An art of living ...
The art of cooking in Marseilles, and more generally in Provence, is marked by the know-how and quality fresh food. Fish, olive oil, course with sauce, or roasted cooking with a blade of fennel are the creative and original feature of the Provencal cooking. Here are the most famous main dishes :
Bouillabaisse
This dish illustrates the Provencal proverb « fish live in water and die in the olive oil ». Right from the origin, it is a popular dish for the families of fishermen who used not sold fish. Through years, the Bouillabaisse became a prestigious dish; and for that reason, it must respond to the quality charter and being made with expensive fish, like the monkfish or shellfish.
Several varieties are essential to make a successful recipe. After being boiled and torn brown with olive oil, Bouillabaisse is served with rust, potatoes and crouton. Several alternatives of this receipt exist, but Marseilles take the prize.
As a matter of interest on the name of the bouillabaisse: during the cooking of the dish, it was to the youngest of the family to keep an eye on the oven. The instructions were simple: “when that boil, lowers the fire” that mean in French “bouille-abaisse”!!!
Pieds et paquets
They are small chunk of the sheep paunch rolled out and stuffed with bacon, garlic, parsley and white wine. More the “Pieds et Paquets” are small, better must be the cooker because this work is in fact meticulous and delicate.
In 1993, a Marseilles association, “the Charter of Marseille Pieds et Paquets” was created by restaurant owners to prove the serious and the quality of this receipt.
The garlic mayonnaise or « Aïoli »
In Provence, aioli (or more formally, Le Grand Aïoli) also designates a complete dish consisting of various boiled vegetables (usually carrots, potatoes, and green beans), boiled fish (normally, desalted salt cod), and boiled eggs served with the aioli sauce which is a mayonnaise containing garlic. Be careful: more than one clove of garlic and you’ll drive everybody away.
Soup with Pistou
Ideal at the time of the summer evenings after a heat afternoon, this soup is made up with vegetables cut in small dices: haricot bean, potatoes, zucchini, carrot and onion. But its characteristic is the garlic and tomato, basil addition. What to say moreover ? Taste without moderation !!!
