James Beard's New Fish Cookery (43 page)

Add the cream and the lobster intestines, liver, and coral to the broth in the saucepan. Heat through for a few minutes and then remove from the heat and force it through a fine sieve. If the sauce needs thickening, add 2 to 3 of the egg yolks and cook gently but do not let it boil. Pour half of the sauce over the lobster meat.

Combine the remaining 3 egg yolks, beaten, with the sauce béchamel. Beat the egg whites very stiff and fold them into the mixture. Pour this over the lobster and sauce in the casserole, place in a hot oven and let it cook 10 to 15 minutes or until it is puffy and delicately browned. Serve with the remaining sauce.

NEW ENGLAND LOBSTER STEW

21/2 cups lobster meat

1 pint lobster bouillon

6 tablespoons butter

1 quart milk, scalded

2 egg yolks

1 cup cream

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Paprika

To get 21/2 cups of lobster meat for this dish you will probably need to prepare 2 lobsters. Cook them in a court bouillon (page 18) for 10 to 12 minutes; when they are done, remove the meat from the shells. Reduce the bouillon to 1 pint.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the lobster meat and toss it for several minutes to brown it lightly. Add the bouillon and the milk and let it heat through. Beat the egg yolks with the cream, stir them in, and continue stirring until the stew is very hot. Season to taste. Serve in bowls with a sprinkling of paprika.

Pilot crackers are the traditional accompaniment for this dish. Personally, I prefer plenty of good hot buttered toast.

COLD LOBSTER

Cold lobster is often served in the shell with a variety of different sauces. For hors d’oeuvres, a half lobster is an ample serving, but for a main course the usual portion is a whole lobster — unless it happens to be tremendous. Some of the very large langoustes popular on the Riviera will serve 3 to 4 people.

Serve cold lobster with any of the following sauces:

1. Mayonnaise (page 34)

2. Rémoulade (page 35)

3. Gribiche (pages 36–37)

4. Russian dressing (page 35)

5. Vinaigrette (page 36)

LOBSTER EN BELLEVUE, PARISIENNE

This is a classic French dish. You see it as often in France as you see cold decorated ham in America, and it is not really difficult if you are patient and clever with your hands. Lobster en Bellevue is an architectural triumph as well as a delicious morsel.

2 large lobsters

11/2 quarts of aspic made from court bouillon (page 18)

Mayonnaise

6 hard-cooked eggs, halved

6 tomatoes, peeled

Lettuce

Bread

Russian salad

For decorating: truffles, olives, black and stuffed, parsley, chervil, tarragon

Cook the lobsters in the court bouillon. Depending on the size of the lobsters, you may need 21/2 to 3 quarts of court bouillon. When they are cool enough to handle, carefully cut away the bottom part of each shell so that the back and tail remain in one perfect piece. Remove all the meat from the bodies of the lobsters and from the claws of one of them. Then gently loosen the meat in each tail and lift it out whole. Chill the lobster meat.

Prepare the aspic by clarifying the bouillon (which has been reduced first, if necessary) and adding gelatin, according to the recipe on pages 18–19. Mix 1 cup of the aspic with 1 cup of mayonnaise and chill. Chill half of the plain aspic.

Cut the meat from the lobster tails into even scallops. Combine the rest of the meat with mayonnaise and season to taste. Trim the eggs so they will stand. Hollow the tomatoes out and fill them with the lobster mixture. Cover the filled tomatoes and the eggs with the aspic and mayonnaise and dip each scallop of lobster meat in the same mixture, being sure it is thoroughly coated. Chill until firm.

Now you are ready for the decorating. If you use truffles, slice them. Then cut the sliced truffles and the black and stuffed olives into fancy shapes. (Pimientos can also be used.) Parsley, chervil, and tarragon can be used to fashion tiny leaves. Chop the plain aspic very fine to use as garnish. Decorate each lobster scallop, each egg and tomato with these garnishes. But make some definite plan for your decoration so that it all forms a pattern. Place your decoration on each piece, then brush with a little of the unchilled jelly. Chill until it is firm and holds the decoration in place, then make a little border of some of the chopped aspic.

