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Tall pot with rockfish and crabs simmering gently

Fish fumet

Homemade fish fumet recipe for rice dishes

Homemade fumet is cold water, fish bones and a few vegetables, cooked gently, skimmed and strained. It is the liquid base of seafood rice dishes.

Traditional recipe

Yield
2 l
Total time
35 min
Difficulty
Easy
Region
—
Xepep

Fish fumet

Yield: 2 l

Ingredients

Stock

  • 1.5 kgRockfish or small mixed fish (morralla)
  • 2 lWater
  • 2 pcsOnion
  • 1 pcsLeek
  • 2 pcsCarrot
  • 2 sprigsCelery
  • 3 clovesGarlic
  • 1 leafBay leaf
  • 3 pcsBlack peppercorns
  • 2 tbspExtra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbspLemon juice
  • to tasteFresh parsley
  • to tasteSalt

Ingredients

    Recipe PDF (Yield base: 2 l)

    Steps

    1. 1
      Soak 1.5 kg and then put it in a colander under the tap to get rid of the sand and impurities. Set the crabs apart from the rest.
    2. 2
      Cut 2 pcs, 1 pcs, 2 pcs and 2 sprigs into not-too-small pieces. Leave 3 cloves whole.
    3. 3
      Heat 2 tbsp in a large pot and brown the crabs first. Add the rest of the fish and brown it for a couple of minutes.5 min
    4. 4
      Add 3 pcs, 1 leaf, the vegetables, to taste, to taste and 2 l.
    5. 5
      Simmer over a low heat and skim off the foam for as long as it cooks.25 min
    6. 6
      Let the stock settle, add 1 tbsp and strain it through a chinois or a fine mesh sieve.
    7. 7
      Cool it and store it: Directo al Paladar keeps it for up to 3 days in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer.
    Strained fumet in a saucepan, with the chinois and the fish scraps set aside

    Fish fumet is the stock that gives half the flavour to a seafood rice. The grain drinks all of it in: if the stock is weak, the rice will be too, however much shellfish goes on top. What a fumet is and how it differs from a broth or a stock is explained in the glossary; this page is about making it.

    Which fish to use

    For rice dishes, rockfish or morralla, the small mixed catch: cintas (red bandfish), galeras (mantis shrimp), pargos (red porgy), gallinetas (blackbelly rosefish) and a crab or two, which is what the base recipe, OkDiario’s, asks for. Wash it well, because it comes with sand, and brown the crabs first. If you can’t find morralla, white fish bones and heads will do, without the guts, as the glossary reminds us; El Cocinero Casero adds prawn or king prawn heads, which give a deeper colour. If you want a fish stew without stock, with a sofrito and picada, the suquet de peix from Vinaròs takes that route.

    Why this recipe and not another

    There is no single proportion. These are the ones the sources give:

    Source Scraps Water Cooking time
    OkDiario (this page) 1.5 kg of rockfish 2 l 25 min
    El Cocinero Casero 500 g of bones and heads about 2.5 l 20 min
    Directo al Paladar 1 kg of bones 5 l 30 min
    Alicante Turismo 400 g of scraps 4.5 l 1 h

    We chose OkDiario’s for two reasons: it is the most concentrated of the four, which you can taste in a rice dish, and it is the only one that says how much stock it makes: two litres. That figure lets the page for each rice work out the fumet you need without guessing. Alicante Turismo, for its part, fries ñora pepper, garlic and tomato in the same recipe to make the salmorreta; that sauce goes into the rice, not the fumet, which is why it doesn’t appear here.

    When it is done

    Low heat, foam off and twenty-five minutes. No more is needed: rockfish gives up what it has very quickly, and the glossary warns that after half an hour the stock starts to turn bitter. Let it settle, add the squeeze of lemon and strain through a chinois. If it comes out weak, reduce the strained stock in a saucepan rather than cooking it for longer.

    How much to add to the rice

    The ratio of fumet to rice changes from dish to dish. The Turismo de Alicante guide uses twice as much stock as rice in its Alicante rice, and the seafood paella recipe on its website goes up to three times. Follow the page for each rice or see the guide to how much rice per person for groups. The best partners for fumet are arroz a banda, arroz del senyoret, seafood paella fideuà de Gandia and lobster rice; the allioli goes on the table.

    If there are 40 or more of you, we cook rice for groups live: see paella and show cooking.

    History and variations

    No region or fiesta lays claim to fumet: it is a basic kitchen stock, which is why you will find it in arroz a banda, fideuà and arroz del senyoret. What it is and how it differs from a broth or a stock is explained in the glossary.

    Fumet

    Tips

    Wash the rockfish well under the tap before cooking it: small mixed fish come with sand. Sources

    Skim off the foam as it cooks: that keeps the stock clear. Sources

    Freeze it in portions: it keeps for up to 3 months. Sources

    Containers of cold fumet ready to freeze

    Fish fumet

    Frequently asked questions

    How long should you simmer fish fumet?

    Anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour, depending on the recipe. This page follows OkDiario, with 25 minutes over a low heat; El Cocinero Casero stops at twenty, Directo al Paladar counts thirty from the moment it returns to the boil and Alicante Turismo goes up to an hour with a lot more water. The glossary recommends not going over half an hour, because after that it turns bitter.

    Can you freeze fumet?

    Yes. Directo al Paladar keeps it for up to three days in the fridge or up to three months in the freezer. Strain it well, let it cool and divide it into portion-sized containers, so you can take out just what the rice needs. Before using it, the glossary recommends bringing it to the boil briefly.

    How much fumet does a rice dish need per portion?

    Each dish has its own. The Turismo de Alicante guide uses 200 ml of stock for every 100 g of rice in its Alicante rice, double; the seafood paella recipe on its website goes up to 1,200 ml for 400 g, triple. A litre of fumet gives you enough for about 500 g of rice at the double proportion. Always check the page for the rice you are making.

    Sources

    Glossary terms

    Recipes