Chapter XIV: Fish (3)

When this part of the procedure has been satisfactorily effected, sprinkle a few drops of the same jelly over the decorating particles, in order to fix them and prevent their shifting during the subsequent stages of the process. Now add enough melted jelly to cover the bottom of the mould with a layer one inch thick, and leave this to set.

On this set jelly, arrange the six fillets of sole; let their tail-ends overlap, and cover them with jelly. Continue adding coat upon coat of jelly until the thickness covering the fillets measures about one-half inch.

Now arrange the remaining fillets in the reverse order, and fill up the mould with cold, melted jelly. Leave to cool for one hour.

When about to serve, quickly dip the mould in a saucepan of hot water; wipe it, and turn out the aspic upon a folded napkin lying on a dish.

916—Another Method of Preparing ASPICS DE FILETS DE SOLES

Coat ten fine fillets of sole with a thin layer of truffled fish forcemeat finished with crayfish butter, and roll them round a little rod of truffle, twice as thick as an ordinary penholder. Tie these _paupiettes_, once or twice round, with cotton; poach them very gently in fish _fumet_ and cool them on ice. Take a border-mould, even if possible; pour therein a few tablespoonfuls of melted fish jelly, and then rock it about on broken ice, with the object of evenly coating it with a thin layer of the jelly.

This operation is technically called “clothing the mould.”

Decorate the bottom of the mould as explained above; fix the decorating particles, and cover them with a layer one-half inch thick of fish jelly.

After having properly trimmed the ends of the _paupiettes_, cut them into roundels one-half inch thick; set these upright against the sides of the mould, keeping them close together; add a few drops of melted jelly to fix the roundels, and as soon as this has set, add a further quantity, sufficient to completely cover them.

As soon as this jelly sets, repeat the operation with the _paupiette_ roundels and the jelly, and do so again and again until the mould is filled. For turning out the aspic, proceed as directed above.

917—BORDURE DE FILETS DE SOLES A L’ITALIENNE

Line a border-mould with jelly; _i.e._, coat its bottom and sides with a thin layer of fish jelly, rocking it upon ice as already explained.

Now fill it, two-thirds full, with a garnish consisting of a _julienne_ of cold, poached fillets of sole, a _julienne_ of truffles (two oz. per two filleted soles), and a _julienne_ of capsicum (one and one-half oz. per two filleted soles). Fill up the mould with melted fish jelly, and leave the latter to set.

When about to serve, turn out the mould upon a little, low cushion of rice, lying on a dish, and set an Italian salad in the centre.

Serve a Mayonnaise sauce with this dish.

918—FILETS DE SOLES CALYPSO

Flatten the fillets, and roll them into _paupiettes_ around little rods of wood two-thirds inch thick. Lay the _paupiettes_ in a buttered sautépan, with their joined sides undermost, and poach them in very clear fish _fumet_ and lemon juice, taking care to keep them very white.

Let them cool, and remove the pieces of wood, whereupon they will have the appearance of rings.

Take as many small tomatoes as there are _paupiettes_; cut them in two at a point two-thirds of their height below their stem-end; empty, and peel them. Set a _paupiette_, upright, in each tomato; fill the centre with crayfish _mousse_ combined with crayfishes’ tails in dice; lay a round piece of milt (stamped out with a cutter, poached, and cold) on each, and, finally, the shelled tail of a crayfish on each roundel of milt.

Arrange the tomatoes in a circle round a dish; surround them with little triangles of white fish jelly, and garnish the centre of the dish with the same fish jelly, chopped.

919—FILETS DE SOLES CHARLOTTE

Fold the fillets; poach them in fish _fumet_, and let them cool.

Trim them; coat them with pink chaud-froid sauce; decorate each fillet by means of a rosette of chervil leaves, in the centre of which rests a bit of lobster coral, and glaze them with fish jelly.

Set them, tail end uppermost, against a _mousse_ of milt with horse-radish, moulded in a narrow dome-mould, which should have been coated with fish jelly and besprinkled with chopped coral.

Surround with a border of regularly-cut jelly dice.

920—FILETS DE SOLES A LA MOSCOVITE

Prepare (1) some _paupiettes_ of filleted sole, in rings, as explained under “Filets de Soles à la Calypso” (No. 918); (2) as many round, fluted cases made from hollowed cucumber as there are _paupiettes_. The cucumber cases should be well _blanched_ and _marinaded_ inside. Set each paupiette in a cucumber case; garnish their centre with caviare, and arrange them in a circle on a dish.

Send a sauce Russe to the table, separately, at the same time as the dish.

921—DOMINOS DE FILETS DE SOLES

Select some fine, fleshy fillets; slightly flatten them; poach them in a little of the cooking-liquor of mushrooms, some lemon juice and butter, and set them to cool under a light weight. When the fillets are cold, trim them and cut them into regular rectangles the size of dominoes.

Coat the rectangles with a maigre, white, chaud-froid sauce; decorate them in imitation of dominoes, with little spots of truffle; glaze them with cold, melted fish jelly, and put them aside.

Pound the trimmings of the fish together with their weight of caviare, and rub the whole through a fine sieve. Add to this preparation half its weight of highly-coloured jelly, and leave it to set in a somewhat deep and moderately-oiled tray, the thickness of the preparation on the tray being not greater than that of a fillet of sole.

When the jelly is set, cut it into rectangles exactly the same size as the prepared dominoes, and then, by means of a little melted, cold jelly, fix the dominoes of sole to the rectangles just prepared.

Put some chopped jelly in the centre of the dish, and on this lay the dominoes in a muddled heap.

922—FILETS DE SOLES FROIDS DRESSÉS SUR MOUSSES

What I pointed out above, I repeat here for the reader’s guidance—namely, that fillets of sole may be prepared after all the recipes given for trout (No. 813).

As the fillets of sole in this dish remain very conspicuous, it is advisable to keep them very white in the poaching. Set them to cool under a light weight, and decorate them in a way that will be in keeping with the _mousse_ on which they are dished. This _mousse_ is set on a special dish, as already explained, and the decorated fillets are laid upon it and covered with melted jelly.

