Darne de Saumon Lucullus

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) wide lidded braiser or ovenproof sauté pan
• •Small heavy saucepan
• •Food processor with chilled bowl and blade
• •Fine-mesh sieve and cheesecloth
• •Four 4-ounce (120 ml) dariole-moulds, small pudding moulds, or straight-sided ramekins
• •12-cup mini muffin tin and small pie weights
• •2½-inch (6 cm) and 1½-inch (4 cm) round pastry cutters
• •Flexible filleting knife and thin skewer
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Parchment paper

Instructions

1. 1

   Make crayfish butter

   Remove the crayfish tail meat, pull away the dark intestinal threads, and chill the meat for the patties. Rinse and crush the shells and heads. Melt the 1/2 cup (120 ml / 113 g) butter over medium-low heat, add the shells, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, crushing them repeatedly with a wooden spoon, until the butter is coral-red and smells distinctly of crayfish without browning. Take the pan off the heat, carefully add 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) of the Champagne, then return it to a gentle simmer until the sputtering subsides. Strain through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth, pressing firmly. Chill until solid, lift the colored fat from any liquid underneath, and measure 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) for the sauce.

2. 2

   Shape pastry garnishes

   Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Roll the cold pâte feuilletée on the measured flour to about 1/8 inch (3 mm). For eight very small crayfish patties, cut eight 2½-inch (6 cm) bases and sixteen matching rings, cutting each ring with a 1½-inch (4 cm) cutter. Brush the bases lightly with egg wash, stack two rings on each, and brush only the tops; egg running down the cut edges seals the layers and stops their rise. Bake the small centre cutouts beside them as lids. For the four cassolettes, a cassolette being a small drum-shaped hot case, line four buttered mini muffin wells with 3½-inch (9 cm) pastry rounds, add parchment and pie weights, and chill everything for 15 minutes. Bake the patties and cassolettes until deep butter-gold, about 12 minutes, then remove the weights and bake the cassolettes for another 4 to 6 minutes. If a centre rises or a cup slumps, press it gently back into shape while warm. Let all the pastry cool on a rack.

3. 3

   Blend oyster mousseline

   Lower the oven to 300°F (150°C). Drain the oysters very well, feeling each one for shell, and reserve their liquor for another use. Chill the food processor bowl and blade, then process the cold scallops and oysters with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and a pinch of white pepper only until smooth. Add the egg white and pulse to combine. Press the paste through a fine sieve, return it to the cold bowl, and process while adding 7 tablespoons (105 ml / 105 g) of the cream in a thin stream. Add the final tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) only once the mixture is smooth and glossy. If it turns grainy or oily, stop immediately, set the bowl over ice for 10 minutes, then fold in that reserved cold cream by hand. Heat makes a mousseline split; cold brings it back together.

4. 4

   Poach in moulds

   Fry or poach a teaspoonful of mousseline and taste it, then correct the salt and white pepper. Butter four 4-ounce (120 ml) dariole-moulds, small straight-sided moulds, and fill them evenly, tapping each once to release hidden air. Cover with buttered parchment and set them in a roasting pan. Pour hot water around them to halfway up their sides to make a bain-marie (water bath), then bake for 15 to 18 minutes. They are ready when the edges spring lightly, the centres still tremble, and the internal temperature reaches 145°F (63°C). Rest for 2 minutes, loosen carefully, and invert onto a buttered shallow dish. Cover and chill once cool if they will wait longer than 30 minutes.

5. 5

   Prepare milt cassolettes

   Rinse the cod milt gently and soak it in lightly salted cold water for 10 minutes. Put 1/4 cup (60 ml / 60 g) Champagne in a small saucepan with enough water to cover the milt, bring it to the barest tremble, and poach for 6 to 8 minutes, until just firm and 145°F (63°C) at the centre. Drain, remove any coarse outer membrane, and break the milt into small tender pieces. If using scallop roe, poach it for only 3 to 4 minutes because its texture is firmer and cooks faster. Cover and refrigerate until the cassolettes are filled.

6. 6

   Lard the darnes

   Pat the salmon dry. Each darne has two curved halves around the central bone; on one half only, slide a flexible knife between skin and flesh and remove that arc of skin, leaving the opposite arc intact to hold the steak together. Cut the truffle into 20 to 24 slim batons. From the exposed curved edge, make five or six narrow tunnels in each darne, running parallel to its broad cut faces, and thread a truffle baton into every tunnel. This is larder, to lard the flesh by threading it with another ingredient, and it must stay. Keep the truffle inside the fish rather than protruding, then season the darnes evenly with salt and white pepper.

