Serving
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Fish Soup
Sweden    
Serves
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:		 6 soup  
***
(Note-3)  
Yes		 A typical Swedish fish soup, suitable as a soup course. If you wish, it can easily be made more substantial with some diced potatoes. This soup can be made ahead and reheats well.






2-1/2
------
3
2
4
2
5
8
1
8
------
2
3
2
------
2
1/2 		#
---
oz
oz




t
c
---
T
T
c
---

c 		Fish (1)
-- Stock
Carrot
Celery Tops
Parsley sprig
Bay Leaves
Cloves
Peppercorns
Salt
Water
----------
Butter
Flour
Milk
-- Option
Egg Yolk
Cream
  1. Scale and clean FISH. Fillet it. Split the heads and put them in your soup pot along with the bones and fins. Include the skins only if they are known not to have a strong flavor (see Note-2).
  2. Cut the CARROTS and CELERY into small pieces. Add All Stock items to the pot with the fish bones.
  3. Bring to a boil and simmer slowly for 45 minutes. Strain and discard all solids.
  4. De-fat the stock using your gravy separator.
  5. Cut the Fillets into small pieces. For very firm fish they should be quite small, larger for fish that flakes apart when cooked.
  6. Add Fish to the stock and simmer long enough to get the consistency your want.
  7. Heat Butter in a small saucepan and stir in Flour until it is well cooked but not at all browned. Stir in the Milk little by little until you have a smooth sauce, then stir in some of the fish stock, and finally stir the mixture back into the pot. Simmer for a few minutes more.
  8. Serve hot. On special occasions Cream and Egg Yolks are beaten together, then the soup is poured over them before being serving.
NOTES:
  1. Fish:   Weight is for whole fish with heads, guts and feathers. Use a fish that breaks into largish flakes but is not too firm and makes a good soup stock. The original recipe called for Haddock, but we don't have Haddock here in Southern California. The photo specimen was made with Red Drum (Redfish) which does not flake so needed to be cut into very small pieces. For details see our Fish Pages (very large page).
  2. Method:   The original recipe cleaned the fish, then just cut it up and simmered it with the vegetables, then picked the flesh off the bones. I don't do it that way, but you can if you wish.
  3. Time:   How long this soup takes depends on how quick you are at scaling, gutting and filleting fish. Starting with whole fish, I might have finished soup in about 2 hours. Of course, if I have fish stock from a previous project and some fish fillets on hand, it will take about an hour and a quarter.
  4. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch

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