Crayfish Bisque

Ingredients

• about fifty crayfish
• one-third the quantity of bread soaked in milk
• a quarter of a pound of butter
• salt to taste
• a bunch of thyme
• two leaves of sage
• a small piece of garlic
• a chopped onion
• three spoonfuls of lard or butter
• a slice of ham or bacon
• a pint and a half of boiling water, or better still, plain beef stock

Method

1. 1

   Parboil crayfish, mince meat, and mix with soaked bread, butter, salt, thyme, sage, garlic, and onion.

2. 2

   Cook for 10 minutes.

3. 3

   Clean heads, fill with stuffing, flour, and fry.

4. 4

   Cook lard or butter with ham and onions, add flour, then boiling water or stock, season, and add crayfish heads to boil for 15 minutes.

As published

This recipe was extracted from La cuisine creole (1885) by Lafcadio Hearn, page 11. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

CRAYFISH BISQUE. A CREOLE DISH. • Parboil the fish, pick out the méat, and mince or pound it in a mortar until very fine; it will require about fifty crayflsh. Add to the fish one-third the quantity of bread soaked in milk, and a quarter of a pound of butter, also sait to taste, a bunch of thyme, two leaves of sage, a small pièce of garlic and a chopped onion. Mîx ail well and cook ten minutes, stirring ail the time to keep it from growing hard. Olean the heads of the fish, throw them in strong sait and water for a few minutes and then drain them. Fill each one with the above stuflBLng, flour them, and fry a light brown. Set a clean stewpan over a slow fire, put into it three spoonf uls of lard or butter, a slice of ham or bacon, two onions chopped fine; dredge over it enough flour to ab- sorb the grease, then add a pint and a half of boiling water, or better still, plain beef stock

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