976—Mousse d’Écrevisses

For ten people cook thirty crayfish as for potage Bisque. This done, remove the tails, and reserve a dozen fine carapaces. Finely pound the remainder, together with the No. 228, Mirepoix in which the crayfish have cooked, and add thereto one-half oz. of butter, one oz. of red butter (No. 142, Red Colouring Butter), one-quarter pint of cold fish velouté, and six tablespoonfuls of melted fish jelly. Rub through tammy, and put the resulting purée in a saucepan; stir it over ice for two or three minutes; add three-quarters pint of half-beaten cream, and the crayfish tails cut into dice or finely sliced.

Before beginning to prepare the mousse, line the bottom and side of a Charlotte-mould with paper, that the mousse may be moulded as soon as ready.

Pour the preparation into the mould, taking care to reserve enough for the twelve carapaces already put aside, and put the mousse on ice or in a refrigerator until dishing it. Fill the twelve trimmed carapaces with the reserved mousse, and decorate each with a round slice of truffle. When about to serve, turn out the mousse on a small, round cushion of semolina or rice, one-half inch thick, lying on a dish. Remove all the paper, and decorate the top of the mousse with a crown of fine slices of truffle dipped in melted jelly, that they may be glossy.

Surround the semolina or rice cushion with a border of chopped jelly, and arrange the garnished carapaces upon this jelly, setting them almost upright.

N.B.—(1) Instead of being served on a cushion, the crayfish mousse may be sent to the table in a deep silver dish with a border of chopped jelly, and surrounded by the garnished carapaces. The utensil is then laid on a flat dish in a bed of broken ice, or it is incrusted direct in a block of carved ice.

(2) For the moulding of crayfish mousse, the mould may be “No. 916, Another Method of Preparing Aspics de Filets de Soles” with fish jelly and decorated with slices of truffle, as directed under “Mousse de Homard moulée” (No. 957, Mousse de Homard Moulée).

A mousse prepared in this way may be either dished on a semolina or rice cushion, or in a deep silver entrée dish, as described above.