Comments on: Crayfish Bisque: A Creole Dish http://www.hushpuppynation.com/crayfish-bisque-a-creole-dish/ Devoted to the history and culture of Southern food. Fri, 18 May 2012 12:40:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: racheld http://www.hushpuppynation.com/crayfish-bisque-a-creole-dish/#comment-21 racheld Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:55:16 +0000 http://www.hushpuppynation.com/?p=63#comment-21 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. 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.

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