December 13, 2008

Parboil the fish, pick out the meat, and mince or pound it in a mortar until very fine; it will require about fifty crayfish.

Add to the fish one-third the quantity of bread soaked in milk, and a quarter of a pound of butter, also salt to taste, a bunch of thyme, two leaves of sage, a small piece of garlic and a chopped onion.   Mix all well and cook ten minutes, stirring all the time to keep it from growing hard.

Clean the heads of the fish, throw them in strong salt and water for a few minutes and then drain them.   Fill each one with the above stuffing, flour them, and fry a light brown.

Set a clean stewpan over a slow fire, put into it three spoonfuls of lard or butter, a slice of ham or bacon, two onions chopped fine; dredge over it enough flour to absorb the grease, then add a pint and a-half of boiling water, or better still, plain beef stock.

Season this with a bunch of thyme, a bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste.

Let it cook slowly for half an hour, then put the heads of the crayfish in and let them boil fifteen minutes. Serve rice with it.
—Lafcadio Hearn, La Cuisine Creole, 1885

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1 Comment »

1. 

   Ahhhh, Dear Lafcadio. I did a quick Google to see of his c.v. and found La Cuisine Creole—a familiar title, as a past-dog-eared volume is in my “old” bookshelves (this book’s ears are non-existent, as turning a page crisps off a corner to drift between the pages—testament to long use in a Memphis kitchen by the great-grandmother and grandmother of the friend who gave it to me. Several pages are missing at the front, so I did not know the author nor the date of publication—backboard has “wedding, 1890″ in pencil).

   I’m mystified as to how this becomes Crayfish Bisque, when there is no actual fish/crawfish stock involved, but ham and beef.

   And the fifteen-minute boil AFTER the crisp-frying of the heads—having them dropped atop for garnish would have been nice, with the rich stuffing and breading a crisp counterpoint to the unctuous soup, but boiling the unattractive heads again, to leave the cloggy lumps of fry-batter with stray antennae and eyeballs peeking out—how would you EAT that? Sucking heads is a messy business without all that drippy soup and clotty batter.

   This gets stranger and stranger, as later on in the Google bit is the mention of KWAIDAN, which is a movie the same friends insisted we borrow and watch, as it’s one of their favorites of all time.

   Comment by racheld — December 13, 2008 @ 11:55 am

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