975—Aspic de Queues d’Écrevisses à la Moderne

Cook twelve fine crayfish in accordance with the directions under No. 966, Écrevisses à la Bordelaise, 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 No. 228, 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.