Bouillabaisse Marengo

Procure several fishes of medium size, and firm meats, such as sheepshead, blackfish and bass, and two small live lobsters; all these fish must be of the very freshest. Cut off the fins and projecting bones from the fish, suppress the heads and thin tail ends, then cut them into pieces about two inches in size; break off the lobster tails after killing them in boiling water, then place all these pieces of fish in a tureen to salt, laying a piece of ice on top. Finish cooking the two lobster bodies in the same water, drain and split open; remove all the creamy parts, rub them through a sieve, and chop up the remaining parts of the bodies. Have a sauce-pan containing a little oil, fry in it a mirepoix (No. 419), and minced onions, add two cloves of garlic, a bunch of parsley, aromatic herbs, peelings of fresh mushrooms, the two chopped bodies, the heads and trimmings of all the fish, also a few cut up small bony fishes. Moisten to their heighth with hot fish broth (No. 195); cook for fifteen to twenty minutes on a good fire, letting the liquid reduce to one third; strain and remove the fat. Line the bottom of a deep sautoir with two cut up seedless tomatoes, onions, and shallots; range the pieces of fish and lobster on top, one beside the other, and moisten to their heighth with the prepared stock; it should just be sufficient to cover, otherwise reduce it. Cook the fish in this for fifteen to eighteen minutes over a brisk fire, then remove the pan on one side, and strain a part of the liquid into another saucepan; thicken this with a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce (No. 549), and when succulent and thick, take it off, pour in some burnt brandy, and the creamy parts of lobster, adding a dash of cayenne pepper; finish it with butter. Dress the pieces of fish in a pyramid form, surround this with a crown of thin crusts of kitchen bread browned nicely in butter, and cover the fish and crusts with some of the sauce, serving the surplus in a bowl.