Chef Juliette
Homard à l’Américaine
Lobster shells blaze red over fierce heat, brandy catches, and tomato-wine liquor reduces to a shining sauce bound with coral and cold butter. The lesson is simple: after the finish, never let it boil.
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Petits Soufflés Froids d’Écrevisses
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 978, Petits Soufflés Froids d’Écrevisses, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Petits Soufflés Froids d’Écrevisses rise cold and proud from their cassolettes, a coral crayfish mousse held by fish jelly, lightened with cream, and shaped by a paper collar into the likeness of a hot soufflé.
Appetizers & Snacks
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
30 min
Active Time
5 min cook•4 hr 35 min total
Yield4 small soufflés (4 appetizer servings)
Petits Soufflés Froids d’Écrevisses (small cold crayfish soufflés) teach one true thing before you touch a pan: the paper collar creates the silhouette, but temperature and fish jelly make that silhouette stand. This isn't a baked soufflé cooled down. It is a cold mousse, lightened with half-beaten cream and moulded above the rim so the eye expects heat before the first cool, coral spoonful proves otherwise.
The original kitchen assumed a saucier with fish jelly ready, Mousse d’Écrevisses (No. 976) being prepared elsewhere, silver timbales, and an ice station for holding the finished pieces. Here, one cook uses four small cassolettes, ordinary parchment collars, and a refrigerator. The moulding method from Petites Mousses de Homard (No. 958) stays because it is the dish; the carved ice, formal supports, and brigade quantities are scaffolding, so they go. A salamander has no work here. I keep the prescribed cold Béchamel, a milk sauce bound with white roux, in place of fish velouté because it gives this small home batch body without burying the crayfish.
When the collars come away, each mousse should stand pale coral and proud, tender enough for a spoon but firm enough to keep its clean sides. Fill only when the mousse is cold yet still supple. Too warm and it slumps, too firmly set and it traps gaps; that brief middle moment decides the whole dish.
Petits Soufflés Froids d’Écrevisses belong to the Parisian grand-kitchen hors d’œuvre table, where chilled mousses were moulded to borrow the proud outline of hot soufflés and served individually from cassolettes or silver timbales. Despite the name, they are not egg-white soufflés served cold: half-beaten cream supplies the aeration, fish jelly provides the set, and the removable paper collar creates the characteristic rise.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Mousse d’Écrevisses
Quantity
2 cups (480 ml / about 480 g) Mousse d’Écrevisses (No. 976)
freshly prepared as a four-serving batch, substituting an equal measure of cold Béchamel for its fish velouté
prepared fish jelly
Quantity
1/4 cup (60 ml / 60 g)
melted and cooled until fluid
paper-collar moulding setup
Quantity
1 four-cassolette setup from Petites Mousses de Homard (No. 958)
plain flour
Quantity
1 teaspoon (5 ml / 3 g)
cold water
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2.5 g)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Mousse d’Écrevissesfreshly prepared as a four-serving batch, substituting an equal measure of cold Béchamel for its fish velouté | 2 cups (480 ml / about 480 g) Mousse d’Écrevisses (No. 976) |
| prepared fish jellymelted and cooled until fluid | 1/4 cup (60 ml / 60 g) |
| paper-collar moulding setup | 1 four-cassolette setup from Petites Mousses de Homard (No. 958) |
| plain flour | 1 teaspoon (5 ml / 3 g) |
| cold water | 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml / 2.5 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •4 straight-sided 3-ounce (90 ml) cassolettes or ramekins
- •White parchment paper
- •Small saucepan
- •Flexible silicone spatula
- •Level refrigerator tray
- •Large bowl and ice for the rescue
Instructions
- 1
Set the jelly bases
Warm the fish jelly in a small saucepan over the lowest heat only until it flows. It must be fluid but no longer hot, since heat would weaken the cold mousse later. Spoon 1 tablespoon into each cassolette, tilting the dishes until their bottoms wear a thin, even coating. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes, until the jelly is completely firm.
