Suprêmes d’Écrevisses au Champagne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart heavy saucepan with a tight lid
• •Small food processor with a sturdy metal blade or a large mortar and pestle
• •Fine-mesh sieve and damp cheesecloth
• •Kitchen shears
• •Two medium mixing bowls for the ice bath
• •Balloon whisk and flexible spatula
• •2-cup porcelain timbale
• •Shallow serving dish for crushed ice

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the cold station

   Set a medium bowl inside a larger bowl filled with ice and cold water. Line a fine-mesh sieve with damp cheesecloth and place it nearby. Chill a 2-cup porcelain timbale, the cream, a whisk, and a second mixing bowl. Take 1 tablespoon of the measured velouté while it is still cold, sprinkle the gelatin evenly over it, and leave it for 5 minutes to bloom.

2. 2

   Cook the crayfish

   Check that every crayfish moves when touched and discard any that have died. Spread the highly seasoned Mirepoix (No. 228) across the bottom of a heavy saucepan, arrange the crayfish over it, and pour in the Champagne. Cover tightly, bring the liquor quickly to a boil, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, shaking the covered pan twice, until the shells are vivid red and the tail flesh is opaque and firm. Quick cooking protects the sweetness; a long boil turns the tails to rubber.

   Use a saucepan that holds the crayfish snugly. A broad, nearly empty pot loses the small measure of Champagne before it can season the shellfish.
3. 3

   Reserve tails and liquor

   Lift the crayfish from the pan and strain every drop of cooking liquor through a fine sieve into a small bowl. When the crayfish are cool enough to handle, twist away the tails, remove the meat, pull out the dark intestinal vein, and trim any ragged edges. Keep the tail meats covered in a chilled bowl. Reserve the head and tail shells, removing only the feathery gills and any gritty stomach sacs.

4. 4

   Pound the shell butter

   Crack the reserved shells into smaller pieces with kitchen shears, then process them with the softened butter for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl repeatedly, until they form a fine rust-red paste. The food processor is the home equivalent of the mortar, but the work remains the same: the shells must be broken finely enough for the butter to capture their flavor.

5. 5

   Extract the shell flavor

   Bring the remaining velouté to a boil, take it off the heat, and stir in the bloomed gelatin until completely dissolved. Put the shell butter in a clean saucepan, add the hot velouté and all the strained crayfish cooking liquor, then bring everything to a lively simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring and pressing the shell paste against the pan. Keep it brief; this is enough to draw out the shells without dulling the Champagne or weakening the gelatin through needless boiling.

6. 6

   Strain over ice

   Pour the hot shell mixture into the prepared cheesecloth-lined sieve over the bowl on ice. Press firmly with the back of a ladle to recover the butter-rich liquid, then discard the exhausted shells. Rub a cooled drop between two fingertips. If you feel grit, pass the liquid through fresh damp cheesecloth once more; strain it now, because cream cannot hide shell fragments later. Whisk the smooth base steadily over the ice to begin cooling it.

7. 7

   Catch the first set

   Whip the cold cream in its chilled bowl until it forms soft, floppy folds but no firm peaks. Continue whisking the crayfish base over ice until it cools and begins to thicken, leaving a faint track that remains for a second before disappearing. Taste and add salt only if the highly seasoned mirepoix and velouté have not supplied enough. If the base sets into lumps, take it off the ice and hold the bowl over barely warm water while whisking until it is smooth and just fluid again. Ça se rattrape. Fold the half-whipped cream into the base in three additions, gently but without delay.

8. 8

   Fill and set

   Pour the mousse into the chilled porcelain timbale, filling it no more than three-quarters full so there is room for the decoration and aspic. Nest the timbale in a bowl of crushed ice, keeping meltwater below its rim, and place the whole arrangement in the refrigerator for about 2 1/2 hours. The mousse is ready when the surface is delicately set and yields slightly under a fingertip. Do not freeze it; freezing destroys the fine texture the cream has built.

9. 9

   Decorate and glaze

   Arrange the reserved crayfish tails over the set surface, then place the truffle dice and chervil leaves between them. Spoon or brush over the thinnest possible coating of fluid amber fish aspic, just enough to hold the decoration and give it a quiet gloss. If the aspic gels before you finish, warm its bowl briefly over barely warm water. If it feels warm to the touch, wait before applying it or it will melt the mousse beneath. Return the timbale to the ice and chill for 30 minutes.

10. 10

    Serve over crushed ice

    Replace any melted ice with fresh crushed ice and bring the timbale to the table nested in its shallow dish. The carved ice block was spectacle; the crushed ice performs the same honest duty by keeping the mousse cold and softly set. Serve modest spoonfuls with small plates and plain thin toast if desired. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Tail meat alone cannot make this dish. The crayfish shells are its foundation, so buy whole live crayfish from a supplier who handles them legally and cook them the day you buy them. Whole frozen raw crayfish are the honest preserved choice when live ones are unavailable.
• •Choose a dry Champagne, preferably brut. It need not be an expensive bottle, but it must taste clean because the cooking liquor is strained directly into the mousse. A sweet wine makes the cream cloying.
• •Weigh the gelatin. Leaf sizes and strengths vary, which is why the home version uses 2.5 grams of powder instead of pretending that every packet contains the same leaf. This amount gives a mousse that holds while remaining soft enough to spoon.
• •The velouté should be light and flowing, not a stiff sauce, and the amber fish aspic must melt easily on the tongue. Have both prepared before the crayfish go into the pan; they are the home cook's answer to the old kitchen's never-empty sauce pots.
• •Keep the timbale at refrigerator temperature until it reaches the table. Crushed ice maintains the set during service, but it does not replace proper cold storage.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the fish velouté and amber fish aspic ahead so both are ready when the crayfish are cooked. The source recipe assumed these components were always at hand; making them in advance is the honest home equivalent.
• •The strained shell base can be made up to one day ahead. Cover and chill it, then warm it gently over barely warm water until fluid before cooling it over ice and folding in the cream.
• •The finished mousse can be set and decorated up to 24 hours before serving. Cover it without letting the wrapping touch the aspic, keep it at or below 40°F / 4°C, and add fresh crushed ice only when it goes to the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 100g)