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By Root 1050 0

’armoricaine – it was invented neither in America nor in Brittany, the ancient Armorica. No one disputes the first certainty. And no one who knows anything about Brittany in the last century is likely to dispute the second. Outside the main centres, it was poor and backward. Fine cooking needs a long prosperous way of living. Glossy, tourist Brittany, with its fat strawberries and artichokes, its up-to-date farms, is a creation of the last fifty years. Homard à l’américaine could not be ordered in Paris restaurants before 1873.

It was first popular at the Restaurant Bonnefoy, where Homard bonnefoy, developed from a Mediterranean way of cooking crawfish, probably from Langouste Niçoise, was a speciality of the chef Constance Guillot. The name américaine was an inspiration of Pierre Fraisse, at the Restaurant Noël Peters. He came from Sète, southern France, but had worked in America, and soon acquired a clientele of Americans abroad when he opened up in Paris. The delicious flavour, the mild flattery of the name, ensured an international reputation for the dish. In French Provincial Cooking Elizabeth David observes that some Frenchmen, feeling patriotic after the First World War, corrected what they chose to regard as a ‘typographical error’ into the soothing ‘armoricaine’.

For northern cooks, the hard point of the recipe, the point at which it can easily fail, is the tomatoes. If you have ever eaten a tomato in southern Europe, straight from the garden in the heat of summer, you will understand what I mean. Our tomatoes, particularly commercial varieties, which are so poor in flavour and in solidity of texture, need much attention. They cannot be added to the pan with the fish, in the French style, as they are too watery.

The original, ideal fish – no baulking at this one – is lobster, lobster alive, not ready-boiled. The next choice, a common one in France where lobster is even pricier than here, is monkfish, for its texture and sweetness. Turbot works well; so do squid and scallops.

One surprising thing is the use of meat flavours; they give a rich undertone to the sauce without being identifiable. Another is how the recipe can be completely changed by altering a couple of secondary ingredients. Cream instead of stock, butter instead of olive oil, turn the southern américaine style to the northern armoricaine.

Serves 6

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 large clove garlic, crushed

500 g (1 lb) tomatoes, peeled, chopped

salt, black pepper

red wine vinegar (see recipe)

dark brown sugar (see recipe)

2 x 750 g (1½ lb) lobsters or 1½ kg (3 lb) firm fish steaks, seasoned, floured or 6 squid sacs, cut in rings, floured

1 tablespoon plain flour

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

3 tablespoons brandy, 150 ml (5 fl oz) dry white wine or 90 ml (3 fl oz) Madeira

3–4 tablespoons meat jelly

150 ml (5 fl oz) beef stock

cayenne pepper

chopped parsley, tarragon, chervil

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a 20-cm (8-inch) frying pan. Add garlic and tomatoes. Cook down to a steady boil, until you have about 250 ml (8–10 fl oz) of tomato purée – it will be fairly lumpy (sieve if you like sauces smooth). As the tomatoes cook, add salt and black pepper, with a dash of vinegar and a little sugar if they are under-privileged in flavour.

Meanwhile, if the fishmonger has not cut up the lobsters, you must deal with them, see Lobster Introduction. Put any coral and the creamy dark liver (the tomalley) into a basin, and mash up with the flour and butter. Set it aside. If you are not using lobster, prepare the other fish; mash the flour and butter together.

In a 25–30-cm (10–12-inch) heavy frying or sauté pan, cook onion and shallots gently in 3 tablespoons of the oil until they turn golden. Put in the lobster – or other fish – and cook until it turns red or becomes lightly browned.

Pour in the tomatoes, alcohols, jelly and stock, with a pinch of cayenne. Cover and simmer until the fish is just cooked – 10–12 minutes. Remove it to a dish (discard