Diving deep into a bowl of Redfish Courtbouillon is an exploration of the spicy side of Louisiana’s culinary culture. It is a saucy and richly flavored dish that doesn’t hold back on taste. This recipe delivers a heavy wallop of deliciousness in a Magnalite pot.
A classic South Louisiana recipe, Redfish Courtbouillon is rich with tomatoes and spice. (All photos credit: George Graham)
My friend Lee Robicheaux grew up in Houma, Louisiana at the southern reaches of Acadiana. Houma is bayou country, and the coastal community is steeped in fishing tradition where fresh seafood is readily available. He learned to cook his family-style, one-pot dishes at an early age, and his heritage of coastal seafood is at the heart of his recipe repertoire.
To understand the differences in South Louisiana food culture, the cuisine of his roots in Houma are very different than Lafayette, just 100 miles to the north. In the northern reaches of Acadiana, ingredients focus more on chicken, beef, pork, sausage, and smoked meats with rice-and-gravy-culture being the norm. Lee told me he had never eaten smothered round steak growing up in Houma, but it is now a staple dish for him.
Stirring the pot, Lee Robicheaux is a seasoned Cajun cook.
Lee’s redfish recipe is a hybrid between a courtbouillon and a sauce piquante. So, what is the difference? Thank goodness I compiled a Cajun and Creole dictionary that you can access here on the blog. But let’s delve deeper into the subject. To fill a Cajun pot, you have endless variations on these five classic dishes: gumbo, etouffee, bisque, sauce piquante, or courtbouillon.
A Louisiana courtbouillon ((coo bee YON) is classic Creole in origin, and the technique heralds from the French culinary method of poaching seafood, usually redfish or catfish. Here in Louisiana, a highly spiced, red tomato-based gravy is most frequently seen. Flavor develops with the browning of aromatic vegetables and sausage and the addition of tomatoes, stock, and a dark Cajun roux. While it might sound like gumbo, the rich, fiery, tomato flavor defines a courtbouillon in a class of its own.
A well-made courtbouillon can vary in recipe details depending on the tastes and flavor preferences of the cook. And the ingredients are endless: catfish, garfish, turtle, frog legs, and alligator meat show up in some classic renditions of courtbouillon. So, get out your Dutch oven and fire up the burner to explore the spicy side of cooking with my recipe version of Redfish Courtbouillon—a Louisiana classic.
- 4 pounds redfish fillets
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 cups diced yellow onion
- 2 cups diced green bell pepper
- 2 cups diced celery
- 1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes
- 1 (10-ounce) can mild diced tomatoes and green chiles, drained, such as Rotel
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 4 cups seafood stock
- ½ cup dark roux
- 2 cups sliced smoked pork sausage (optional)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
- 2 cups diced green onion tops
- Dash of hot sauce
- 6 cups cooked Louisiana long-grain white rice, such as Supreme
- Inspect the fish fillets for any pin bones and remove. Cut into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- In a large Dutch oven or cast-iron pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat, add the oil along with the onions, bell pepper, and celery. Cook until the onions turn translucent and add the parsley and garlic. Season with white pepper, paprika, and cayenne. Add the tomatoes, Rotel, tomato paste, and honey, and stir. Add the stock and stir in the roux until dissolved and the pot begins to boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and add the sausage and bay leaves to the pot. Cover the pot and let cook for 1 hour, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove the lid and add the chopped rosemary, thyme, basil, and half the green onion tops, reserving the remaining green onion tops for garnish. Close the lid and cook for another 20 minutes. Remove the lid to taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and hot sauce.
- Just before serving, add the fish fillets and submerge in the sauce. Bring the pot to a simmer and let cook until the fish is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Be sure not to stir the fish to prevent it from breaking up.
- For serving, ladle the redfish courtbouillon over a mound of rice in a shallow bowl and garnish with green onion tops. Serve with crusty French bread.
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Thanks, George.
George,
It was a pleasure preparing this dish for Great friends.
Hey Lee – YOU are the master of the sauce piquante. Thanks for sharing your technique. All the best.
That cook pot brings back some childhood memories. My sister’s husband at one time sold those pots and did in-home demos. I remember when he did one for my mother, it ended with my mother holding his face in both her hands and telling him “you don’t think I’ll throw out my iron do you?” She didn’t buy those pots. BTW had that dish using so many critters. Redfish is great but I and three of my 7 granddaughters like it with turtle better.
Hey Pete – Good memories, and turtle makes the best sauce piquante of all. All the best.
What do you serve with this for sides?
Chandra- Some might serve a side salad, but for me, it’s lots and lots of hot French bread for soppin’ up the sauce. All the best.
Enjoyed the site; this recipe is similar to how I grew up. Can remember catching and cleaning snapping turtles. Also had this many times with rabbit and deer.Thanks.
Thanks Phil!
Great
I made this for Christmas Eve dinner and my family raved about it. Redfish is not available where we live so I used cod and shrimp and served with French bread, and homemade pralines for dessert. It was such a special meal, with all the rich, delicious flavors of Louisiana cooking like I remember from my years living there. Wonderful recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Melissa – I always urge my readers to feel free to substitute homegrown familiar ingredients for those I write about. The base technique for this and so many other Cajun dishes are equally as good with readily available local sourcing. All the best.