For the variation of _mousses_, see the table given under No. 815.

923—TURBOT

Turbot is generally served boiled, accompanied by freshly cooked, floury potatoes, and the cases are exceptional when, cooked in this way, it is dished with any other garnish.

All fish sauces may be served with turbot. When, for the sake of variety, or in pursuance of the consumer’s wishes, turbot has to be braised or garnished, it is best to select a medium-sized fish, _i.e._, one weighing from eight to twelve lbs., thick, very fleshy, and white.

Unless expressly ordered, it is best to avoid surrounding the piece with its garnish. Preferably, send the latter to the table in a separate dish, as also the sauce. By this means the service is expedited, and, more important still, the fish is quite hot when it reaches the table. It is granted that the sight of a dish containing a fine, richly garnished and tastefully arranged piece is flattering to the host, but it would be a pity that the quality of the fish should thereby suffer, more particularly as the gourmet is not satisfied with sightliness alone.

I explained at the beginning of this chapter, under “Boiled Fish” (No. 776 and 779), the details relating to this method of cooking, especially with regard to its application to turbot. For the braising and garnishing of turbot, the reader is begged to refer to the recipes concerned with chicken-turbot. These recipes may be applied to turbot, provided the difference in the size of the fish be taken into account in reference to the time allowed for braising and the quantities of the garnishing ingredients.

924—COLD TURBOT

Whether whole or sliced, cold turbot makes an excellent dish, if the fish have not been cooked too long beforehand. It will be found that turbot, especially when sliced, tends to harden, crumple, and lose its flavour while cooling. It is therefore of the greatest importance that the fish should have just cooled after cooking, and that the cooking-liquor should have barely time to set; otherwise the evil effects of cooling, mentioned above, will surely ensue. When served, just cooled, with one of the cold sauces suited to fish, turbot can vie in delicacy even with such fish as salmon or trout, which are usually served cold.

925—TURBOTINS (CHICKEN-TURBOTS)

Turbotins (chicken-turbots) may rank among the most delicate and nicest of fish. Their varying sizes allow of their being served either for three, four, or ten, or twelve people; they are, moreover, tender and white, and they lend themselves to quite a vast number of culinary preparations.

They may be served boiled, like the turbot; grilled; à la Meunière; fried; _au gratin_, like the soles; or braised, like the salmon and the trout. They are most often served whole, garnished and with sauce; but, in order to simplify the process, they may be filleted, the fillets being poached and dished with a garnish and the selected sauce.

Whatever be the method of preparing the chicken-turbot, whether it be boiled, poached, or braised, the spine should always be cut in one or two places. The gash should be just in the middle of the back where the flesh is thickest, and the fillets on either side of the gash should be partly separated from the bone. The object of this measure is to prevent deformation during the cooking process and, also, to precipitate the latter.

926—TURBOTIN A L’AMIRAL

Gash the back of the fish, and partly separate the under fillets from the bones. Lay it on a grill, and moisten, sufficiently to cover it, with previously-cooked _court-bouillon_ with Sauterne wine. As soon as the _court-bouillon_ boils, allow the fish to cook ten or twelve minutes for every two lbs. of its weight.

This done, drain it; dish it, and coat it twice with melted, red butter.

Now surround it with the following garnish, which should be in proportion to the size of the fish, viz., little heaps of large mussels and oysters, prepared à la Villeroy, and fried at the time of dishing; small patties of crayfish tails; large mushroom-heads grooved and cooked, and slices of truffle.

Serve, separately, (1) a timbale of potatoes _à l’anglaise_; (2) Normande sauce, combined with one-sixth pint of reduced _court-bouillon_ per quart of sauce, finished with crayfish butter and seasoned with cayenne.

927—TURBOTIN A L’ANDALOUSE

Cut it in the region of the back; season it, and lay it in a deep earthenware dish of convenient size, liberally buttered. In the case of a chicken-turbot weighing two and one-half lbs., moisten with one-third pint of white wine and one-quarter pint of fish _fumet_.

Finely mince two medium-sized onions, and toss them in butter until they have acquired a yellow colour.

Peel, press and mince three tomatoes, and add thereto three large, raw, sliced mushrooms. Cut two mild capsicums into strips.

Spread the onion on the chicken-turbot; put the tomatoes and the sliced mushrooms on top, and upon these arrange the grilled strips of mild capsicum. Besprinkle moderately with raspings; lay one oz. of butter, cut into small pieces, on the top, and set to cook gently in the oven.

Allow thirty minutes for the cooking. By reducing the moistening-liquor, which has perforce absorbed some of the gelatinous properties of the fish, the leason forms of itself.

928—TURBOTIN BONNE FEMME

For a chicken-turbot weighing from two to two and one-half lbs. sprinkle on the bottom of a buttered tray one dessertspoonful of chopped shallots, one pinch of _concassed_ parsley, and three oz. of minced mushrooms.

Cut the chicken-turbot in the back, and partly separate the fillets from the bone; lay it on the tray, and moisten with one-third pint of white wine and one-third pint of fish _fumet_. Cook gently in the oven, and baste frequently the while.

When the chicken-turbot is cooked, dish it and keep it hot. Pour the cooking-liquor into a sautépan; reduce it to half, and add three tablespoonfuls of fish velouté and three oz. of butter.

Cover the fish with this sauce and the garnish, and glaze quickly.

929—TURBOTIN COMMODORE

Poach the chicken-turbot in salted water.

Prepare the following garnish per one person:—Three potato balls cut to the size of hazel-nuts and cooked _à l’anglaise_; one medium-sized, trussed crayfish; one quenelle of fish; one small lobster _croquette_; and one oyster prepared à la Villeroy.

All these products should be treated according to their nature, and just in time to be ready for the dishing up. A few moments before serving, drain the turbot; dish it, and surround it with the garnish detailed above, arranged in alternate heaps.

Serve a Normande sauce, finished with anchovy butter, separately.

930—TURBOTIN DAUMONT

Proceed exactly as directed under “Sole Daumont” (No. 823), taking into account the size of the fish, and increasing the sauce and the garnishing ingredients accordingly.