From a loaf of stale bread cut a cube about 4 or 5 inches square. Place this on a platter and cover with greens. Set the perfect lobster with the claws intact on the platter, resting the body on the bread cube. Stretch the tail across the bed of greens. If you have a decorative skewer, put one large perfect tomato or a small head of lettuce on the skewer and run it in between the lobster’s eyes. Arrange the decorated scallops of lobster meat along the back of the lobster shell so that they overlap. Build them out fan-shaped at the bottom. Arrange the eggs and tomatoes around the shell and decorate the platter with additional chopped aspic.

Serve the dish with Russian salad and additional mayonnaise if you wish.

LOBSTER ASPIC

2 large lobsters

1 quart of aspic made from court bouillon (pages 18–19)

1 cup of mayonnaise

For decoration: olives, truffles, tarragon

Russian Salad

1 cup potatoes, diced

Mayonnaise mixed with aspic

1/2 cup each of finely cut green beans, carrots, peas

Cook the lobsters in court bouillon for 15 minutes. Remove and reduce the bouillon to 1 quart. Clarify and add gelatin for an aspic according to the recipe on pages 18–19.

When the lobster is cool enough to handle, remove the tails and claws. Cut the bodies in half and extract the meat. With a pair of sharp kitchen shears cut the shell of each tail so that the meat may be removed in one piece. Keep the claws whole for decoration. Slice the lobster meat from the tail into even scallops.

Pour the aspic into a mold (a ring mold, a decorative tail mold, or a flat mold — anything you choose) and place it in a large bowl filled with cracked ice. When the aspic has formed a thin film on the mold, gently pour off the rest of the jelly. Blend a little of this with mayonnaise and chill for several minutes.

On the aspic film in the mold make a decorative pattern with slices of truffle, stuffed olives, and black olives. You may cut these into fancy shapes if you wish and you may add slices of hard-cooked egg and pimiento. Arrange bits of tarragon in the decoration. Dip the scallops of lobster meat in the jellied mayonnaise and place them in the mold. If it is a ring mold overlap them in a circle; if it is a flat mold use a flat design. Pour the remaining jelly over all until the mold is full. Chill.

Russian salad.
Cook the potatoes and vegetables until they are just tender. Combine them with mayonnaise that has been mixed with a little of the jelly. Taste for seasoning and chill.

When ready to serve, place a bed of greens on a large platter and unmold the aspic on this. Place the Russian salad in the center of a ring mold or around the edge of a flat mold. Decorate with the lobster claws. Serve with additional mayonnaise.

Lobster Salads

TRADITIONAL LOBSTER SALAD

To my mind, this simple traditional salad is far better than many more complicated combinations.

Greens (lettuce or romaine)

2 cups diced lobster meat

Mayonnaise

Hard-cooked eggs

Capers

Line a bowl with greens. Mix the lobster meat with mayonnaise and heap it in the bowl. Garnish with quartered hard-cooked eggs and capers.

VARIATION

Add 1 cup diced celery.

SALADE PARISIENNE

2 cups mixed cooked vegetables

2 cups lobster meat, diced

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Onion juice

Mayonnaise

Greens

10 scallops of lobster meat

Hard-cooked eggs

Cut the vegetables (green beans, carrots, potatoes, tiny French peas) very fine and cook in salted water until they are just tender. Drain and cool. Mix them with the lobster, season to taste with salt, pepper, and onion juice, and bind with mayonnaise. Line a bowl with greens and arrange the salad on top. Decorate with the scallops of lobster meat and slices of hard-cooked egg.

VARIATION

This salad may be jellied. Make an aspic. Combine a little of it with mayonnaise. Line a mold with some of the aspic, fill with the salad into which you have stirred the mayonnaise-aspic mixture. Cover with more aspic. Chill and serve with additional mayonnaise.

ENGLISH GARDEN PARTY SALAD

3 cups lobster meat, coarsely diced

1 cup sliced cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced

1 cup pickled mushroom caps

Mayonnaise

Greens

Asparagus tips

Combine the lobster, cucumber, and the mushroom caps with mayonnaise. Arrange a bed of greens on a platter and place the salad on top. Garnish with asparagus tips.

NOTE
: If you cook your own lobster for this dish, you can use the claws as an added garnish.