I have salmon filet that have red spices on them…can I use your recipe for salmon.?
Patrice-
No, I do not recommend it as a substitute for redfish. Salmon is an oily fish with a distinct flavor and texture. It is best grilled or sauteed not stewed down in a spicy Cajun sauce. Find a white flaky fish for this recipe; your local seafood market should have what you need. All the best.
I use salmon sometimes. Yeah, in New Orleans. Shame on me, right? But Cajun cooking is all about using what is available and when we got salmon filets, that’s what I cook. Yeah it is an oily fish but what I do is press the fillets firmly in mix of flour, bread crumbs, a little cornmeal, and a heaping tablespoon of Slap Ya Mama though Tony’s would work just fine. I fry the dry-breaded fillets to a bit past golden, remove the fish, and make the roux in the same oil. After my sauce is right, uptight, and outta sight, I add the fish and yeah it’s already cooked, so what? I gently scoot the fish to the bottom under the sauce, turn the heat dead low, and let it sort of steep for about 20 minutes. You get the taste of the salmon only when you bite into the fish. The breading holds together and soaks up the good stuff from the sauce. I can’t help it. I always toss in a handful of frozen peeled shrimp in the sauce before adding the fish or meat. There is always an open bag in the freezer just for that. In a way, I am using the shrimp for a spice. Sometimes I thaw them and chop them up really fine if I want lots of shrimpy flavor. Anyway, yeah you can’t beat redfish and flounder and snapper are great too, but salmon can work. Just about anything with a face on it that you aren’t related to, it is okay to put it in the pot one way or another.
That’s a great recipe, yeah. Mine is slightly simpler but yours got all the bases covered. I had to go 5 stars.
Hey Growley- Thanks for the detailed description of your method. Of course, I will always use Louisiana Gulf fin fish when available, but I love salmon, too. I find that salmon is a delicate fish that tends to fall apart in long cooking so I usually opt for a quick sauteing or lightly grilled over a flame. That said, I can’t argue with your method if it produces the tasty results you describe. All the best to you.
Would love to hear where I went wrong. Followed the recipe to a “T”, with the exceptions of having to use dried herbs opposed to fresh, and instead of 4 pounds of fish and smoked sausage, I did 2 pounds of fresh redfish and 2 pounds of Royal Red Shrimp.
Honestly, just tasted like all of the herbs – which were at the top – and the hue was much more like gumbo than the reddish in the picture. Obviously, I made a misstep and would love to hear your thoughts.
Hey Jake-
Not sure, but I do know that “fresh” herbs are key to this recipe. Dried herbs can overpower a dish, and if they are too old, the herbs can give an off taste. Plus, if you added 2 tablespoons of each of the three dried herbs (rather than fresh), it would dominate the dish (and not in a good way). Try it again with fresh herbs and add a bit more tomato paste for the red color. All the best.
Evening George. Looking forward to trying your recipe. Can you recommend a substitute for the 4 cups of SEAFOOD STOCK, if possible?
Felman, seafood stock adds flavor and helps define the “gravy” in this dish. There are lots of ways to create a seafood stock; a cup of dried shrimp added to 4 cups of boiling water is the easiest. Dried shrimp can be found throughout Acadiana and you can always find them in Asian or Latin groceries. That said, rural Cajun cooks have been known to make this dish using water. All the best.
Similar cooking I learned from my grandmother and mom. They’re from the Houma area and lived in Bourg most of there lives. They’re cookin’ was the absolute best. I’m glad I learned from her and my mom. I remember, as a kid sitting in my grandmother’s kitchen, watching and learning. I have not made this in a long time, but I might make some soon. I just went last week to St. Ann’s Cemetery in Bourg to visit them. Her maiden name was Jabert and married name was Matherne.
Hey Gabriel – Food memories are the best memories. Thanks for sharing yours. All the best.
Very interesting. I notice you add white pepper, cayenne, and smoked paprika which are key ingredients in Cajun seasonings instead of storebought Cajun seasoning. I like this because most storebought Cajun seasonings are too salty for my tastes.
Greetings from Pensacola! Thank you for the great recipe! Man, this brought back so many memories of fishing with my grandfather and him making this!
Hey Captain- Food memories are the best memories! And you are so fortunate to have Joe Patti’s Seafood Market there in Pensacola. Fresh redfish is just a short drive away. Cook up a spicy Redfish Courtbouillon tonight!
Please add me to your mailing list. Enjoyed your courtboullion recipe.
Frederick – Thanks for the comment and you have been added to the Acadiana Table family. All the best.
It not only warms my heart to read about our culture and good food/ recipes, but it makes me hungry (lol). I was born and raised in Golden Meadow,LA, and I love our dishes! Thank you!
Hey Verna- Golden Meadow is “down the bayou” from me, and ground zero for the greatest seafood from Louisiana waters. You should have ready access to redfish for this recipe, and you are the envy of every home cook that is reading this. All those memories and dishes should be passed down to family and friends to keep our culinary culture alive. You are a key part of that. Thanks.