931—TURBOTIN FERMIÈRE

Sprinkle on the bottom of a buttered tray two minced shallots, a few roundels of carrot and onion, some parsley stalks, thyme, and bay.

Lay the chicken-turbot on these aromatics, and season moderately. For a fish weighing two lbs. moisten with two-thirds pint of excellent red wine; add one-half oz. of butter, cut into small pieces, and poach gently, taking care to baste frequently.

Meantime toss three oz. of minced mushrooms in three oz. of butter. When the turbot is ready, drain it; dish it; surround it with the tossed mushrooms, and keep it hot.

Strain the cooking-liquor into a vegetable-pan, and reduce it to half. Thicken it with a piece of _manied_ butter the size of a walnut; add three oz. of butter; pour this sauce over the chicken-turbot and its garnish, and set to glaze quickly.

932—TURBOTIN A LA MODE DE HOLLANDE

Poach the chicken-turbot in salted water. Drain it, dish it, and upon it lay a lobster cooked in _court-bouillon_. The shell of the lobster should have been opened along the top of the tail, and the meat of the tail should have been quickly sliced and returned to its place.

Send to the table at the same time (1) a timbale of floury potatoes, freshly cooked _à l’anglaise_; (2) a sauceboat containing egg sauce with melted butter (No. 117).

933—TURBOTIN MIRABEAU

Poach the fish in _court-bouillon_ with Sauterne wine, as directed under “Turbotin à l’Amiral” (No. 926).

Drain it; dish it, and coat it in alternate bands with white wine and Genevoise sauces. Along the lines formed by the meeting of the sauces lay thin strips of anchovy fillets placed end to end. Decorate the bands of white sauce with slices of truffle, and the bands of brown sauce with blanched tarragon leaves.

934—TURBOTIN PARISIENNE

Poach the fish in _court-bouillon_ with Sauterne wine. Drain it, dish it, and round it arrange a border composed of alternate slices of truffles and mushrooms. Coat the fish with white-wine sauce, and surround it with trussed crayfish cooked in _court-bouillon_.

N.B.—For fish à la Parisienne, the garnish of sliced truffles and mushrooms may be set on the dish, either conspicuously or the reverse; _i.e._, it may be laid round the fish and covered by the sauce, or arranged in the form of an oval on the fish after the latter has been sauced. In either case the slices of truffles and mushrooms should be laid alternately.

935—TURBOTIN RÉGENCE

Poach the chicken-turbot in a sufficient quantity of previously-prepared _court-bouillon_ with Chablis wine.

For a fish weighing three lbs. (enough for ten people), prepare the following garnish:—Twenty small spoon-moulded quenelles of whiting forcemeat with crayfish butter; ten poached oysters (cleared of their beards); ten small mushroom-heads (very white); ten truffles in the shape of olives, and ten poached slices of milt.

Drain the chicken-turbot just before dishing it, and slip it on to a dish. Surround it with the garnish detailed above, arranged in alternate heaps, and serve a Normande sauce, finished with two tablespoonfuls of truffle essence per pint, separately.

936—TURBOTIN SOUFFLÉ A LA REYNIÈRE

Lay the chicken-turbot on its belly, and make two gashes in its back, on either side of the spine, from the head to the tail. Completely separate the fillets from the bones; cut the spine at both ends; carefully raise it from the underlying, ventral fillets, and entirely remove it.

Season the inside of the fish, and garnish it with enough fish _mousseline_ forcemeat to give it a rounded appearance. Close in the forcemeat by drawing the two separated fillets over it; turn the piece over, and lay it on a well-buttered, deep, oval dish, the size of which should be in proportion to that of the chicken-turbot.

Poach it gently, almost dry, with lid on, in fish _fumet_ and the cooking-liquor of mushrooms mixed, _i.e._, two-thirds pint of the one and one-third pint of the other. This done, dish it carefully, and lay a row of grooved and white mushroom-heads down the centre of it. On either side put some very white, poached milt, alternating the latter with whole anchovy fillets, in such wise as to form an oval enframing the row of mushrooms.

Send to the table, separately, a sauce composed of Soubise cullis and white-wine sauce, in the proportion of one-third and two-thirds respectively, combined with the reduced cooking-liquor of the chicken-turbot.

937—TURBOTIN FEUILLANTINE

Stuff the chicken-turbot after the method described in the preceding recipe, but substitute lobster _mousseline_ forcemeat for that mentioned above.

Poach as directed above, and dish.

Coat the fish with lobster butter, made as red as possible, from the carcass of the lobster whose meat has been used for the forcemeat.

From head to tail and down the centre of the fish lay a row of fine slices of truffle, letting them overlap each other slightly. Frame the row of truffle with two lines of very white, poached oysters, so placed as to form a regular oval.

Send to the table, separately, a fine Béchamel sauce seasoned with cayenne.

938—COLD CHICKEN-TURBOT

My remarks relative to cold turbot apply here with even greater force, for chicken-turbots are particularly well suited to cold dishing.

The chicken-turbots to be served cold should not be too small; the best for the purpose would be those weighing four lbs. or more.

In dismissing the subject I can but recommend cold chicken-turbot as a dish admitting of the most tasteful arrangement and decoration.

LOBSTER (HOMARD)

Whereas the ordinary lobster is a very favourite dish with English gourmets, the spiny kind has scarcely any vogue. This is no doubt accounted for by the fact that the former is not only very plentiful, but also of excellent quality, while the latter is comparatively scarce.

939—HOMARD A L’AMÉRICAINE

The first essential condition is that the lobster should be alive. Sever and slightly crush the claws, with the view of withdrawing their meat after cooking; cut the tail into sections; split the carapace in two lengthwise, and remove the queen (a little bag near the head containing some gravel). Put aside, on a plate, the intestines and the coral, which will be used in the finishing of the sauce, and season the pieces of lobster with salt and pepper.

Put these pieces into a sautépan containing one-sixth pint of oil and one oz. of butter, both very hot. Fry them over an open fire until the meat has stiffened well and the carapace is of a fine red colour.

