One of the fundamental books on Catalan culture and gastronomy (particularly in relation to the Empordà region) is the legendary El que hem menjat (What we have eaten), by Josep Pla. It’s a book referred to regularly on this blog and a true canon of gastronomic literature.

Among its pages, the author affirms that “the most basic, important and essential element of a rice dish is the sofregit (the stir-fried base ingredients)”. And he’s correct. The sofregit is the cornerstone of the Empordà region’s cuisine and it’s here that the mixture attains a high level of sophistication and variety. With or without tomato, with or without red or green pepper, with or without chopped onion and garlic, every stew begins with this humble but tasty combination of ingredients.

Even so, and somewhat curiously, one of the most well-recognised dishes in our kitchens is made without this basic element. We refer, of course, to the suquet de peix (fish stew). The Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana defines the stew as “a dish of varied fish, sometimes with crustaceans and mussels, prepared with a base of oil, garlic, flour, tomato, and parsley, to which water, salt, and pepper are added”.

But it is mistaken.

A dish made at sea.

The suquet is a sailor’s dish. Traditionally, like many other dishes around the world, including gaspatxo (cold garlic and tomato soup), it’s a man’s dish, a dish for fishermen. They would make it on the boat during the day with the fish they couldn’t sell at the market: monkfish, scorpionfish, red scorpionfish, normally all mixed together. The ingredients are minimal: original recipes included just fish, potatoes, and allioli (garlic and oil mayonnaise). The dish could be made quickly, as was necessary for such a demanding and difficult task as fishing. It was normally prepared in less than 20 minutes on a high flame and, in the most traditional versions, was eaten using thick-cut slices of country bread to serve as a plate.

Little more than fish and potatoes. A reviving, filling, and quick lunch that with time reached dry land and took on more complex forms. Most likely providing the origins of some of our most prestigious seafood dishes: The Caldera balear, the Olla de peix, and the Bullit de peix eivissenc. There are even some who say that Provence’s Bouillabaisse is a variant of our suquet.

From the 17th Century until today.

The suquet has been identified in Baroque cookbooks, referred to then as “Peix a la marinesca (seafarer’s fish)” or “Peix amb suc (fish with broth)”, although it didn’t appear on restaurant menus until the early 20th Century.

At restaurant Costa Brava we serve you a suquet with Mediterranean origins and a more sophisticated recipe. It’s a far cry from the original rustic version yet it retains all the flavour thanks to the presence of two traditional fish: monkfish, with its delicate taste and firm flesh, and the golden redfish, a rockfish which contributes a unique flavour. Both fish formed part of the “authentic” original recipe due to their unpopularity at fish markets. The monkfish because, despite its quality, it had more head than body, and the redfish because, as with all good rockfish, it had too many bones.