7. 7

   Fill the garnishes

   Fold the chilled crayfish tail meat with 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) of the cream, a small pinch of salt, and white pepper. Divide it among the eight pastry patties and set the little lids at an angle so the crayfish remains visible. Fold the cooked milt with the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) cream, season cautiously, and divide it among the four cassolettes. Set both kinds of pastry on a baking sheet. Place the oyster mousselines in their covered shallow dish, ready to warm beside the salmon.

8. 8

   Braise in Champagne

   Raise the oven to 325°F (165°C). Butter a wide lidded braiser, arrange the darnes in one layer, and pour the remaining Champagne around them so the liquid reaches about halfway up the fish. Cover the surface with a buttered parchment cartouche, then add the lid. Bring the liquid only to a bare tremble on the stove and transfer the pan to the oven. Braise for 10 to 15 minutes, checking early, until the centre reaches 140°F (60°C); carryover heat will bring it to 145°F (63°C). If the Champagne begins to boil hard, take the pan from the oven at once and lower the heat. During the final 8 minutes, place the covered mousselines in the oven; add the filled patties and cassolettes for the final 5 minutes. Lift the salmon to a warm platter as soon as it reaches its point and cover it loosely. Never reduce the liquor with the fish still inside.

9. 9

   Mount the sauce

   Strain the hot braising liquor into a clean saucepan without pressing the sediment, skim any pale protein from the surface, and boil briskly until reduced to about 2/3 cup (160 ml) and lightly syrupy. Take the pan completely off the heat. Monter au beurre means mounting the reduction with cold butter: whisk in the 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) ordinary butter and the measured 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) crayfish butter, alternating small pieces so they enter in exactly equal quantities. Never boil the sauce once the butter begins. If oily beads appear, stop. Ça se rattrape: put a teaspoonful of cold water in a clean warm pan and whisk in the broken sauce a spoonful at a time until it becomes glossy again. Taste for salt and hold it beside, not over, the heat.

10. 10

    Arrange the ring

    Set the four darnes on a warmed oval platter or individual warm plates. Around each one, arrange two crayfish patties, one milt cassolette, and one oyster mousseline, alternating the shapes so the garnish forms a generous loose ring rather than a rigid display. Pour the coral-gold sauce into a warmed sauceboat and send it to the table separately, exactly as the preparation intends. Let each person spoon it beside the salmon so the pastry stays crisp. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger for centre-cut salmon steaks through the bone, 1¼ inches (3 cm) thick, with the skin intact. Thin tail-end steaks cook before the sauce liquor has gained enough salmon flavor, and boneless portions are not darnes.
• •Fresh black truffle gives the clearest perfume, but a good preserved whole truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer. Drain and dry it before cutting the batons. Truffle oil cannot be larded into the fish and brings none of the truffle's texture, so it does not belong here.
• •Buy cooked crayfish whole, fresh or frozen, because the shells make the butter and the tails fill the patties. Peeled tail meat alone solves only half the preparation. If the crayfish are sold as crawfish where you live, they are the same ingredient.
• •Laitance (milt) is the soft roe of a male fish, most often cod in this preparation. A Japanese fish market may sell it as shirako. Coral-bearing scallop roe is the nearest practical substitute: it preserves the marine richness but is firmer, and that change should be tasted honestly rather than called invisible.
• •The scallop in the oyster mousseline supplies the neutral protein that lets the oysters set without flour. It replaces the separate fish forcemeat a brigade kitchen kept ready; the oyster remains the leading flavor.
• •Use a dry brut Champagne with enough acidity to survive reduction. Serve more of the same at the table. The butter rounds its sharpness, the crayfish echoes its mineral edge, and nothing sweeter is needed.

Advance Preparation

• •The crayfish butter may be made up to 3 days ahead and kept tightly covered in the refrigerator, or frozen for up to 1 month. Keep any extra for a fish sauce, bisque, or omelette.
• •Bake the empty patties and cassolettes 1 day ahead and store them airtight once completely cool. Recrisp them for 4 minutes at 350°F (180°C) before filling.
• •The oyster mousselines may be poached earlier the same day, chilled promptly, and rewarmed covered beside the salmon. Cook the milt and prepare the crayfish tails at the same time, but fill the pastry only shortly before heating so it stays crisp.
• •The salmon may be skinned on one side and larded with truffle up to 4 hours ahead, then covered and refrigerated. Do not braise it or mount the sauce in advance; those final steps belong to the last 20 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)