Bisque of Crabs

Ingredients

• a dozen live crabs
• a couple of ounces of carrot
• an equal quantity of onion
• a little parsley
• a quarter of a bottle of white wine
• a little white stock
• half a pint of bechamel sauce
• salt
• red pepper

Method

1. 1

   Soak crabs in salted water for 1 hour.

2. 2

   Fry carrot and onion in butter, add parsley, thyme, bay leaf, wine, and stock.

3. 3

   Cook crabs, strain broth, remove shells, pound crabs with rice, mix with broth and bechamel.

4. 4

   Heat without boiling, add butter, and serve with fried bread crusts.

Nutrition per serving

As published

This recipe was extracted from The Cook Book, by "Oscar" of the Waldorf (1896) by Oscar Tschirky, page 2. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Bisque of Crabs. Place a dozen live crabs in some cold water with a little salt, and let them soak there for one hour, then hash up a couple of ounces of carrot with an equal quantity of onion, and fry them together with a little butter in a saucepan large enough to hold the crabs, add a little parsley in sprigs, thyme and bay leaf, seasoning with salt, a quarter of a bottle of white wine and a little white stock, then cover with the lid and cook for fifteen minutes, after which remove the crabs, strain the broth, and place it one side for twenty minutes, when the top should be poured off. Next, remove the shells from the crabs, taking out the lungs from both sides, and wash each one at a time in some slightly warmed water, removing the small legs, then drain them and pound to a paste, with about half their quantity of cooked rice, add a little of the juice in which they have been cooked, drain first through a sieve and then through a tammy-cloth, and mix in half a pint of bechamel sauce. Add a little salt and red pepper

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