Then remove all grease by tilting the sautépan on its side with its lid on; sprinkle the pieces of lobster with two chopped shallots and one crushed clove of garlic; add one-third pint of white wine, one-quarter pint of fish _fumet_, a small glassful of burnt brandy, one tablespoonful of melted meat-glaze, three small, fresh, pressed, and chopped tomatoes (or, failing fresh tomatoes, two tablespoonfuls of tomato purée), a pinch of _concassed_ parsley, and a very little cayenne. Cover the sautépan, and set to cook in the oven for eighteen or twenty minutes.

This done, transfer the pieces of lobster to a dish; withdraw the meat from the section of the tail and the claws, and put them in a timbale; set upright thereon the two halves of the carapace, and let them lie against each other. Keep the whole hot.

Now reduce the cooking-sauce of the lobster to one-third pint; add thereto the intestines and the chopped coral, together with a piece of butter the size of a walnut; set to cook for a moment, and pass through a strainer.

Put this cullis into a vegetable-pan; heat it without letting it boil, and add, away from the fire, three oz. of butter cut into small pieces.

Pour this sauce over the pieces of lobster which have been kept hot, and sprinkle the whole with a pinch of _concassed_ and scalded parsley.

940—HOMARD A LA BORDELAISE

Section the live lobster as directed above.

Stiffen the meat and colour the carapace in a sautépan with two oz. of clarified butter. When the meat is quite stiff and the carapace is red, pour away two-thirds of the butter. Then add two tablespoonfuls of chopped shallots, a crushed piece of garlic the size of a pea, one-sixth pint of white wine, three tablespoonfuls of burnt brandy, and reduce the whole to half. Complete with one-half pint of fish _fumet_, one-third pint of maigre Espagnole, one-quarter pint of tomato sauce, one small faggot, one pinch of salt, and a very little cayenne.

Put the lid on, and set to cook for one-quarter hour.

Take the meat from the sections of the tail and the claws, as in the case of the preparation à l’américaine; put these into a small sautépan, and keep them hot. Add the intestines and the chopped coral, reduce the sauce to one-third pint; pass it through a strainer, and pour it over the pieces of lobster.

Heat the whole without boiling; add a few drops of lemon juice, two and one-half oz. of butter cut into small pieces, and one-half tablespoonful of chopped chervil and tarragon, and stir over the stove with the view of thoroughly mixing the whole.

Dish as directed in the preceding recipe.

941—HOMARD BOUILLI A LA HOLLANDAISE

Cook the lobster in a _court-bouillon_ (No. 163), allowing twenty minutes for a specimen weighing two lbs.

As soon as the lobster is cooked, drain it; split it in two lengthwise without completely severing the two halves; lay it on a long dish covered with a napkin, and surround it with very green, curled-leaf parsley.

Serve with it, at the same time, a timbale of floury potatoes freshly cooked _à l’anglaise_, and a sauceboat of melted butter.

942—HOMARD A LA BROCHE

Select a lobster that seems full of life, and, after killing it, fix it on the spit. Put into the dripping-pan six oz. of butter, one-half bottle of champagne, salt, and peppercorns. In order to cook it to perfection, frequently baste it with this mixture, and allow one hour before a red fire for a specimen weighing three lbs. It may be dished with two accompaniments:—

1. A hot ravigote sauce combined with the gravy of the lobster, from which all grease has been removed.

2. Strain the contents of the dripping-pan (cleared of all grease) through a fine sieve; reduce it by a quarter over a brisk fire; add three tablespoonfuls of meat-glaze, two tablespoonfuls of Worcestershire sauce, and a little chopped parsley, and finish this sauce with three oz. of butter and a few drops of lemon juice.

943—HOMARD CARDINAL

Plunge the live lobster into boiling _court-bouillon_, and cook it after the manner directed under “Homard à la Hollandaise” (No. 941).

The moment it is cooked, cut it in two lengthwise; withdraw the meat from the tail, slice it, and keep it hot in a little Cardinal sauce. Disconnect the claws; open them sideways, and withdraw all their meat without breaking them. Cut the withdrawn meat into dice, as also the creamy parts from the carapace, and add thereto their weight of cooked mushrooms and half that quantity of truffles—both of which products should also be in dice. Thicken this _salpicon_ with a few tablespoonfuls of lobster sauce, and spread it in even layers on the bottom of each half-carapace.

Reserve, however, two tablespoonfuls of it for garnishing the emptied claws.

Upon the _salpicon_ lay the slices of lobster, kept hot, alternating these with fine slices of truffles. Set the two half-carapaces, thus garnished, on a dish, and wedge them upright by means of the two claws.

Coat the slices and the claws with Cardinal sauce; sprinkle with grated cheese and melted butter; set to glaze quickly in a fierce oven or at the salamander, and serve instantly.

944—HOMARD CLARENCE

Cook the lobster in _court-bouillon_, and drain it as soon as it is done.

When it is only lukewarm, split it open lengthwise; take the meat from the tail; slice it, and keep it hot in a vegetable-pan with a few drops of fish _fumet_ or the cooking-liquor of mushrooms.

Remove the remains of meat and the creamy parts from the carapace; pound the two former together with two tablespoonfuls of cream; strain through a fine sieve, and add to the resulting cullis one-half pint of Béchamel sauce with curry.

Garnish the two half-carapaces, two-thirds full, with rice à l’Indienne; set the slices of lobster on this rice, intercalating them with slices of truffle; coat thinly with the prepared Béchamel sauce, and set the two garnished and sauced half-carapaces on a long, hot dish.

Send to the table, at the same time, a sauceboat containing Béchamel with curry.

945—HOMARD A LA CRÈME

Proceed as for “Homard à la New-burg à cru” (No. 948), but swill with brandy only, and add, immediately, four oz. of fresh, peeled truffles cut into slices.

Moisten, almost sufficiently to cover, with very fresh, thin cream; season with salt and cayenne, and cook the lobster. Then take the meat from the carapaces, and put it into a timbale; reduce the cream to one-third pint, and mix therewith three tablespoonfuls of melted, white meat-glaze and a few drops of lemon juice.

