Langouste à la Parisienne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8-quart nonreactive stockpot
• •Two long metal skewers and kitchen twine
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Sturdy kitchen shears
• •Fine-mesh strainer and damp coffee filter or fine cloth
• •Two shallow metal trays
• •Small whisk
• •Pastry brush
• •Large ice-water basin
• •Broad chilled oval platter, at least 18 inches long

Instructions

1. 1

   Set the gelée

   Put 1 cup of the cold fish stock in a bowl, sprinkle the gelatin evenly over it, and leave it for 10 minutes to bloom. Heat the remaining 2 cups of stock only until it begins to tremble, then whisk it into the bloomed gelatin with the lemon juice and salt. Strain through a damp coffee filter or a very fine cloth without pressing. Pour 2 cups into a shallow metal tray for the border cubes and the remaining cup into a bowl for glazing and the mayonnaise. Chill until firmly set, about 45 minutes. If the gelée turns cloudy, don't clarify it with a brigade's egg-white raft; let it set, trim away any sediment, and use the clearest upper portion. Ça se rattrape.

2. 2

   Poach the langouste

   Combine the water, wine, vinegar, sliced onion, sliced carrot, celery, salt, peppercorns, bay, parsley stems, and thyme in a stockpot. Simmer the court-bouillon, an aromatic poaching liquor, for 20 minutes. Have the fishmonger dispatch the langouste immediately before cooking. Lay two long metal skewers along the underside of its tail and secure them with kitchen twine so the tail remains straight, the home equivalent of tying the shellfish to a board. Lower it into the simmering liquor, bring the liquid back to the barest simmer, and begin checking after 16 minutes. Remove it from the heat when the thickest tail meat reaches 145°F (63°C), usually within 18 to 22 minutes.

3. 3

   Cool it safely

   Leave the langouste in the court-bouillon for 10 minutes so the aromatic liquor settles around the meat. Set the pot in a deep sink or basin of ice water and stir the liquor gently until it falls below 70°F (21°C), about 30 minutes. Lift out the langouste, drain it well, and refrigerate it on a tray until the shell and tail are cold throughout, about 1 hour. The old kitchen had a cold larder and hands to move great vessels; rapid cooling in an ice bath gives one home cook the same result safely.

4. 4

   Prepare the garnishes

   Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Cook the diced carrot until just tender, about 3 minutes, add the green beans for 2 minutes, then add the peas for the final minute. Drain the macédoine, neat vegetable dice, into ice water, drain again, and spread it on a towel until completely dry. Cover and chill. In the same saucepan, cook the four whole eggs for 9 minutes, cool them in ice water, peel them, and halve them lengthwise.

5. 5

   Open the shell

   Use Homard à la Parisienne (No. 960) as the governing preparation for the shell and cold garnish construction. Remove the skewers, then use sturdy kitchen shears to cut a strip about 1½ inches wide along the upper shell from behind the head through the length of the tail. Lift the strip away intact and ease out the tail meat without breaking it. Remove the intestinal vein, then pick the clean white meat from the leg joints and body. Reserve any cooked orange coral, but discard the green tomalley. Langouste has no claws, so dice the body and leg meat with the less even tail ends for the salad; this is the required change from the homard formula.

6. 6

   Glaze the collops

   Blot the tail meat thoroughly dry and cut it crosswise into 10 to 12 even collops, medallions about ¼ inch thick, reserving uneven end pieces for the salad. Cut small roundels from the truffle slices and set one on each collop. Warm the bowl of set gelée over barely warm water until fluid, then cool it over ice until it has the body of light syrup. Dip each truffle roundel in the gelée to anchor it, then spoon or brush three or four very thin coats over the collops on a chilled tray, refrigerating briefly between coats. If the gelée runs off, the meat or jelly is too warm; chill both for 10 minutes. If it seizes in the bowl, warm it gently. Ça se rattrape.

7. 7

   Bind the salad

   Whisk the egg yolks with the Dijon mustard, vinegar, salt, and white pepper. Add the oil first drop by drop and then in a thin stream, whisking until the mayonnaise is thick and glossy. If it splits, stop. Put 1 teaspoon of cold water in a clean bowl and whisk in the broken mayonnaise a spoonful at a time until it returns. Melt ¼ cup of the gelée and cool it until barely fluid, then whisk it into the mayonnaise with the sieved coral, if present. Fold in the dry macédoine and diced langouste meat. Chill the mayonnaise collée, lightly set mayonnaise, for 10 minutes, just until it holds a mound.

8. 8

   Fill the artichokes

   Arrange the dried artichoke bottoms on a chilled tray. Divide the langouste salad among them, shaping each portion into a compact pyramid with two teaspoons. Crown each with a small piece of truffle and brush the salad with a thin coat of fluid gelée. Keep them cold. If the salad slumps, the gelée in the mayonnaise has not begun to set; return the bowl and the filled artichokes to the refrigerator for 10 minutes, then reshape them.

9. 9

   Build the platter

   Shred the firm inner lettuce leaves into a fine julienne, keeping several whole leaves for the shell. Fill the empty tail cavity loosely with whole leaves and return the removed shell strip upside down to form a stable channel. Spread the julienned lettuce in a low bed on a broad chilled oval platter and settle the shell on it, raising the head only slightly with extra lettuce. The carved rice or buttered-bread wedge was display scaffolding for a brigade; the lettuce supports the langouste without putting an inedible monument beneath dinner.

10. 10

    Finish the Parisienne

    Lay the glazed collops along the upturned shell strip, beginning with the smallest near the head and overlapping them toward the tail in increasing size. Alternate the filled artichoke bottoms with the egg halves around the shell, yolks facing outward. Cut the firm tray of gelée into large clear cubes and arrange them around the platter's rim. Chill the finished Langouste à la Parisienne for 20 to 30 minutes, then serve it directly from the cold, giving each person collops, artichoke salad, egg, lettuce, and gelée. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Langouste means spiny lobster. It has long antennae, a heavily armored shell, and no claws; its tail is firmer than homard and stands up beautifully to thin slicing. Ask for one with an intact shell because the shell is the serving structure, not decoration added afterward.
• •Fresh black truffle is splendid when available, but a good preserved whole truffle is the classical pantry's honest answer outside its season. Drain it well and slice it thinly; truffle paste cannot make the clean roundels this presentation requires.
• •Gelée must be fluid enough to spread but cool enough to cling. Think light syrup, never warm broth. Work in thin coats, returning the tray to the refrigerator whenever the surface loses its chill.
• •Keep every vegetable and artichoke bottom dry. Water is the quiet enemy of cuisine froide: it thins the mayonnaise, clouds the gelée, and leaves a puddle beneath the platter.
• •Pour a dry Champagne or a mineral Chablis. Both have the acidity to meet mayonnaise and egg without trampling the sweet langouste or the truffle.

Advance Preparation

• •The gelée can be prepared a day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Warm only the portion needed for glazing, leaving the border portion firmly set in its tray.
• •The court-bouillon can be made a day ahead, chilled quickly, and refrigerated. Bring it back to a full simmer before the langouste goes in.
• •The vegetables and eggs can be cooked, dried, and chilled a day ahead. Keep the vegetables on an absorbent towel in a covered container so no moisture reaches the mayonnaise.
• •The langouste may be poached and chilled up to one day ahead, but leave it in its shell until assembly. The finished platter can be assembled up to 4 hours before serving and held covered in the refrigerator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 630g)