One of many easiest weeknight dinners I do know is baked fish, on this case fillets of haddock with do-it-yourself tartar sauce, French model. The fish is dusted with salt, pepper and somewhat cumin — no flour is concerned — and drizzled with olive oil earlier than being roasted in a scorching oven for 10-Quarter-hour, relying on the thickness of the fillets. Whereas the fish is cooking you may whip up the tartar sauce, and presto. Dinner is prepared in lower than half an hour.
Eglefin au 4 sauce tartare / Baked haddock with French tartar sauce
Sauce tartare / French tartar sauce
Earlier than returning to the topic of the sauce, I’d wish to say a number of phrases with reference to the fish. First, it doesn’t need to be haddock. The recipe works properly with all sorts of fish fillets. Second, contemporary fish will produce superior outcomes, however frozen fish could also be used as properly (as long as the fillets are totally defrosted earlier than you start). Third, and right here is the place it will get fascinating from a linguistic viewpoint, what do the French imply by haddock?
The reply, mes amis, is that they imply ‘smoked haddock’, which is offered right here in shiny yellow-orange skin-on fillets. However to not panic. This recipe calls not for haddock (pronounced ah-DUCK), however fairly for églefin, or ‘contemporary haddock’.
Oddly, the phrase églefin derives from a Dutch phrase, schelvisch, which appears to be like extra like shellfish to me. However languages evolve in mysterious methods, and someway over the centuries the phrase modified to one thing that sounds much more French — égle evoking aigle, or ‘eagle’, and fin that means ‘high-quality’ or ‘skinny’…
However this doesn’t reply the query of: why two phrases for a similar fish? Nicely, one solely has to consider ‘kippers’ (smoked herring) and ‘herring’ (different types of herring) to know. This fishy linguistic duplicity could be difficult for individuals new to France. I keep in mind that after I moved to Paris within the ’70s it took me a very long time to determine that cabillaud (contemporary cod) and morue (dried salt cod) had been certainly the identical fish.
Okay, now on to the sauce. How is French sauce tartare completely different from the tartar sauce served, say, within the States or in England? Nicely, for one factor it isn’t candy. For one more it makes use of capers and might dispense with pickles or pickle relish altogether. This produces a extra subtle taste, for my part.
French sauce tartare combines the capers with mayonnaise, lemon juice and chopped contemporary herbs. You don’t must make the mayo. Retailer-bought is simply high-quality — however examine the sugar content material (no sugar = extra genuine). The French generally additionally embrace chopped cornichons, the tiny vinegar-cured cucumbers that go for pickles over right here. However as they’re laborious to search out elsewhere, I’ve omitted them from at the moment’s recipe. And to be trustworthy, I choose my sauce tartare with out the cornichons.
French tartar sauce marries fantastically with fish and shellfish, and may additionally be used alongside hen, veggies and chilly meats. It takes not more than 5 minutes to organize.
Blissful cooking.
