When is National Bouillabaisse Day in 2024? Are you ready to answer this question without any hesitations? Do you need any prompts given from our side? – To tell you the truth we are almost sure that you won’t reply it. As a rule, only a few people know the exact answer. The most part of contemporary men and women has never heard about the existence of this special occasion in the contemporary calendar.
History
Talking about the question what day Bouillabaisse Day in 2024 is, we can’t but mention the historical background of the event. Usually this direction is among the most demanded ones among the priorities of our followers.
Unfortunately, we haven’t managed the names of the holiday establishers. Moreover, we don’t know why we have to celebrate this occasion on December 14th annually. However, taking into account the historians’ point of view, initially this event was nothing but a successful marketing decision, which was organized in order to sell as many portions of that dish as it was possible.
Historically, bouillabaisse was a traditional dish of Marseille fishermen and it was prepared exclusively from fish left in the evening after the sale. This is the reason why this first dish was a cheap. It was considered to be a soup of the poor people of the region.
However, due to its fame, as well as the development of tourism on the Mediterranean coast of France, the restaurant cuisine of Marseille created some of its very expensive varieties using lobsters and other expensive seafood. Soups prepared in this way can cost up to 150-200 Euros per plate in some Provencal restaurants.
There is an old French legend, according to which the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite fed her husband Hephaestus daily with tasty soup.
Meaning
What does Bouillabaisse Day mean? – Frankly speaking, we are not sure whether this special occasion means something special for you or not. You see, among the representatives of the modern society there are a lot of those, who have never heard about the existence of this event in the calendar.
Bouillabaisse is a dish of French cuisine, represented by a multi-component fish soup. It is especially typical of the Mediterranean coast of France. It is an original Provencal fish soup, most common in Marseille. Initially, this dish was distributed among fishermen and was prepared from the remnants of various fish unsold for a day. However, the recipe subsequently became more complicated, and many expensive varieties appeared. Moreover, such dishes are common both in French regional cuisines and in the culinary traditions of other countries.
Definition
Talking about the question “When is International Bouillabaisse Day 2024?” we can’t but mention something really amazing about this holiday.
The origin of this dish name is unclear. However, there are different opinions on this subject. According to some of them, the Provencal designation “bouiabaisso” or “bolhabaissa” can literally be translated as: “cook and stop!”.
According to another version, the designation goes back to the surname of captain Bayss, who allegedly invented it.
Following one more version, the name arose in connection with the peculiarities of cooking technology. Initially the soup was brought to a boil (in French: bouillir), and in the end they reduced the fire (abaisser). Most researchers agree that in the former times in the south of France, fishermen preferred to call every fish soup like “bouillepeis”. They are almost sure that such a generalizing word was turned into “bouillabaisse” in the course of time.
All in all we can’t but mention that the birthplace of Bouillabaisse is considered to be the coast near Marseille. Only here, according to the old fishermen tradition and legend, it is prepared according to all the rules. The locals are sure that everything else is a miserable imitation. Why do they think about it? – The matter is that they think that for proper cooking this soup you need not only live fish, but also the smell of sea water and algae.
Traditions
When is Bouillabaisse Day in 2024, calendar will surely remind you. The holiday has a fixed date of its celebration. It happens on December 14th annually. So you are free to join any moment you like to do it.
As you perhaps understand there are no any special rules for this occasion celebration. However, we would like you to cook something amazing this day. You may organize a real tasting for you or invite some friends and have a real party.
For 6 people you will need the following ingredients:
1.5 kg of sea fish of different breeds (you can also add a few langoustines);
6 tbsp. tablespoons of olive (corn or other refined vegetable) oil;
1 large onion, 6 tomatoes;
6 potatoes;
12 slices of fried and grated garlic bread, assorted bouquet (parsley, bay leaf, savory, dill, 2-3 cloves of garlic, pepper and saffron taste).
All in all we have to remind you that this dish is served hot, with toasted baguettes and rouille garlic sauce. Usually its serving is preceded by a salad of greens, and the dish itself is taken out on two plates.
The broth is poured into a deeper plate, and pieces of potatoes, fish, seafood are placed in the second and poured with broth. Plates with the dish complement the gravy, for example, with mustard, parmesan or crackers.
By the way, sauces are spread on bread, placed in soup, where it is soaked in broth, and then eaten with a spoon. Many culinary establishments serve broth with bread and sauces as a first course, leaving fish and other seafood to the second.
In regional varieties, calvados and walnut (Normandy) are added to it, acidified with vinegar (Brittany), a bouquet of garni is used as spices, and potatoes are added to Toulon bouillabaisse.
Under the condition you are not ready to cook this soup at home, you can go to the nearest French restaurant.
National Bouillabaisse Day Facts
Investigating the question “What is the date of Bouillabaisse Day in 2024?” we found a lot of amazing pieces of information. Today we are going to share the most amazing ones among our readers. It differs from most other fish soups, mainly prepared by cooking, by preliminary frying and stewing vegetables.
Frankly speaking, it is considered to be a broth cooked from several types of particular sea fish. All in all there are many ingredients, including, for example, sea scorpion and sea cock. Sometimes the cooks prefer to add season vegetables, for instance, tomatoes, garlic, onions, fennel, etc.). The most unexpected components are orange or lemon peel, spices, saffron and other components.
The most important component of the Marseille soup is the very bony fish of the russass family from the scorpion family. It brings a real Marseille flavor to bouillabaisse.
This fish is included in the list of required components established by a special “Chart of Bouillabaisse” (French Une charte pour la bouillabaisse), which was approved by French restaurateurs in 1980 with the aim of standardizing the soup recipe. According to this document, the Marseille soup must also include: the Mediterranean sea dragon (Latin Trachinus araneus) from the dragon family, sea eel, lionfish and white rossass. In addition, numerous regional variations of this dish based on local seafood such as snapper, cod, octopus and shrimp are common.
