Restaurant de Bacon Bouillabaisse

• 3 kg small rock fish (rainbow wrasse, scorpion fish, wrasse, blavier, sarans) for the stock
• 4 kg very large fish (John Dory, red scorpion fish, scorpion fish, monkfish, moray, weever, gurnard)
• 2 medium onions
• 1 head garlic
• 1 stalk celery
• 4 large tomatoes
• fresh thyme
• bay leaves
• fennel
• fresh tarragon
• 5 g saffron
• 1-2 red peppers
• 4 medium potatoes
• ¼ liter first pressed olive oil
• 4 egg yolks
• coarse salt
• 1 day-old baguette

Prepare the aioli mayonnaise: Crush very finely chopped garlic, egg yolk, a small amount of olive oil, and salt in a mortar and pestle until a very smooth texture is obtained. Slowly add olive oil and lemon juice, whisking to create an emulsion. A food processor can be used instead of a whisk. The olive oil is added very slowly at first, then faster once the initial emulsion has formed. The ailoi mayonnaise will be served along with cloves of raw garlic and crispy hard croutons to be floated in the soup.

Prepare the fish stock: In ¼ liter of olive oil in a large pot, brown sliced onions, garlic, tomatoes, celery (cut into pieces), 1 red pepper, and tarragon, on high heat. Once well-browned, add the 3 kg of small rock fish, gutted and scaled. Stir well for about 20 minutes to get a paste. Add the herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Add boiling water (1 liter per kg of fish) and boil for 30 minutes. Pass through a food mill and strain in a fine chinois, applying pressure to obtain as much juice as possible. Finish the seasoning with the saffron (5 grams or more).

In the fish stock, poach the 4 kg of fish according to their size and the firmness of their meat (the John Dory requires longer cooking time than the red scorpion fish of equal size whose meat is more delicate). One can never repeat enough that the fish must not be overcooked; the cooking time is always shorter than what we imagine.

Add potatoes cut into ½ inch slices to the stock just before the fish and bring to a boil. Once cooked, gently remove the fish, carefully bone, and place the fillets in large preheated flat bowls.

The stock (very hot) is then poured over the fillets.

Float several very hard croutons sliced from the day-old baguette, rubbed with fresh raw garlic, and topped with garlic aioli mayonnaise in the bouillabaisse just before eating.