Cabillaud Salé, or Morue à l’Indienne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart (2.8 L) saucepan for poaching
• •2-quart (1.9 L) heavy saucepan for the sauce
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Colander
• •Shallow ovenproof dish for drying the rice
• •1½-quart (1.4 L) porcelain timbale or deep serving bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Prove the desalting

   Cut a small flake from the thickest part of the morue and simmer it in a little plain water for one minute. Taste it. It should be distinctly seasoned but pleasant enough to eat alone. If it is too salty, cover the remaining fish with fresh cold water and soak it in the refrigerator for one to two more hours, changing the water once, then test again. If the salt is harsh rather than merely assertive, give it several more hours. Ça se rattrape now; no sauce can rescue fish that was never properly desalted.

   Do not season the sauce before the fish enters it. Morue carries enough salt to season the whole pan, and every piece is a little different.
2. 2

   Cook rice à l’Indienne

   Heat the oven to 250°F (120°C). Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs nearly clear. Bring 8 cups (1.9 L / 1.9 kg) of the rice water to a strong boil with the fine salt, scatter in the rice, and boil uncovered until tender but still distinct, 12 to 14 minutes. Drain it at once, rinse with the remaining 2 cups (475 ml / 475 g) freshly boiled water, and shake the colander well. Spread the rice in a shallow ovenproof dish and dry it in the low oven for 8 to 10 minutes, gently lifting it once with a fork. Rice à l’Indienne means separate, dry grains ready to take sauce, not a sticky mound.

3. 3

   Poach and flake

   Lay the morue in a saucepan and cover it with the 6 cups (1.4 L / 1.4 kg) cold poaching water. Bring it slowly toward a bare tremble, then lower the heat and poach without boiling until the thickest part separates easily and is opaque throughout, usually 6 to 10 minutes. Drain well. While the fish is warm enough to handle, remove every scrap of skin and every bone, then lift the flesh into generous flakes about 1½ inches (4 cm) across. Do not mash or shred it.

4. 4

   Build the sauce

   Melt the butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until soft and translucent, without browning. Stir in the curry powder for 30 seconds, just until fragrant, then add the flour and cook this roux, the butter-flour foundation, for 90 seconds. Reserve 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) each of the stock and cream for adjustment. Gradually whisk the remaining stock into the roux and simmer gently for 8 minutes. If lumps appear, stop adding liquid and whisk the base smooth before continuing. Pass the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean pan, add the remaining cream, and simmer until you have exactly 1⅔ cups (380 ml / about 390 g). It should be nappant, coating the back of a spoon in a thin, glossy veil. Add the white pepper, but no salt yet.

5. 5

   Fold without breaking

   Return the sauce to the gentlest heat and add the drained flakes of morue. Slide a broad spoon beneath the fish and turn it through the sauce two or three times, just enough to coat every piece. Warm for 3 to 4 minutes without boiling. Taste before adding any salt. If the sauce is too tight, fold in the reserved stock a teaspoon at a time. If it becomes thin, lift out the fish with a slotted spoon, reduce the sauce alone, and return the flakes. If hard heat makes the cream look grainy, take the pan off the burner and whisk the reserved cold cream into the sauce before gently returning the fish.

6. 6

   Serve from the timbale

   Warm a deep porcelain timbale, or a generous serving bowl, with hot water and dry it well. Spoon in the morue à l’Indienne without packing it down, letting the pale ochre sauce settle naturally around the whole flakes. Bring the rice à l’Indienne in a separate warmed bowl so each person can take as much as the sauce requires. No scattered herbs, no decorative flourishes. The fish, curry, and rice have finished the matter. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ready-desalted morue is the honest weeknight choice when your fishmonger carries it. If you buy it dry, choose thick, pale pieces with a clean cured smell and begin soaking well ahead. Fresh cod is not an equal substitute here; curing gives morue its firm flakes and deep savor.
• •Choose a mild, rounded curry powder rather than a fiery blend. In sauce à l’Indienne, curry is seasoning, not camouflage. Blooming it briefly in butter wakes its perfume without scorching it.
• •Keep the fish stock unsalted. Purchased stock is perfectly acceptable if it tastes clean and restrained; concentrated or strongly seasoned stock leaves no room for the salt carried by the morue.
• •Serve with a dry Atlantic white such as Muscadet. Its freshness handles both the cured fish and the cream without trying to compete with the curry.

Advance Preparation

• •If starting with dry morue, soak it under refrigeration for 24 to 36 hours, changing the cold water three or four times. Very thick pieces may need as long as 48 hours. Test a cooked flake before proceeding.
• •The sauce à l’Indienne can be prepared one day ahead without the fish. Chill it promptly, then reheat it gently and adjust its consistency with a spoonful of unsalted stock before folding in the freshly poached morue.
• •The fish may be poached, cleaned, and flaked several hours ahead. Refrigerate it covered and bring it out while the sauce warms. Cook and dry the rice shortly before serving so its grains remain loose.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 405g)