Strain this sauce through muslin, and pour it over the pieces of lobster.

946—HOMARD GRILLÉ

For this purpose, the lobster may be taken raw, but it is better, first, to have it three-parts cooked in _court-bouillon_.

Now split it into two lengthwise; sprinkle it with melted butter, and set it on the grill for its cooking to be completed.

Treated thus, the meat of the lobster does not harden as when it is grilled raw. Dish the grilled lobster on a napkin or on a drainer, after having broken the shell of the claws in order to facilitate the withdrawal of the meat, and surround with curled-leaf parsley.

Serve a “Devilled sauce Escoffier,” or any other sauce suited to grilled fish, with the lobster, but remember that the first-named sauce is the fittest that could be found for this particular dish.

947—HOMARD A LA MORNAY, otherwise AU GRATIN

Proceed in all points as directed under “Homard Cardinal” (No. 943), but substitute Mornay sauce for Cardinal.

=Homard à la New-burg=

This dish may be prepared in two ways—with raw lobster and with the latter cooked some time beforehand. The second way is the more correct, but the first, which is less troublesome to prepare, is more suited to the work of large establishments.

948—HOMARD A LA NEW-BURG (with raw lobster)

Cut up the live lobster, and fry it in oil and butter as explained under “Homard à l’Américaine.” When the pieces of lobster are stiffened and coloured, clear them of all grease; swill the sautépan with one tablespoonful of burnt brandy and one-half pint of Marsala.

Reduce by a third; season, and add two-thirds pint of cream and one-sixth pint of fish _fumet_. Cover and set to cook for fifteen minutes.

Take out the pieces of lobster; withdraw the meat therefrom, and keep it hot in a covered timbale. Thicken the sauce with the reserved intestines and coral of the lobster, which should be chopped in combination with one oz. of butter.

Set to boil a second time; rub the sauce through tammy, and pour it over the pieces of lobster.

949—HOMARD A LA NEW-BURG (with the lobster cooked)

Cook the lobster in _court-bouillon_. Remove the shell from the tail; take the meat therefrom, and cut it into regular slices. Lay these slices in a liberally-buttered sautépan, season strongly, and heat the slices on both sides until the outside membrane acquires a fine red colour.

Moisten with enough Madeira to almost cover the slices, and reduce the moistening almost entirely. When dishing up, pour a leason, composed of one and one-quarter pints of cream and two egg-yolks, over the slices. Stir gently on the side of the fire until the thickening has been effected by the cooking of the egg-yolks, and serve in a lukewarm timbale.

950—HOMARD A LA PALESTINE

Cut up the live lobster and toss it in butter with a _mirepoix_ prepared in advance, as for crayfish intended for potage bisque.

Moisten with two-thirds pint of white wine, one pint of fish _fumet_, and three tablespoonfuls of burnt brandy. Cover and cook for fifteen minutes.

Now detach the sections of the tail and the claws; withdraw the meat from them, and keep them hot in a small covered saucepan with a little butter. Pound the carapace and remains of the lobster in a mortar; fry them in four tablespoonfuls of very hot oil, and add thereto an ordinary _mirepoix_, cut very fine. Moisten with the cooking-liquor of the lobster, and set to cook for one-quarter hour. Strain through muslin; leave to stand for five minutes, that the oil may rise to the surface, and then completely remove it. Reduce this liquid to one-quarter pint; thicken it with the reserved creamy parts of the lobster, rubbed through tammy, and two tablespoonfuls of fish velouté, and finish this sauce with two and one-half oz. of curry butter.

Arrange a border of pilaff rice (No. 2255) on the dish intended for the lobster; set the pieces of lobster, kept hot, in the centre, and coat these with a few tablespoonfuls of curry sauce.

Serve the remainder of the sauce separately.

951—MOUSSELINES DE HOMARD

In the matter of crustaceans, the term _mousse_ stands, as a rule, for a cold preparation, whereas the term _mousseline_ is only applied to warm dishes. The special _mousselines_ or quenelles of lobster are made with a _mousseline_ forcemeat, the recipe for which I gave under No. 195. This forcemeat is prepared with the raw meat of the lobster.

As with the other crustaceans, their meat produces forcemeat which is somewhat too flimsy to be spoon-moulded, and it is preferable to poach it in special well-buttered quenelle- or _dariole-moulds_.

_Mousselines_ are poached under cover in a moderate oven.

All the garnishes and sauces given in respect of salmon _mousselines_ may be applied here. The reader will therefore refer to:—

Mousselines de Saumon Alexandra (No. 798).

Mousselines de Saumon à la Tosca (No. 799).

952—SOUFFLÉS DE HOMARD

For lobster _soufflés_ the same forcemeat is used as for the _mousselines_; but, unlike the latter, it is poached in the half-carapaces of the lobster, the meat of which has served in its preparation. The procedure is as follows:—First cook the two half-carapaces carefully, that they may not lose their shape in the process.

After having drained and dried them, fill them with _mousseline_ forcemeat and surround them with strong, buttered paper, which should be tied on with string, and should overreach the edges of the carapaces by one inch.

The object of this measure is to prevent the forcemeat from spilling during the poaching.

Lay the two garnished carapaces on a tray containing just enough boiling water to moisten its whole surface. Put the tray in a moderate oven or in a steamer, and allow from fifteen to twenty minutes for the _soufflé_ to poach.

This done, carefully drain the two carapaces; remove the paper holding in the forcemeat; dish them on a napkin, and surround them with bunches of very green, curled-leaf parsley. Serve separately a sauce in keeping with the preparation; _i.e._, a Normande, a White-wine, a Diplomate, or a Béchamel finished with lobster butter, &c.

N.B.—The above constitutes the model-recipe of lobster _soufflé_, and I need scarcely point out that the latter may be varied almost indefinitely in accordance with the fancy of the cook and the taste of the consumer.

