Bisque of Crayfish

Ingredients

• one ounce of carrot
• one ounce of onion
• two parsley stalks
• a fragment of thyme
• a bay leaf
• butter
• fifteen crayfish
• two tablespoonfuls of burnt brandy
• a quarter of a pint of white wine
• a large pinch of salt
• a pinch of ground pepper
• a quarter of a pint of white consomme
• three ounces of rice
• one and a half pints of white consomme
• half a pint of white consomme
• two and a half ounces of butter
• three tablespoonfuls of good thick cream
• a little cayenne

Method

1. 1

   Cut carrot, onion, and parsley into small dice; brown with butter in a saute pan.

2. 2

   Add crayfish and toss until red; sprinkle with burnt brandy and white wine; season with salt and pepper, and reduce.

3. 3

   Moisten with white consomme and cook for ten minutes.

4. 4

   Cook rice in white consomme.

5. 5

   Shell crayfish, pound tails and remains with vegetables.

6. 6

   Add rice and crayfish cooking liquor, rub through a sieve, then through a tammy.

7. 7

   Add white consomme, boil while whisking, strain, and keep warm.

8. 8

   Finish with butter, cream, and cayenne.

9. 9

   Serve with stuffed shells.

As published

This recipe was extracted from A second Dudley book of cookery and other recipes (1914) by Dudley, Georgiana Countess of, page 9. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

BISQUE OF CRAYFISH /^UT into very small dice one ounce of carrot, A-' one ounce of onion and two parsley stalks ; add a fragment of thyme and bay leaf, and brown all this with butter in a saute pan. Throw in fifteen crayfish for the bisque, their average weight being about one to one and a third ounces. Toss them in the preparation until they acquire a very red colour ; sprinkle with two tablespoonfuls of burnt brandy and a quarter of a 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 a quarter of a pint of white consomme, and leave to cook for ten minutes. Cook also three ounces of rice in one and a half pints of white consomme. Shell the crayfish ; put the tails on one side, also eight of the back parts of the shells ; drain the crayfish of all their cook- ing liquor; finely pound them and their remains and the vegetables. Add the rice, properly cooked, also the cooking liquor of the crayfish and rub all 15 THE DUDLEY RECIPES through a sieve first and then through a tammy. Add to the resulting puree half a pint of white consomme ; set it to boil, whisking it meanwhile ; pass through a strainer and then keep the puree in a bain-marie, taking care to place a few lumps of butter on its surface to prevent the formation of a skin whilst the bisque is waiting to be served. Finish the preparation, when dishing up, with twro and a half ounces of butter, three tablespoonfuls of good thick cream and a little cayenne

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