If court bouillon has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 9 recipes to try it in.

What is court bouillon?

Court bouillon is a quick, acidic poaching liquid, not a long-simmered bone stock at all. The name means "short broth" in French, and short is the point.

You build it in about half an hour from water, an acid such as wine or vinegar, and a handful of aromatics, then poach fish or shellfish in it.

There are no bones and no gelatin here. It is water spiked with wine or vinegar plus vegetables and herbs, simmered just long enough to pull out their flavor.

The acid does real work. It firms up delicate fish and keeps it from falling apart while seasoning the liquid you cook in.

What Goes In It

The base is water with a splash of dry white wine or a tablespoon or two of vinegar per quart. From there you add the usual aromatics: sliced onion, carrot, celery, a bay leaf, a pinch of salt, plus peppercorns and parsley stems.

Simmer it 20 to 30 minutes to draw out the flavor, then strain it or leave the vegetables in. Some cooks add lemon slices for fish.

Treat it as a template, not a strict recipe.

How to Use It

Court bouillon is built for gentle poaching. Bring it to a bare simmer, then slip in the fish and hold it just below a boil so the flesh stays tender instead of toughening.

It is the classic liquid for poaching salmon, as in Whole Salmon with Dill Sauce, where a gentle poach keeps the fish silky. It also poaches scallops and shrimp for dishes like Coquilles St. Jacque.

Use it to poach a fillet for Fillet of Fish Florentine, then build a sauce from the poaching liquid. Beyond seafood it also handles vegetables, eggs, and even sweetbreads.

The big mistake is letting it boil. A rolling boil tears delicate fish apart and clouds the liquid, so keep the surface barely moving.

Substitutes

If a recipe just needs a flavored poaching liquid, water with a glug of white wine and a bay leaf covers it. That is most of what court bouillon is anyway.

For poaching fish you can use a light fish stock with a squeeze of lemon, which adds more savory depth than a plain court bouillon. A diluted white wine with herbs also stands in.

What you should not reach for is a rich meat stock. Its heavy, meaty flavor overwhelms delicate seafood, which is exactly why court bouillon stays light.

Making and Storing It

Court bouillon is meant to be made fresh and used the same day, since it is quick to throw together and built around delicate flavor. It keeps 2 to 3 days covered in the fridge if you want to reuse it.

Do not save liquid you have already poached fish in for long. It picks up fishiness fast and is best used right away or discarded. You can freeze a fresh, unused batch for a month or so.

Quick facts

In Chinese

法院肉汤

British (UK) term

Court bouillon

en français

court-bouillon

en español

de caldo de la corte

Recipes using court bouillon

There are 9 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 9 recipes