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Lobster Cream II
1 cup chopped lobster meat 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon paprika Few drops onion juice 2 egg yolks 1/3 cup milk 1/3 cup heavy cream White one egg, beaten stiff Cook lobster meat with butter five minutes. Add flour, seasonings, egg yolks, milk, cream beaten until stiff, and white of egg. Fill buttered timbale moulds three-fourths full, set in pan of hot water, cover with buttered paper, and bake until firm. Serve with Lobster Sauce.
A baked lobster custard in the French timbale style, lightened with whipped cream and beaten egg white. The whole thing hinges on gentle heat: it is a custard, and if the water bath boils the moulds will curdle and weep.
- Oven temperatureNo temperature is given. Bake at 325-350F, with the water in the pan hot but never simmering. Add the hot water to the pan after the moulds are in place, to a depth of about an inch.
- Timbale mouldsSmall straight-sided metal darioles. Buttered ramekins, small custard cups or a deep muffin tin all work. Filling them three-fourths full leaves room for the aerated mixture to rise.
- Buttered paperParchment cut to fit, buttered on the underside so it will not stick to the risen tops. It keeps the surface from drying and browning; foil laid loosely does the same job.
- "Cream beaten until stiff"The comma placement in the original is easy to misread. The 1/3 cup milk goes in liquid, and the 1/3 cup heavy cream is whipped stiff, like the egg white. Fold both in last, gently, once the lobster mixture has cooled to lukewarm, or the whipping is wasted.
- Cook the lobster lightlyThe lobster meat is already cooked. The five minutes with butter is only to warm it and draw the flavour into the fat; keep the heat low and do not let it fry, or the meat turns fibrous in the finished custard.
- SaltA full teaspoon is a good deal for one cup of meat plus two-thirds cup of dairy. Start at half a teaspoon, taste the base before the whipped cream and egg white go in, and adjust.
- Onion juiceGrate a peeled onion on a fine grater and press the pulp in a cloth or fine sieve. A few drops is all that is wanted, and it is not the same as chopped onion.
- Doneness and yieldDoneness -- Firm at the centre and just beginning to pull from the sides, about 25-30 minutes for small moulds. Let them stand five minutes before unmoulding.
- Lobster SauceLook up the book's own sauce recipe rather than substituting: it is typically a white sauce built on lobster shell butter and the coral, which is what ties the plate together.