Highly seasoned fish stew made of at least two kinds of fish.
Although bouillabaisse now refers to a dish made of fish and herbs, it originally signified a method of cooking. The word derives from the French bouillir, meaning to boil, and abaisser, meaning to reduce; together, the two words described the culinary process of boiling a fish stock until it is reduced to a thick soup. Bouillabaisse was adopted by English in the mid nineteenth century, but long before then the French words that make up this compound had been borrowed separately: abaisser was borrowed in the fourteenth century as abase, meaning to humiliate, while bouillir was borrowed in the mid eighteenth century as bouillon, a kind of broth. Even earlier, in the thirteenth century, English had adopted bouillir as boil, the word having been introduced by the French ruling class that had seized control of England in 1066. The English had, of course, been capable of boiling water before the French took over, but they referred to it as seething, a word deriving from the same Germanic source as suds. The word seething still exists in figurative uses such as seething with rage, and its past tense—sodden— is still used to signify something soaked in water, although not necessarily boiling water. Incidentally, the source of the French bouillir (and therefore of the English boil) is the Latin bulla, meaning bubble, which is also the source of bullet, a projectile originally shaped like a bubble.
A savory soup consisting of a medley of diverse types of seafood derived from the oceanic depths and augmented with the exotic flavor of saffron. This delicacy is a customary offering from the port city of Marseille, nestled on the southeastern coast of France.
Originating from the southern region of France, there exists a highly esteemed fish stew that incorporates an array of fish species indigenous to the Mediterranean Sea. This flavorful stew is crafted using a blend of olive oil, spices, and herbs, with the addition of saffron to impart a distinctive flavor.