to the recipe<\/small><\/a><\/p>\n

A light dish from the court of Louis XIV<\/h2>\n

\"Banquet<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sometimes food from the past seems very modern, such as this elegant and simple fish dish from the seventeenth century. The source of the recipe is Le cuisinier royal et bourgeois<\/em> by Fran\u00e7ois Massialot<\/span>. More on the author and his book can be read on the page for cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Massialot begins his cookery book with a list of meals according to season and an overview of the dishes that can be served. It appears that meat and fish are not served during the same meal; it is either all meat, or all fish. The recipe for ‘fish salad with sauce ramolade’ is listed separately after the ‘Liste de salades de poissons’. These were salads that were served during the second (main) course on fish days. The fish salads could be prepared with sole, turbot, brill, oysters, smelt, trout, salmon, ray, whiting, weeverfish, tuna, anchovy, lobster, crayfish ‘& autres’. The ramolade sauce seems to nave been served with all these fish and shellfish.<\/p>\n

Ravigote and r\u00e9moulade<\/h3>\n

The sauce is called ‘ramolade’. But it is not the same as the\u00a0remoulade<\/em>\u00a0that is served with fried fish and other dishes nowadays. There is some similarity however: replace the oil and vinegar from the seventeenth-century recipe with mayonnaise with a dash of mustard and the result looks like modern remoulade.\u00a0The seventeenth-century ‘ramolade’ however has more in common with what we now call\u00a0sauce ravigote<\/em>. Mayonnaise is a modern sauce as the first recipes date from the nineteenth century. Because of the mayonnaise, modern remoulade tastes milder than\u00a0ravigote<\/em>. The word ‘ravigote’ was derived from ‘ravigoter’ which is a variation of\u00a0revigorer<\/em>, ‘to strengthen’. The sauce could be called a ‘pick me up’.<\/p>\n

However, the origin of the word\u00a0r\u00e9moulade<\/em>\u00a0is harder to determine. According to\u00a0TLFi<\/a>\u00a0it could have travelled from the Spanish Netherlands to France: ‘remola’ or ‘ramolos’ (horseradish) plus the suffix ‘-ade’ (like sal-ade and orange-ade). This explanation is not without its contradictions. There is no horseradish in Massialot’s\u00a0ramolade<\/em>, nor in the ‘sausse \u00e0 la remoulade’ in the\u00a0Cuisini\u00e8re Bourgeoise<\/em>\u00a0from Menon (1746), although that sauce does contain mustard. The Swiss chef Joseph Favre (Dictionnaire universel de cuisine pratique<\/em>, 1895) makes a connection with\u00a0remoudre<\/em>\/remoulu<\/em>, ‘pound again’. But in the recipe of Massialot the ingredients are not pounded but chopped, which is definitely not the same thing.<\/p>\n

The original recipe<\/h2>\n

This recipe is from\u00a0Le cuisinier royal et bourgeois<\/em>\u00a0(Massialot, 1691, pp.70\/71, see bibliography<\/a>). The same recipe has been published in\u00a0La Gastronomie au Grand Si\u00e8cle<\/em>\u00a0by Fran\u00e7oise Sabban and Silvano Serventi from 1998 (see bibliography<\/a>).<\/p>\n

[Salades de poissons]
\n\u00c0 plusieurs filets de poisson on fait une sausse qu\u2019on appelle ramolade, compos\u00e9e de persil hach\u00e9 de ciboule hach\u00e9e, des anchois hach\u00e9s, des c\u00e2pres hach\u00e9es, le tout mis dans un plat, avec un peu de sel, de poivre, de muscade, d\u2019huile & de vinaigre bien d\u00e9layez ensemble : & apr\u00e8s avoir dress\u00e9 vos filets dans son plat, on les arrose de cette ramolade ; & \u00e0 quelques plats on y ajoute du jus de citron, pour les servir froids.<\/em><\/div>
Fish salad
\nFor all kinds of fish fillets one prepares a sauce that is called ‘ramolade’, consisting of chopped parsley, chopped chives, chopped anchovy, chopped capers. Put all this on a plate with a little salt, pepper, nutmeg, oil and vinegar, well mixed together. And after having arranged the fillets on their plates, one sprinkles this ramolade over them. And to some plates one adds lemon juice, to serve them cold.<\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n

<\/a>Modern adaptation of the recipe<\/h2>\n

The original recipe gives the cook an option to serve this dish cold. That would imply that this salad can also be served warm.
\nFirst course or light<\/span>\u00a0lunch<\/span>\u00a0for 2 to 4 persons<\/span>;\u00a0preparation in advance<\/em>\u00a05 minutes + 15 minutes resting with salt<\/span><\/span>;\u00a0preparation<\/em>\u00a010 minutes<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"French350 gr (\u00be pound) fish fillets naar keuze (fillet of sole in the picture)
\nzsalt
\nwhite wine vinegar + water (2:1)<\/p>\n

For the sauce<\/em>
\n1 Tbsp chopped\u00a0parsley<\/span>
\n1 Tbsp chopped\u00a0chives<\/span>
\n1 Tbsp capers<\/span>, drained and chopped
\n2 or 3\u00a0salted anchovy fillets<\/span>,\u00a0chopped
\n3 Tbsp\u00a0olive oil<\/span>\u00a0e.v.
\n1 Tbsp\u00a0white wine vinegar<\/span>
\npepper, salt and nutmeg to taste
\nfreshly squeezed lemon juice, if so desired<\/p>\n

Preparation in advance<\/h3>\n

Temper oil and vinegar by beating it or shaking it. Add the other ingredients for the sauce.
\nSprinkle the fish fillets with salt. Rinse them after fifteen minutes and pat them dry.<\/p>\n

Preparation<\/h3>\n

Poach the fish fillets in vinegar and half as much water (vinegar:water=2:1); use as much liquid as needed to just submerge the fillets. Make sure the liquid does not boil, and take the fillets out as soon as they are done. Let the fish fillets drain on kitchen paper. You can also poach an entire fish and fillet it afterwards.
\nShake or beat the sauce once more just before serving.<\/p>\n

To serve<\/h3>\n

Arrange the cold or still warm fish fillets on a dish and scoop some of the sauce over them. Serve with bread.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Bibliography<\/h2>\n

The editions below were used by me. Links refer to available editions.<\/p>\n