Bisque d’Écrevisses

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •6 to 8-quart wide heavy pot with fitted lid
• •4-quart saucepan
• •Long match or wand lighter for the flambage
• •Tongs and kitchen shears
• •Sturdy full-size food processor
• •Medium-mesh and fine-mesh sieves
• •Cheesecloth
• •Ladle and whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the crayfish

   If the crayfish are live, keep them cold until cooking and rinse them thoroughly under cold running water, brushing away any mud around the joints. Discard any that are plainly dead before cooking. If using whole raw frozen crayfish, thaw them overnight in the refrigerator and dry them well; excess water cools the pan when the shells need strong heat.

2. 2

   Color the shells

   Melt the 3 tablespoons butter in a wide, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the Mirepoix (No. 228) and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring, until the dice soften and take a light golden edge. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the whole crayfish, and toss them constantly for 6 to 8 minutes, until every shell is vivid scarlet and the butter smells richly of shellfish. Do not scorch the mirepoix. If it darkens too quickly, lift the pot from the heat for thirty seconds, lower the flame, and continue.

3. 3

   Flame and reduce

   Measure the brandy into a small heatproof cup. Take the pot off the burner, switch off the extractor fan, and add the brandy, never pouring from the bottle. Return the pot to medium heat and flamber, igniting the brandy at the far edge with a long match while keeping your face and hands back and a fitted lid beside you. Let the flame die naturally. If it refuses to catch, ça se rattrape: boil the brandy briskly for 1 minute instead. Add the wine, salt, and pepper, then reduce until only a syrupy glaze remains on the pot floor. Add 1 cup of the consommé or stock, cover, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

4. 4

   Cook the rice

   While the crayfish cook, combine the rice with 6 cups of the consommé or stock in a separate saucepan. Bring it to a simmer and cook uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the grains are swollen, very soft, and beginning to break apart. Do not drain it. The rice and its cooking liquor replace flour or roux here, giving the bisque body without covering the taste of the shell.

5. 5

   Shell and reserve

   Strain the crayfish over a bowl, reserving every drop of their cooking liquor and all the mirepoix. When the crayfish are cool enough to handle, twist off the tails, remove the meat, and pull away any dark intestinal vein. Dice the tail meat, cover it, and refrigerate it. Return all tail shells, heads, bodies, and claws to the pot with the mirepoix. Mind your fingers around the broken shell edges.

6. 6

   Pound and pass

   Crack the claws and larger body shells with kitchen shears or the flat side of a mallet. Transfer the shells and mirepoix to a sturdy food processor in batches and pulse until finely crushed. Add the soft rice with its liquor and the reserved crayfish cooking liquor, then process again until the mixture becomes a thick coral purée flecked with very fine shell. Work it first through a sturdy medium-mesh sieve, pressing firmly with a ladle, then through a fine sieve lined with two layers of damp cheesecloth. Press until the remaining shell mass feels nearly dry, but do not wring the cloth or force sharp grit through it. This double passing is the home equivalent of the sieve and tammy, and it is where the bisque earns its silk.

7. 7

   Refine the bisque

   Transfer the strained purée to a clean saucepan and whisk in the remaining 2 cups consommé or stock. Bring it just to a boil while whisking constantly, then immediately pass it through a clean fine-mesh sieve once more. The consistency should lightly coat a spoon but still pour freely. If it resembles porridge, loosen it with a little hot water; if it is thin, simmer it gently before the final straining. If the bottom catches, do not scrape it. Pour the unburned bisque into a clean pan and leave the scorched film behind. Ça se rattrape.

8. 8

   Hold without skin

   If the bisque must wait, set its saucepan in a bain-marie, a hot-water bath held below a simmer. Dot the surface with 1 tablespoon of the finishing butter and leave it unstirred so a skin cannot form. Keep it there no longer than 30 minutes. If everyone is ready for the table, skip the holding station entirely and finish the soup at once; the bain-marie served a brigade’s timing, not the flavor of the dish.

9. 9

   Mount and serve

   Divide the diced tail meat among warmed soup plates. Bring the bisque just below a simmer, then remove it from the heat. Monter au beurre, whisk in the cold butter a few cubes at a time until each addition disappears, then whisk in the cream and cayenne. Taste for salt. Do not boil the bisque after this point or the emulsion may lose its gloss; if butter beads appear, take the pan off the heat and whisk in a tablespoon of cold cream or stock. Ça se rattrape. Ladle the coral bisque over the tail meat and serve immediately. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Whole raw crayfish are essential because their shells must color in butter and release their liquor into the pot. Live crayfish are best, but whole raw flash-frozen crayfish are an honest preserved choice when the season is closed. Pre-cooked tails cannot make this bisque; the shell is all.
• •The source calls for white consommé, the sort of clear, pale stock a classical kitchen kept ready. At home, use a well-strained, unsalted chicken stock made without roasted bones. A dark stock turns the coral color muddy and brings a roasted flavor that does not belong.
• •A sturdy food processor replaces the mortar, but it does not replace the sieves. Process thoroughly, then strain patiently. One removes the shell; the next removes the memory of the shell from your tongue.
• •The original garnish fills eight reserved carapaces with cream fish forcemeat and poaches them separately. I leave it out because it is brigade service work, not the structure of the soup. The diced crayfish tails provide a generous garnish while every shell goes back into the extraction.
• •Finish with real butter and thick cream. Once mounted, keep the heat gentle and serve promptly. Pour a dry, mineral white wine with enough acidity to meet the cream, ideally the same sound bottle used in the pot.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare and measure the Mirepoix (No. 228) and remaining ingredients earlier in the day. Once the crayfish enter the pan, the first stages move quickly.
• •The bisque base can be made through the final straining up to 2 days ahead. Cool it promptly, refrigerate the diced tails separately, and reheat the base gently before mounting it with butter and cream.
• •For longer storage, freeze the strained base without the finishing butter, cream, or tail meat for up to 1 month. Thaw it in the refrigerator, bring it just to a simmer, and finish it at serving time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)