Catfish Meunière
Ingredients
Preparation
About
Fish with Meunière Sauce is one of those dishes you see all over New Orleans, with redfish, trout, catfish, whatever fresh Gulf fish is available. It’s one of the dishes on the combo plate I always pick up at Jazz Fest, So when I returned home, I thought it was about time to try my hand at Meunière Sauce. When I started searching through recipes, however, I realize that maybe there’s a reason I’ve never made it before. The recipes vary widely. One is made with only seafood stock, one with beef stock, and another recommends either beef or veal stock. Some have up to a half cup of Worcestershire sauce, and some have none. The amount of butter in each recipe varies a lot. A couple are made with a roux, one with only a beurre manié to thicken it. One sautés a mirepoix first, a couple just boil the veggies with the stock, and one just skips them altogether. It’s served both with pecans and without.
Ah well, this is the version I came up with for today. I used a combination of shrimp stock because I had a cup of it thawed out, and a half cup of veal stock from a concentrated base to complete the amount needed. I can see where the meat stock would be good, though, giving it that hefty depth I find so appealing in some versions of the sauce. Next time...