Thus the forcemeat may be garnished with truffles in dice, slices of lobster, milt, or poached oysters, &c., which garnishes may also be laid on the _soufflé_ when it is finished. I therefore leave to the operator, who should now see his way quite clearly, the task of imagining the various possible combinations, a description of which would but unnecessarily delay the progress of this work.

953—COLD LOBSTER WITH VARIOUS SAUCES

Cook the lobster in _court-bouillon_, and let it cool in the latter. Drain it, sever the claws, and break them open in order to withdraw their meat. Split the lobster into two lengthwise, remove the intestines and the queen, and dish it on a napkin. Lay the claws on either side of it, and surround it either with curled-leaf parsley or with a few hearts of lettuce.

Send to the table separately one of the derivative sauces of the Mayonnaise (Nos. 122 to 132).

954—ASPIC DE HOMARD

Under “Aspic de filets de soles” (No. 915), I pointed out the preparatory principles of an aspic; in this case, therefore, I shall only refer to the various details very cursorily.

Let a thin coating of white fish jelly set on the bottom of an aspic-mould incrusted in ice. The reader is reminded of the great care that must be observed in the preparation of an aspic jelly, that the latter be limpid, succulent, and just sufficiently firm not to break when withdrawn from the mould. Decorate the bottom of the mould with bits of truffle, poached white of egg, lobster coral, capers, and tarragon leaves.

The decorative design cannot be described; it must be left to the taste and fancy of the operator; all I can urge is that it be as regular and symmetrical as possible.

Fix the decoration by means of a few drops of jelly; then cover the whole with a thickness of one inch of the same jelly, and leave the latter to set. Upon this layer of jelly arrange rows of thin slices of lobster meat and slices of truffles placed alternately and slightly overlapping. Now add enough jelly to cover these slices, and continue filling up the mould with varying layers consisting respectively of jelly (one inch thick) and the slices above described.

When about to serve, dip the mould in hot water; dry it, and turn out the aspic upon a dish covered with a napkin.

955—CÔTELETTES DE HOMARD ARKANGEL

Prepare a _salpicon_ of lobster meat in dice combined with its weight of caviare, the whole quantity being in proportion to the number of _côtelettes_ required.

Thicken the _salpicon_ with an equal quantity of lobster _mousse_ (No. 956), and at once garnish some moderately oiled cutlet-moulds with the preparation. As soon as the latter has set, turn out the cutlets; coat them with a fish chaud-froid sauce, finished with lobster butter; and deck each with a fine, grooved slice of truffle. Glaze them with cold melted jelly, and keep them in the cool until required to be served.

Arrange them in a circle on a round dish; garnish the centre with chopped white jelly, and serve a Russian salad separately.

956—MOUSSE DE HOMARD

Cook the lobster in a few tablespoonfuls of previously-prepared fine _mirepoix_, one half-bottle of white wine, and a small glass of burnt brandy. Leave to cool in the cooking-liquor. Now split the lobster in two, with the view of withdrawing its meat. Finely pound the latter while adding thereto, little by little, one-third pint of cold fish velouté per lb. of meat. Rub through a sieve; put the resulting purée in a vegetable-pan lying on ice, and stir for a few minutes. This done, add a little good fish jelly, melted and cold, and one-third pint of barely-whipped cream. Taste; rectify the seasoning, and warm it slightly with cayenne.

957—MOUSSE DE HOMARD MOULÉE

When the _mousse_ is intended for moulding, it is well to decorate and “clothe” the mould with fish jelly some time in advance. I have already explained that to “clothe” a mould with jelly, all that is needed is to pour therein a few tablespoonfuls of melted jelly, and then to rock the utensil on ice. By this means a thin even coating sets on the bottom and sides of the mould, which, when the moulding is turned out, swathes the latter in a transparent film.

This “clothing” of jelly may be made more or less thick, according to the requirements, by simply using more or less jelly, and by proportionately lengthening or shortening the time for rocking the mould.

When the mould is clothed, decorate the sides with large slices of very black truffle dipped in melted jelly, that they may stick.

This done, fill the receptacle with the prepared _mousse_ (see the preceding recipe), and leave to set in the cool.

For the turning out of the mould and the dishing of the moulding, proceed as for the aspic.

958—PETITES MOUSSES DE HOMARD

For these small _mousses_, use little _cassolettes_ or silver timbales. First let a thin layer of jelly (one or two tablespoonfuls, according to their size) set on the bottom of each utensil, and then surround the latter with bands of white paper, the ends of which should be stuck together, and should reach one inch above the brims of the _cassolettes_. The preparation of _mousse_ may now be placed in the _cassolettes_ in a sufficient quantity to overflow the brims, so that, when the paper is removed, their appearance is that of small _soufflés_.

When the _cassolettes_ have been garnished, put them aside on ice or in a refrigerator until they are served.

959—HOMARD A LA GRAMMONT

Split the lobster open lengthwise down the middle. Withdraw the meat from the tail; trim it, and cut it into regular collops. Coat the latter again and again with aspic jelly, that they may be well covered with it; decorate each with a slice of truffle, and glaze it with the same aspic.

Also coat with jelly as many very white poached and dried oysters as there are collops.

Now take the creamy parts and the meat of the claws, and pound them finely with one tablespoonful of cold Béchamel sauce; rub through a sieve, and, with the resulting purée combined with melted fish jelly and cream (see lobster mousse No. 956), prepare a _mousse_ “au paprika” of a decided pink colour.

Fill the two half-carapaces to their edges with this _mousse_, and leave it to set on ice.

When about to serve, lay the collops, glazed with jelly, upon this _mousse_, and place an oyster between each pair. Dish the two garnished half-carapaces, back to back, upon a napkin, and put the heart of a lettuce in the middle, and a bunch of curled-leaf parsley at either end.

Serve a mayonnaise or other cold sauce separately.

960—HOMARD A LA PARISIENNE

Tie a lobster to a little board; stretch out its tail to the fullest extent; cook it in _court-bouillon_, and leave it to cool in the latter.

