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CRAYFISH SOUP, OR POTAGE BISQUE (delicious)

Take fifty crayfish (or one hundred prawns, if crayfish cannot be obtained). Remove the gut from the centre fin of the tail, or it will make the soup bitter. Shell the fish and keep the tails whole. Pound the shells with four ounces of fresh butter, the crumb of a French roll, and three anchovies, and put them into a stewpan with two quarts of fish stock, four ounces of washed rice, a dessert-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful of pepper, and an onion stuck with three cloves. Simmer for two hours. Put the pounded meat, but not the tails, into the soup, simmer again, then press the whole through a sieve. Make the soup hot before serving it, but do not let it boil. Five minutes before it is taken from the fire put in the tails whole. Serve with toasted sippets. A glass of Madeira is an improvement to this soup. Probable cost, crayfish, 2s. per quart. Sufficient for six or eight persons.