Bisque d’Ecrevisses

Ingredients

• one oz. of carrot
• one oz. of onion
• two parsley stalks
• a fragment of thyme
• a fragment of bay
• fifteen crayfish
• two tablespoonfuls of burnt brandy
• one-quarter pint of white wine
• a large pinch of salt
• a pinch of ground pepper
• one-quarter pint of white consommé
• three oz. of rice
• one-half pint of white consommé
• two and one-half oz. of butter
• three tablespoonfuls of excellent thick cream
• a very little cayenne

Method

1. 1

   Brown mirepoix in butter, add crayfish and toss until red.

2. 2

   Sprinkle with brandy and wine, season, and reduce.

3. 3

   Moisten with consommé and cook.

4. 4

   Shell crayfish tails and reserve carapaces.

5. 5

   Pound crayfish remains with mirepoix, add rice and cooking liquor, rub through sieve, and finish with consommé, whisking and straining.

6. 6

   Keep warm with butter on top.

7. 7

   Garnish with crayfish tails and stuffed carapaces.

As published

This recipe was extracted from A guide to modern cookery (1909) by A. Escoffier, page 135. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

BISQUE D’ECREVISSES (1) Cut into very small dice one oz. of carrot, one oz. of onion, and two parsley stalks. Add a fragment of thyme and bay; brown this mirepoix with butter, in a sautépan; throw in fifteen crayfish for ‘‘ Bisque’ (their average weight being about one and one-third oz.), and toss them in the mirepoix until they acquire a very red colour. Sprinkle with two tablespoonfuls of burnt brandy and one-quarter pint of white wine, season with a large pinch of salt and a pinch of ground pepper, and set to reduce. ; This done, moisten with one-quarter pint of white consommé and leave to cook for ten minutes. 234 GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY Also cook three oz. of rice in one and one-half pints of white consommé. (2) Shell the crayfishes’ tails and put them aside; also re- serve eight carapaces. Drain the crayfishes of all their cooking- liquor; finely pound them and their remains and the mirepoix. Add the rice, properly cooked, and the cooking-liquor of the crayfish, and rub through a sieve, first, and then through tammy. Add to the resulting purée one-half pint of white consommé, set to boil, wielding a whisk the while, pass through a strainer, and then keep the preparation in a bain-marie, taking care to place a few lumps of butter on its surface lest a skin should form while the bisque is waiting to be served. Finish the preparation when dishing up with two and one- half oz. of butter, three tablespoonfuls of excellent thick cream, and a very little cayenne

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.