When it is quite cold, with the help of scissors, carefully cut a strip of the shell from the back of the head to the tail. The aperture left by the removed strip of shell ought to be sufficiently wide to allow of the meat of the tail being removed without breaking it. Having emptied the tail, refill it with salad leaves, and return the strip of shell (upside down) to its place. Cut the meat of the tail into even collops, and lay on each a roundel of truffle stamped out with the fancy-cutter, and dipped in half-melted jelly. Then coat these slices, which should be on a dish, again and again, with cold melted jelly until they are well covered with it.

Now break the claws and remove their meat, as also that remaining in the carapace, and cut both meats into dice. Take the creamy parts, and rub them through a sieve.

Prepare a small vegetable salad; add thereto the meat dice, and cohere the two with a mayonnaise sauce combined with melted jelly and the creamy parts rubbed through a sieve. When the salad begins to set, owing to the jelly contained in the mayonnaise, garnish twelve small artichoke-bottoms with it, arranging the salad in them in pyramid form. Set a bit of truffle on each pyramid, and sprinkle the salad with melted fish jelly in order to make it glossy.

_Dishing._—Dish the lobster on a cushion of buttered bread on which a _julienne_ of lettuce has been stuck, or on one of carved rice. The cushion should have the shape of a wedge, in order that the lobster may lie at an angle of about 45°, with its head raised, when laid upon it. Arrange the slices (slightly overlapping one another) along the back of the lobster, beginning at its head with the smallest of them, and progressing down towards the tail, gradually increasing their size.

Surround the lobster alternately with artichoke-bottoms garnished with salad, and quartered hard-boiled eggs, or halved hard-boiled eggs (set upright with their yolks facing outwards).

Border the dish with very clear jelly in large cubes or triangles, etc.

961—HOMARD A LA RUSSE

Proceed exactly as above with regard to the cooking of the lobster, the extraction of the meat, and the cutting of it into slices. Coat the slices with mayonnaise sauce combined with melted jelly; or, better still, with a white fish chaud-froid sauce combined with the lobster’s creamy parts rubbed through a sieve.

Decorate each slice with a bit of coral and two little chervil leaves; coat them again and again with cold melted aspic, and put them aside in the cool. “_Clothe_” ten _dariole-moulds_, and decorate the bottom of each with a slice of truffle. Also prepare ten hard-boiled eggs.

Prepare a Salade Russe (without meat); add to this the remains of the lobster meat cut into dice, and thicken with mayonnaise and melted aspic, mixed. With this thickened salad fill the _dariole-moulds_, and leave to set in the cool.

_Dishing._—Set the lobster on a cushion, after the manner of the preceding recipe. Trim the slices, and lay them, as before, on the lobster’s back, taking care to graduate their sizes. Surround the lobster with the small moulded salads, and alternate these with the hard-boiled eggs. The latter should be cut in two at a point one-third of their height above their base; their yolks should be removed, the space filled with caviare moulded to the form of a pyramid, and, this done, the eggs should be set upright.

Border the dish with roundels of very clear fish jelly, stamped out by a fancy-cutter, and lay a bit of truffle upon each.

N.B.—(1) The moulds of salad must, of course, be dipped in hot water before being turned out.

(2) The lobster may also be served “à la Néva,” “à la Moscovite,” “à la Sibérienne,” &c., but these preparations are only minor forms of “Homard à la Russe” under different names.

Changes may be effected in the preparation by altering the constituents of the salad and its dishing. It may, for instance, be made in small cucumber or beetroot _barquettes_, while the caviare, instead of being laid in hard-boiled eggs, may be served in little pleated cases.

As these preparations, however, are based neither on fixed principles nor on classical rules, I shall refrain from giving them.

962—MAYONNAISE DE HOMARD

Proceed as for Mayonnaise de Saumon—that is to say, garnish the bottom of a salad-bowl with _ciseled_ lettuce leaves, and season them moderately.

Upon this salad lay the remains of the lobster, and upon the latter place the thin slices of the tail. Cover with mayonnaise sauce, and decorate with strips of anchovy fillets, capers, olives, hard-boiled eggs, roundels of pink radishes, the hearts of lettuce, &c.

N.B.—I have already pointed out the futility of prescribing a decorative design. As a rule, the matter is so intimately connected with the taste and fancy of the individual, and the products used for the purpose lend themselves to such indefinite variation, that I prefer merely to enumerate these products, and to leave the question of their arrangement to the artistic ingenuity of the operator.

963—SALADE DE HOMARD

See “Salade de Saumon” (No. 810). As the preparation and seasoning of the latter are identical with those of the dish under consideration, all that is needed is to replace the salmon of recipe No. 810 by the collops of lobster.

=Spiny Lobsters. (Langouste.)=

All culinary preparations dealing with lobsters may be adapted to spiny lobsters. There is, therefore, no need to repeat them here. Of the cold recipes, two are much better suited to the spiny than to the ordinary kind, though, as they are used for both specimens, I gave them earlier in the book. The two recipes referred to are:—

964—LANGOUSTE A LA PARISIENNE; see LOBSTER, recipe 960.

965—LANGOUSTE A LA RUSSE; see LOBSTER, recipe 961.

=Crayfish. (Écrevisses.)=

When crayfish are prepared after one of the recipes most commonly used on the Continent, _i.e._, whole, they are not much relished in England. This is doubtless accounted for by the fact that ladies, dining in evening dress, find them somewhat difficult to manage.

They are therefore only served in the form of an aspic, a _mousse_, _mousselines_, timbales, &c., or as the garnish of some other fish; for in all these cases they are shelled.

Be all this as it may, I give below the various recipes relating to them, and from among these it ought to be possible to choose one which will meet the requirements of any particular case.

966—ÉCREVISSES A LA BORDELAISE

N.B.—Whatever be their mode of preparation, crayfish should always be thoroughly cleansed and cleared of their intestines, the extreme end of which is to be found under the middle of the tail. In order to remove the intestines, take the telson or tail-segment between the point of a small knife and the thumb, and pull gently. If this were not done, the intestines, especially in the breeding season, might render the crayfish disagreeably bitter.

As soon as their intestines have been removed, the crayfish should be set to cook, otherwise, _i.e._, if they be left to wait, their juices escape through the anal wound, and they empty.

