Écrevisses à la Liégeoise

Écrevisses à la Liégeoise (Liège-style crayfish) teaches one exact lesson: the cooking liquor is the sauce. The crayfish season their court-bouillon as they cook, and that liquor is strained, reduced by one quarter, then rounded with a single ounce of butter. Reduce it to one quarter and you have missed the dish entirely. It should remain generous and pourable, tasting first of crayfish, then wine and aromatics.

The original line assumed a fish kettle, a warmed timbale waiting beside the stove, and a saucier free to strain and reduce while another pair of hands kept the crayfish hot. This version fixes the open-ended service quantity at forty medium crayfish, enough for four as a main, then replaces the fish kettle with a lidded stockpot and the saucier's station with a wide sauté pan. The extra hands were brigade scaffolding and can go. The court-bouillon, the exact reduction, and the stated ounce of real butter are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Have a measuring jug ready before the crayfish enter the pot. Measuring the strained liquor and stopping when three-quarters remains is the step that decides everything.