LOBSTER SALAD RÉMOULADE

2 cups lobster meat, diced

1 cup shredded celery root

Rémoulade sauce (page 35)

Greens

Hard-cooked eggs

Combine lobster, celery root, and rémoulade. Arrange on a bed of greens and decorate with hard-cooked eggs.

COUPE D’AVOCADO À LA RITZ

1/2 cup lobster, diced

1 cup crabmeat

1 tablespoon tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1/2 teaspoon each of chopped tarragon, chervil, chives

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon chili sauce

1 avocado, halved and pitted

Greens

Combine all the ingredients except the avocado and greens. Arrange beds of greens on two plates. Place an avocado half on each plate and fill with the salad mixture. Garnish with additional mayonnaise.

Mussels

The mussel is a rock-clinging mollusk with a rather soft, bluish-black shell that is slightly ribbed. It is one of the most abundant seafoods in America and one of the most neglected. In fact, so little attention has been paid to it that there is no accurate idea of the extent of the mussel beds around our shores. They are found in great profusion on both coasts, but on the Pacific Coast, where people have occasionally been poisoned by them, they are quarantined during the dangerous period and cannot be obtained.

It is interesting that in Europe mussels are so popular that the demand cannot be met from natural sources. For years they have been artificially propagated in enormous quantities.

The most common mussel dish known in this country is one served in nearly every French restaurant — moules marinière. It is often made incorrectly, but still people love it and order it over and over — dipping in with their fingers and lapping up the juice with great delight.

This is the most authentic recipe I know of for this really fine dish.

MUSSELS MARINIÈRE

The mussels must be washed and the beard — the gathering of vegetation on the shell — must be removed.

This recipe will serve 4 people.

1 large onion, chopped

2 or 3 sprigs of parsley

Pinch of thyme

2 quarts mussels, washed and bearded

6 or 7 tablespoons butter

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup white wine

Chopped parsley

Salt (if needed)

Place the onion in the bottom of a saucepan with the parsley and thyme. Add the mussels, 3 or 4 tablespoons of the butter, and a good sprinkling of pepper. Pour over this the wine, cover the saucepan, and let it steam over a low flame. Steam just until the mussels open. (If by chance any of them do not open, remove them at once and throw them away.)

When the mussels are open, you may remove the empty half of the shell or not, as you prefer. Arrange them in a large tureen or bowl. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter and a handful of chopped parsley to the broth, taste for seasoning,
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and pour it over the mussels. You’ll need plenty of toasted French bread or toast with this dish to sop up the juice — and not a drop should be wasted.

VARIATIONS

1. Instead of the onion, use 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped, and substitute olive oil for the butter.

2. If you like a thick sauce, add a little beurre manié (page 475) and stir until smooth.

MUSSELS POULETTE

Prepare the mussels as for mussels marinière. Combine the broth with 11/2 cups heavy white sauce and stir until thoroughly blended and thickened. Add a few tablespoons of essence of mushrooms or mushroom broth and the juice of a lemon. Remove the empty half of the shell from the cooked mussels and serve them with the sauce poured over them.

MUSSELS RAVIGOTE PASCAL

Steam the mussels as for mussels marinière. Remove the empty half of the shell and allow the mussels to chill. Add a spoonful of sauce rémoulade (page 35) to each mussel and serve as an hors d’oeuvre. Six to 8 mussels will make a serving.

MUSSEL SALAD

Prepare the mussels as for mussels mariniére. Take the mussels out of the shells and marinate them in a well-seasoned vinaigrette sauce (page 36). Arrange them on a bed of shredded lettuce and mask with mayonnaise. Garnish with watercress, capers, and a good dash of paprika.

STUFFED MUSSELS

Prepare the mussels as for mussels marinière, reserving the broth. Remove the mussels from the shells, but keep the half shells. Chop the mussel meat coarsely and combine with the following stuffing.

4 tablespoons chopped onion

3 tablespoons chopped celery

1 tablespoon chopped green pepper

6 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 cup toasted crumbs

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

Few grains cayenne pepper

Sauté the onion, celery, and green pepper in the butter until just tender. Add the parsley, toasted crumbs, and seasonings. Add the chopped mussels and enough of the broth from the mussels to make a moist mixture. Heap this into the half shells and dot with butter. Heat in a 450° oven until lightly browned.