(661). Crawfish Garnishing (Garniture D'Ecrevisses)

Whole crawfish are sometimes used combined with other garnishings, but they are considered more as decorations than otherwise; in any case they must first be cooked in a court-bouillon (No. 38), and the shells removed from the tails, without detaching the meat from the bodies, or leave the shells on.

How To Cook Them

Wash the crawfish, changing the water several times during the operation; suppress the small vein found in the middle underneath the fins, at the tail end, then lay the fish in a saucepan, and season with salt, mignonette, vinegar, or white wine, sliced onions, branches of parsley, thyme, and bay leaf. When they are cooked, break off the small side claws, and remove the shell or not as desired. They can now be trussed as shown in Fig. 506, for skewers. The crawfish tails after being picked out of their shells, are used as garnishings, sauteing them in butter and seasoning with salt, pepper, fine herbs and fish glaze (No. 399). The body shells stuffed with forcemeat (No. 90) are used for soups.

(662). Demidoff Garnishing (Garniture A La Demidoff)

Sixteen pieces of small, flat lobster croquettes (No. 880), sixteen pieces of risolletes of pancakes with forcemeat or hashed fish, sixteen pieces of large drained oysters, rolled in powdered crackers and fried in clarified butter, drained and dredged over with chopped parsley. Dress this garnishing around a remove and serve separately a lean veloute sauce (No. 415) reduced with some of the oyster liquor.

(663). Dolphettes Of Chicken Garnishing (Garniture De Dolphettes De Poulet)

Brown two shallots in two ounces of butter; add one pound of cooked white chicken meat cut in one-eight inch squares, and four ounces of ham cut the same; season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and cover the whole with a pint of espagnole sauce (No. 414), and a gill of tomato sauce | No. 549). Let the whole boil up once, then remove it, and set it aside to get cold, and with this preparation make crescent shaped croquettes; dip them in beaten eggs, and bread-crumbs, and fry them nicely.

(664). Dolphettes Of Tenderloins Of Beef Garnishing (Garniture De Dolphettes De Filet De Bceuf)

Fry colorless, in two ounces of butter, one ounce and a half of chopped shallot; add to it a pound and a half of cooked and finely hashed tenderloin of beef, three ounces of fresh breadcrumbs, three ounces of grated parmesan, and eight egg-yolks or two to three whole eggs. Let this preparation cool off, then divide it into eight parts, forming each one into a ball; roll these in fresh bread-crumbs and grated parmesan, mixed well together and fry them to a fine color.

(665). Duchess Garnishing (Garniture Duchesse)

Lay on the table a quarter of a pound of Hour; two ounces of parmesan, and two ounces of Chester cheese, both finely grated; a grain of salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper; dilute with a little water and one egg so as to obtain a smooth and firm paste. Roll this out on the floured table to one-eighth of an inch in thickness; cut it into inch and a half diameter round pieces, and lay these on buttered sheets; cook in a hot oven, not having them brown. Beat up some fresh butter in a bowl; mix in with it double its quantity of grated Chester cheese, and a dash of cayenne pepper. Lay the round pieces of cooked paste two by two, one on top of the other, after spreading them all thickly with the cheese preparation; range them once more on the sheet, and heat for a few minutes in a moderate oven, then dress on a napkin or around the remove.