Bisque or Crayfish Soup

Ingredients

• from four to six crayfish of the larger size
• about a dozen of the smaller variety
• 2 oz. of butter
• a glassful of Madeira or Marsala wine
• 125 grm. of rice
• pepper, and pimento as tincture
• cover with standard broth

Method

1. 1

   Kill the crayfish by skewering, remove the gut, and place them in a stewpan.

2. 2

   Add mirepoix of finely-sliced roots, herbs, pepper, butter, wine, and broth to cover.

3. 3

   Boil while stirring until the crayfish turn red.

4. 4

   Cool, pick out the crayfish, and reserve the broth.

5. 5

   Pound the carapaces, anchovies, fried bread, and wine, then add the broth and boil again.

6. 6

   Cook the rice until it forms a thin paste, add to the mixture, and pass through a tammy.

7. 7

   Add butter to the puree and keep hot.

8. 8

   Serve with fried bread and diced crayfish meat in the soup-tureen, pouring the soup over them.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The spirit of cookery (1895) by Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Thudichum, page 124. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

BISQUE OR CRAYFISH SOUP 185 siz6 of prawns. But it must be remembered that of these stone, crayfish fifty would be equalled in weight by twenty- five so-called noble crayfish {Edelkrehse in German), and yield soup for eight persons. To produce bisque, from four to six crayfish of the larger size are required — of the smaller variety, about a dozen — for each person. After having killed them by skewering, remove the gut from each of them by holding the fish in the left hand, and with the right thumb and forefinger pulling out the central paddle of the tail ; to this the gut will adhere. Put the crayfish in a stewpan, add a mirepoix of finely- sliced roots and a bouquet of herbs, pepper, and pimento as tincture, 2 oz. of butter, a glassful of Madeira or Marsala wine, cover with standard broth, and add sufficient thereof to make the fish swim. Boil while stirring until the cray- fish are all red. Let cool, and pick out the crayfish while running the broth into a saucepan. Eemove the meat from the tails, and cut it into dice and set it aside. Pound all the carapaces, tail-sheaths, and claws included, together with six anchovies, some bread fried in butter, and some wine or spirit to dissolve the colour ; add the liquid in which they have been boiled, and boil again while stirring. Boil (to fifty crayfish) 125 grm. of rice

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