For twelve crayfish, after having cleaned and eviscerated them, put them into a vegetable-pan with one tablespoonful of very fine _mirepoix_, completely cooked beforehand, and two-thirds oz. of butter. Toss them over an open fire until the shells have acquired a fine, red colour. Moisten with three tablespoonfuls of burnt brandy and one-quarter pint of white wine; reduce by a third, and complete with one tablespoonful of Espagnole, two tablespoonfuls of fish _fumet_, the same quantity of tomato purée, and one spoonful of special _mirepoix_ (No. 229).

Put the lid on, and set to cook for ten minutes.

Dish the crayfish in a timbale; reduce the sauce by a quarter, and finish it with a few drops of meat glaze, one oz. of butter, a very little cayenne, chopped chervil, and tarragon. Pour this over the crayfish, and serve instantly.

967—ÉCREVISSES A LA MARINIÈRE

In the case of twelve crayfish, toss them in two-thirds oz. of butter over an open fire, until the shells are of a fine red. Season with salt and pepper; add two finely chopped shallots, a bit of thyme and a bit of bay; moisten with one-third pint of white wine; cover; cook for ten minutes, and dish in a timbale.

Reduce the cooking-liquor to half; thicken with two tablespoonfuls of fish velouté; finish the sauce with one oz. of butter, and pour it over the crayfish.

Sprinkle with a pinch of chopped parsley, and serve at once.

968—ÉCREVISSES A LA NAGE

For twelve crayfish, ten minutes beforehand prepare a _court-bouillon_ of one-half pint of white wine, one-quarter pint of fish _fumet_, a few roundels of carrot and onion, one stalk of parsley cut into dice, a small pinch of powdered thyme and bay, and a very little salt and cayenne pepper.

Put the crayfish into the boiling _court-bouillon_; cover, and leave to cook for ten minutes, taking care to toss the crayfish from time to time.

When about to serve, pour the crayfish with the _court-bouillon_ and the aromatics into a timbale.

969—ÉCREVISSES A LA LIÉGEOISE

Cook the crayfish in _court-bouillon_ as explained in the preceding recipe. Dish them in a timbale, and keep them hot. Strain the _court-bouillon_; reduce it by a quarter; add one oz. of butter, and pour it over the crayfish.

Sprinkle with a pinch of _concassed_ parsley.

970—MOUSSELINES D’ÉCREVISSES

What I said with reference to “Mousseline de Homard” (No. 951) applies perfectly here, and my remarks relative to the variation of the garnishing ingredients, which are the same as those in No. 951, also hold good.

971—TIMBALE DE QUEUES D’ÉCREVISSES A LA NANTUA

For ten people prepare (1) a shallow timbale crust, and a cover decorated with a design of leaves or some other ornamental treatment; (2) toss sixty crayfish in butter with two tablespoonfuls of very fine _mirepoix_ cooked in butter beforehand. When the crayfish are of a distinct red, moisten with one glass of white wine and three tablespoonfuls of burned brandy; season with salt and cayenne pepper; cover them, and keep them on the side of the fire for ten minutes, taking care to toss them again from time to time; (3) shell the tails and put them into a small saucepan with twenty small quenelles of whiting forcemeat, finished with crayfish butter; fifteen small, grooved mushrooms, cooked and very white, and three oz. of truffles in slices. Add a few drops of the mushroom cooking-liquor to this garnish, and keep it hot; (4) pound the remains and carcasses of the crayfish very finely; add two-thirds pint of cream sauce to the resulting purée; rub it through tammy, and add it to the garnish; (5) when about to serve, pour this garnish into the timbale crust, which should be very hot, and deck the top with a crown of fine slices of very black truffle. Close the timbale with its cover, and dish it on a napkin.

972—SOUFFLÉ D’ÉCREVISSES A LA FLORENTINE

Make a preparation of Soufflé au Parmesan (No. 2295a) combined with two tablespoonfuls of crayfish cream per pint. The cream is prepared after the manner of lobster cream (No. 295).

Put this preparation in a buttered timbale in alternate layers separated by litters of sliced truffle and crayfish tails. Cook the _soufflé_ after the manner of an ordinary one.

973—SOUFFLÉ D’ÉCREVISSES LÉOPOLD DE ROTHSCHILD

Prepare a _soufflé_ as above, and add thereto a bare tablespoonful of freshly-cooked asparagus and slices of truffle, and crayfish tails placed between the layers of the _soufflé_ preparation. Cook as above.

974—SOUFFLÉ D’ÉCREVISSES A LA PIÉMONTAISE

This is identical with No. 972, except that the ordinary truffles are replaced by shavings of Piedmont truffles.

975—ASPIC DE QUEUES D’ÉCREVISSES A LA MODERNE

Cook twelve fine crayfish in accordance with the directions under No. 966, but substitute champagne for the white wine.

Shell the tails; trim them evenly; cut them in two lengthwise, and keep them in the cool until they are wanted. Remove the creamy parts from the carapaces of the crayfish; add the trimmings of the tails, the meat from the claws, and the _mirepoix_ in which the crayfish have cooked.

Pound the whole very finely in a mortar, and rub it through a sieve. Put the resulting purée in a receptacle; add thereto one-quarter pint of very cold, melted aspic, and three tablespoonfuls of barely beaten cream. Leave this preparation to settle.

Trim the crayfish carapaces; fill them with a little prepared _mousse_, and decorate each carapace with a small roundel of truffle.

Put the remainder of the _mousse_ in the middle of a little crystal bowl, and mould it to the shape of a cone, narrow towards the base, and as high as possible.

Arrange the garnished crayfish carapaces on their backs in the bowl around the cone of _mousse_, and set some crayfish tails in superposed rings up the cone. The crayfish tails should be dipped in half-melted jelly, that they may stick fast to the cone. Lay a small, very round truffle on the top of the cone to complete the decoration. This done, coat the whole again and again by means of a spoon with half-melted, succulent, clear fish jelly, and incrust the timbale in a block of ice, or set it amidst the latter broken up.

976—MOUSSE D’ÉCREVISSES