Chef Juliette
Ordinary or White Consommé
Beef shin, lean beef, and fowl begin in cold water and rise slowly toward a tremble. Skim before the boil, and you learn the quiet discipline that gives every clear French broth its backbone.
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Court-bouillon with Vinegar
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 163, Court-bouillon with Vinegar, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
The clear, sharp poaching liquor that teaches restraint: vegetables simmered gently with vinegar, then peppercorns held to the final twelve minutes so trout, salmon, and shellfish taste clean, never bitter.
Sauces & Condiments
French
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
Dinner Party
15 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•1 hr 30 min total
YieldAbout 2 quarts (1.9 L)
Court-bouillon au vinaigre (vinegar poaching broth) teaches controlled extraction. The vegetables need the full hour, while the peppercorns need twelve minutes and not one lazy minute more. Add them at the beginning and their brightness turns bitter before the broth is ready.
The original formula assumed a five-quart service batch, a tammy for fine straining, and a cook available to mind another pot. A home kitchen needs about two quarts, a fine-mesh sieve lined with damp cloth, and one reliable timer. The large batch and tammy are brigade scaffolding, so every quantity has been scaled to two-fifths and the old cloth sieve replaced with its honest home equivalent. The hour of quiet simmering and the peppercorns' final twelve minutes are the dish itself, and they stay.
The finished court-bouillon should be clear and lightly golden, with vinegar sharpening the vegetables rather than overwhelming them. It is a cooking liquor, not a soup and not a reduction. Set the timer the moment the peppercorns enter; those final twelve minutes decide the pot.
Court-bouillon au vinaigre belongs to France's working fish table, from the shellfish kitchens of Brittany and Normandy to inland tables where trout were poached whole. Home cooks built it from water, garden aromatics, salt, and vinegar, while grand kitchens standardized the same liquor into measured, finely strained batches. Despite bouillon in the name, it is not a meat stock: court means short, and the preparation exists to cook delicate fish cleanly without covering its flavor.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cold water
Quantity
8 cups (1.9 L / 1.9 kg)
unseasoned white wine vinegar, 5% acidity
Quantity
6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (95 ml / 95 g)
fine gray sea salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 ml / 23 g)
carrots
Quantity
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (265 ml / 136 g)
finely minced
yellow onions
Quantity
1¼ cups (300 ml / 180 g)
finely minced
flat-leaf parsley stalks
Quantity
1 loosely packed cup (240 ml / 23 g)
fresh thyme
Quantity
4 sprigs
bay leaf
Quantity
1
whole black peppercorns
Quantity
2½ teaspoons (12 ml / 5.7 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cold water | 8 cups (1.9 L / 1.9 kg) |
| unseasoned white wine vinegar, 5% acidity | 6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (95 ml / 95 g) |
| fine gray sea salt | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 ml / 23 g) |
| carrotsfinely minced | 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (265 ml / 136 g) |
| yellow onionsfinely minced | 1¼ cups (300 ml / 180 g) |
| flat-leaf parsley stalks | 1 loosely packed cup (240 ml / 23 g) |
| fresh thyme | 4 sprigs |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| whole black peppercorns | 2½ teaspoons (12 ml / 5.7 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •4-quart (3.8 L) stainless-steel or enameled saucepan
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Damp cheesecloth or clean lint-free kitchen cloth
- •Kitchen timer
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the aromatics
Mince the carrots and onions evenly so they surrender their flavor within the hour. Gather the parsley stalks, thyme, and bay leaf into a small bouquet garni, meaning an herb bundle, and tie it with kitchen string. Keep the peppercorns completely separate; their turn comes at the end.
The vegetables need not be beautiful, only evenly cut. Avoid reducing them to wet pulp, which clouds the court-bouillon and makes fine straining needlessly difficult. - 2
Start the court-bouillon
Combine the cold water, vinegar, gray salt, carrots, onions, and bouquet garni in a 4-quart nonreactive saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until the salt dissolves, bring the liquid just to a full boil, then lower the heat immediately to a quiet simmer. Stainless steel or enamel is right here; vinegar has no business sitting against bare aluminum or unlined copper.
- 3
Simmer forty-eight minutes
Hold the court-bouillon at a gentle, steady simmer for 48 minutes, with only a few bubbles breaking the surface. Skim away any coarse vegetable froth, but do not boil the liquor down as though it were a stock; this is a poaching bath, not a concentrate. If a hard boil has lowered the level sharply, add a little boiling water to return it close to its starting mark.
- 4
Add peppercorns last
Add the peppercorns whole and start a timer for exactly 12 minutes. Keep the same quiet simmer and do not crush them, because broken pepper extracts faster and more harshly. When the timer rings, remove the pot from the heat at once. If they run a little long, strain immediately; mild bitterness can be diluted with hot water in ½-cup additions, then corrected with vinegar by the teaspoon and salt by the pinch. Ça se rattrape. A harsh medicinal bitterness means the pepper has gone too far, and the honest correction is a fresh small batch.
Twelve minutes is not fussiness. It is the point at which the peppercorns lend aroma and warmth without surrendering their bitter compounds to the whole pot. - 5
Strain through cloth
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a clean heatproof container and line it with damp cheesecloth or a lint-free kitchen cloth. Pour the court-bouillon through, then press the vegetables once, gently, with the back of a ladle to recover the liquor. Stop before pulp passes through. This replaces the old tammy without changing its purpose. If the broth becomes cloudy, let it settle for 10 minutes and filter it once more through clean damp cloth.
- 6
Correct and cool
Taste the court-bouillon while warm. It should be clean and vegetal, decisively saline, and sharpened by vinegar without making the mouth pucker; remember that fish and shellfish will soften its apparent seasoning. Use it now, or cool it promptly by setting the container in an ice bath and stirring occasionally. Cover only when cold, then refrigerate. You should have close to 2 quarts, ready for one cook, one stove, one evening.
Chef Tips
- •Use an ordinary unseasoned white wine vinegar with 5% acidity. Balsamic darkens the liquor, cider vinegar changes its character, and cleaning vinegar has no place near food.
- •Trust the scale for gray salt, especially if yours is coarse. Twenty-three grams preserves the source formula; a spoonful of coarse sel gris can contain far less salt than the same spoonful finely ground.
- •For whole trout or thick salmon portions, cool the court-bouillon first, cover the fish with it, and bring everything slowly to a bare quiver, around 80 to 85°C (176 to 185°F). The flesh cooks evenly and is less likely to split. Shellfish generally enter court-bouillon that is already simmering.
- •Do not season the fish heavily before poaching. This court-bouillon carries enough salt to season from the outside as it cooks, and the final correction belongs after the fish leaves the liquor.
Advance Preparation
- •Make the court-bouillon up to 3 days ahead. Cool it rapidly in an ice bath, cover, and refrigerate at or below 4°C (40°F).
- •Freeze it for up to 3 months in 2-cup (475 ml) portions, leaving expansion room in each container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or directly in a saucepan over gentle heat.
- •Once raw fish or shellfish has entered the liquor, do not pour it back into an unused batch. Strain the used liquid, boil it for 1 minute, cool it promptly, and refrigerate for no more than 1 day, or discard it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 240g)
Calories
5 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
1160 mg
Total Carbohydrates
1 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
0 g
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