Velouté de Homard à Cleveland

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •5-quart heavy saucepan
• •Heavy-duty food processor or high-powered blender suitable for shellfish shells
• •Sturdy kitchen shears and a kitchen mallet
• •One medium-fine sieve and one very fine sieve
• •Flat-edged wooden spoon or heatproof spatula
• •Ladle

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the foundations

   Have the Ordinary Velouté prepared and keep the consommé hot but below a boil. Prepare the Lobster à l’Américaine from the lobsters according to its own entry, retaining every spoonful of sauce and every piece of shell. Let the lobster cool only until it can be handled safely; warm meat and shell are easier to work than refrigerator-cold pieces.

2. 2

   Reserve the garnish

   Lift the lobster meat from its shell. Reserve about one-quarter of the neatest tail and claw meat, roughly ½ cup (120 ml / about 70 g), and cut it into small, even dice for serving. Keep it covered. The remaining meat is not garnish, however handsome it looks; it must be pounded with the shell because its sweetness belongs inside the soup.

3. 3

   Pound meat and shell

   Cut the lobster shells into small pieces with sturdy kitchen shears, then crack the thickest joints under a folded towel with a mallet. Working in batches, pulse the shell with the remaining lobster meat in a heavy-duty processor, adding only a spoonful of the à l’Américaine sauce when the blades need help turning. Process until the mixture is a fine, damp paste. The machine replaces the mortar, but not the extraction the mortar performed; the shell must be broken finely enough to surrender its flavor.

   Never force thick claw joints through a struggling machine. Stop, crack them smaller by hand, and continue in batches so the motor and blade remain under control.
4. 4

   Join the foundations

   Scrape the lobster paste into the Ordinary Velouté and stir until evenly dispersed. Add all the remaining sauce from the Lobster à l’Américaine only after the paste and velouté are combined, preserving the source's sequence. Work carefully around the processor bowl and saucepan; the flavor clinging to their sides belongs in the soup.

5. 5

   Sieve it twice

   Press the mixture through a sturdy medium-fine sieve with the back of a ladle, working until the residue looks dry. Pass the collected soup through a second, very fine sieve into a clean heavy saucepan. This second pass is the honest home equivalent of the tammy, a fine cloth sieve. If the soup still feels gritty between two fingers, pass it through the fine sieve again. Ça se rattrape. Never force sharp shell fragments through merely to claim a little more volume.

   A flexible silicone spatula is useful for scraping the underside of each sieve. That smooth coating is soup, not waste.
6. 6

   Heat without boiling

   Set the strained base over gentle heat and stir continuously with a flat-edged spoon that reaches the corners of the pan. Heat until thoroughly hot, but do not allow even a rolling bubble. If the bottom catches, stop stirring and pour the unscorched soup into a clean saucepan without scraping the base; the burnt layer stays behind.

7. 7

   Adjust with consommé

   Add the hot consommé a ladle at a time until the velouté flows from the spoon in a broad ribbon and measures about 8 cups (1.9 liters). The exact amount depends on how far the à l’Américaine sauce reduced, which is why the source calls for the required quantity rather than a fixed measure. Taste only after thinning, then add salt if needed.

8. 8

   Strain once more

   Pass the hot velouté once more through the very fine sieve into a clean, warm saucepan. This final straining is not ceremony. It catches any fine shell sediment loosened during heating and gives the soup the polished texture its name promises. Hold it over the lowest heat while you prepare the garnish, without letting it boil.

9. 9

   Soften the tomato

   Melt the teaspoon of butter in a small pan over low heat. Add the tomato dice and turn them through the butter for 30 to 60 seconds, just until glossy and beginning to soften at the edges. The source's half-melted tomato is neither raw garnish nor cooked sauce; each dice should still hold its shape.

10. 10

    Mount and serve

    Take the velouté completely off the heat. Monter au beurre (finish by emulsifying cold butter): whisk in the 6 tablespoons of cold diced butter a few pieces at a time until the surface gleams and the soup feels satin-smooth. If it turns oily, stop adding butter and whisk in 1 tablespoon of cold consommé until it closes again, then continue more slowly. Never boil it after this point. Divide the lobster and tomato dice among warm soup plates, ladle the velouté around them, and serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask your fishmonger to dispatch and joint the lobsters immediately before you cook if you don't handle live shellfish regularly. Bring them home well chilled and begin the Lobster à l’Américaine promptly.
• •Use a sturdy processor or high-powered blender whose manufacturer permits hard shellfish shells. A delicate blender is no substitute for a mortar and may crack its jug or damage its blade.
• •Judge the finished consistency with a warm spoon. The velouté should coat it lightly, then pour cleanly, never stand like a sauce. If it tightens while waiting, loosen it with hot consommé before mounting with butter.
• •Serve with brut Champagne or a mineral white Burgundy. The wine needs enough freshness for the tomato and enough breadth for the lobster and butter.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the Ordinary Velouté and consommé up to 2 days ahead, chill them promptly, and keep them covered. Both also freeze well in measured portions, the honest home equivalent of the brigade's stockpot.
• •The Lobster à l’Américaine may be completed earlier on the serving day. Keep its meat and sauce separately covered in the refrigerator, then bring the sauce toward room temperature before pounding and combining.
• •The Cleveland velouté can be completed through its final straining up to 6 hours ahead. Chill it promptly, reheat without boiling, and mount with the cold butter only when the guests are ready to sit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)