AZAÏS-POLITO FISH SOUP

Fish soup is the beating heart of Asaïz-Polito. For over 60 years, it has embodied the expertise, rigour and passion of our Cétoise company. People come here to taste it in its natural setting, at the foot of Mont Saint-Clair and a stone’s throw from the Etang de Thau, the birthplace of Cétoise cuisine.

For the cétoise rock fish soup, and in order to get as close as possible to the method of the ancestral recipe, only the refining processes for the fish soup have evolved, from a Chinese press to specific refining machines designed by Mr Polito, our CEO. Thanks to these machines, this one-of-a-kind production stage, unique to the Asaïz-Polito canning factory, produces an exceptional fish coulis. It retains all the flavour of the fibre of the noble fish, the rock fish, after simmering, in the same way as the traditional recipe, as when the famous “cétoises” used the “torchon press”, known as the old-fashioned technique. Asaïz-Polito fish soup is made in a very specific way, following the traditional recipe from A to Z. All the stages are followed to the letter, including sweating the fish to extract its juices, deglazing with white wine and, above all, simmering to blend all the flavours provided by each of the ingredients.

Only the ripening process is carried out using the cannery’s own mechanical ripeners. All the other products in our range are still made by hand, so they do not require the use of machines.

A production process that goes through all the stages of the traditional recipe.

Firstly, the use of small, noble rock fish from the Gulf of Lyon Mediterranean, FAO zone 37.1.2, such as scorpion fish or girelle, clavière, saran, rouget-grondin, petit congre, petites vives, etc. Secondly, the sweating of the fish in olive oil and onion, which is essential for binding, sweetness and flavour. Secondly, sweat the fish in olive oil and onion, which is essential for binding, sweetness and flavour. Thirdly, deglaze with Picpoul de Pinet white wine, a renowned regional white wine.

Fourthly, the soup is simmered over a low heat for around an hour, skimmed off with a ladle and matured using our exclusive process at the cannery, which restores the old-style fish coulis. Our rock fish soup à la cétoise is the most concentrated on the French market. 52% fish.

It was the first rock fish soup à la cétoise to be canned and sold on the French market in 1963 by Asaïz-Polito. But the story of Asaïz-Polito fish soup is also one of innovation. Well before winning the Grand Prix “Sial” in Paris in 1984 for the first fish soup sold in France with its rust directly attached to the can, the company had already made its mark with an innovation that was to become a real trademark.

The paper collar. Designed by Mr Polito to mask the natural decanting of the soup, this collar, with its check pattern or Mediterranean motif depending on the range, has become the visual signature of Asaïz-Polito. It was a simple, authentic and ingenious idea that would be adopted more than 20 years later by all the competitors that followed the cannery.

In today’s supermarket, when you see any kind of fish soup with a little paper collar, you’ll think that Asaïz-Polito was the first to design this packaging.