Gochujang – Korean Style Shrimp Bouillabaisse

Eric Ripert’s gochujang – Korean style shrimp bouillabaisse caught my attention when I began exploring his extensive seafood recipes. Making bouillabaisse has been on my to-do list for a very long time.

Legend has it that bouillabaisse was created by Marseille fishermen who wanted to make a meal when they returned to port. I was not aware that the dish has such a long history dating back to ancient Greek. By all accounts, kakavia is the pre-cursor to the modern-day bouillabaisse. Then it made its way from Greece to Marseilles around 600 B.C.

What stands in my way in making this traditional Provençal fish stew? Finding the time and occasion, and the long list of seafood ingredients.

Finally, this particular bouillabaisse is taking me from the wish list to the table. Based on Eric Ripert’s recipe, you no longer need to spend hours developing the flavor of the fish stew. Better yet, you only need shrimp as the singular seafood ingredient. However, I had my doubt. Would a short cut deliver the complex flavor of a seafood stew?

Julia Child, who lived in Marseille for a year, wrote this in My Life in France. “To me the telling flavor of bouillabaisse comes from two things: the Provençal soup base — garlic, onions, tomatoes, olive oil, fennel, saffron, thyme, bay, and usually a bit of dried orange peel — and, of course, the fish — lean (non-oily), firm-fleshed, soft-fleshed, gelatinous, and shellfish.” I wonder what she’d had thought about a gochujang – Korean style shrimp bouillabaisse.

Eric Ripert’s recipe includes garlic, leeks, tomatoes, vegetable oil, fennel, saffron, Pernod, potatoes and shrimp. He has most of the soup base covered. Let’s not forget the gochujang, the quintessential Korean fermented pepper paste, in his unusual bouillabaisse adaptation. The verdict: this fish stew is transforming and gochujang is the star ingredient. Moreover, I have tremendous respect for chef Ripert. He shows exceptional skills and deftness in putting together seamlessly a disparate and funky Asian ingredient in a traditional western fish stew.

In recent months, I have kept a box of gochujang in my fridge. I use it occasionally—not frequently. After making this Korean style bouillabaisse, gochujang has earned a special and permanent place in my refrigerator. Did I just say that?

Bouillabaisse served with a slice of sourdough bread topped with tarragon aioli

Print Recipe

Gochujang - Korean Style Shrimp Bouillabaisse

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 heads fennel, fronds removed (reserve a few for garnish) and small diced
• 3 leeks, sliced, then washed
• 2 heads garlic, peeled and sliced
• 1 tablespoon saffron threads
• 2 medium tomatoes; peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 3 tablespoons Gochujang
• ½ cup Pernod
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 2 Yukon gold potatoes; boiled whole, peeled, and medium diced
• 2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
• ½ small baguette, sliced and toasted
• 4 tablespoons aioli (see recipe)
• AIOLI:
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• ½ teaspoon saffron threads
• 1 clove garlic, mashed to a paste
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

Instructions

1

Heat a medium sized pot over medium heat with vegetable oil. Add the fennel, leeks, garlic and saffron and sweat until tender. Add the chopped tomatoes and Gochujang and cook down until most of the water is cooked out. Add the Pernod and cook down for 2-3 minutes to cook off the alcohol. Pour in the chicken stock and bring up to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes. Add the diced potatoes and shrimp to the pot. Turn off the heat and let the shrimp finish cooking in the hot liquid.

2

To serve, lay out 4 bowls. Spoon the vegetables on the bottom of the bowls. Arrange the shrimp in a circle on top of the vegetables. Garnish the top of the bouillabaisse with a crouton that is spread with aioli and the reserved fennel fronds.

3

For the AIOLI:

4

Bring about 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Spoon out 2 teaspoons of the water and pour over the saffron threads to “bloom”. In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, saffron water and garlic paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for up to three days.

Notes

Adapted from Eveceric at http://www.aveceric.com/all-recipes/gochujang-korean-style-shrimp-bouillabaisse