- 2
Fit the paper collars
Follow the paper-collar moulding setup from Petites Mousses de Homard (No. 958). Cut four strips of white parchment long enough to line the inside circumference of each cassolette with a small overlap, and wide enough to stand 1 inch (2.5 cm) above the rim. Mix the flour and water into a thick batter, use the smallest dab between the overlapping paper ends, then press until the join holds. Fit each collar snugly against the set jelly and the vessel wall, with no gap through which the mousse could escape.
Straight collars give straight soufflés. If the parchment buckles, trim it and begin again before filling; correcting paper is much easier than correcting set mousse. - 3
Bring in the mousse
Prepare the Mousse d’Écrevisses (No. 976) as its own entry directs, scaled to four people, but replace its measure of fish velouté with the same measure of thoroughly cold Béchamel, exactly as this dish requires. Bring the finished mousse to the cassolettes while it is chilled, supple, and not yet set. Fold it once or twice with a flexible spatula to make the diced crayfish evenly distributed, but don't whisk; the half-beaten cream already supplies the soufflé's lightness.
- 4
Fill above the rims
Spoon the mousse into the collared cassolettes, pressing gently around the edges so no hollow pockets remain. Continue until it stands 2/3 inch (about 1.7 cm) above each rim, then level the tops without compacting them. The mousse must hold that height inside the paper. If it sinks or leaks downward, stop and scrape it into a cold bowl, set the bowl over ice for 5 minutes, and fold slowly until a spoonful keeps its shape. Refill the collars. Ça se rattrape.
Test one spoonful before filling. It should settle softly but retain a rounded ridge; a puddle is too warm, while a mixture that tears and leaves gaps has begun setting too far. - 5
Chill to a clean set
Place the cassolettes on a level tray and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, covering them with an inverted container that cannot touch the raised tops. They are ready when the mousse feels cold and stable through the parchment, with no movement at the centre. The old ice display was brigade scaffolding and can go; an ordinary refrigerator gives a steadier, safer set.
- 6
Uncollar and serve
Take the soufflés from the refrigerator immediately before serving. Release the joined end of each collar, steady the raised mousse lightly through the paper, and peel the parchment sideways and slowly rather than pulling upward. The mousse should remain standing above the cassolette like a small hot soufflé, though it is served properly cold. Set one before each guest. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Use whole crayfish when preparing the Mousse d’Écrevisses (No. 976), since the shells carry much of its flavour and colour. Frozen whole crayfish are an honest answer when fresh ones are unavailable; bare tails alone make a quieter, paler mousse.
- •The fish jelly should taste clean and properly seasoned when cold, because chilling mutes salt. It must set tenderly, not like rubber, and the tablespoon at the bottom of each cassolette should remain a delicate layer.
- •The source permits a more delicate variant in which the Béchamel is omitted from the Mousse d’Écrevisses (No. 976), leaving the crayfish cullis and fish jelly to carry the structure. That is a true variation, not a shortcut; the Béchamel version given here follows the requested preparation and is steadier for individual home-scale moulding.
- •Choose identical, straight-sided cassolettes. Uneven vessels produce four different chilling times, and sharply flared ramekins make snug parchment collars needlessly difficult.
- •Serve with a dry Champagne or a crisp Chablis. The wine should clear the cream from the palate without shouting over the crayfish.
Advance Preparation
- •The fish jelly may be prepared up to two days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Melt only the portion needed for the cassolette bases.
- •Cut the parchment collars and test their fit a day ahead, but remove them from the vessels until the jelly bases have set.
- •Prepare the Mousse d’Écrevisses (No. 976) immediately before filling so it remains supple. Once moulded, the soufflés may be refrigerated for up to 24 hours under a cover that does not touch their tops.
- •Do not freeze the finished soufflés. Freezing damages the cream mousse and fish jelly, leaving water at the base when they thaw.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 135g)
Calories
180 calories
Total Fat
13 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
90 mg
Sodium
380 mg
Total Carbohydrates
4 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
11 g
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