Bisque of Crawfish

Wash in several waters four dozen crawfish after removing the fins, the same as for bisque Persigny (No. 204); put the crawfish into a saucepan, pouring over half a bottleful of white wine, four ounces of minced onions, the same quantity of finely minced carrots, a few sprigs of parsley, one bay leaf, as much thyme, salt, mignonette, a little red pepper and half a pint of broth; cook all together for ten minutes with the cover on, tossing them several times in the meanwhile, then take them from off the fire and leave them standing for ten minutes longer in their broth; pour them into a colander to drain, and afterward select half of the finest, medium and equal sized ones; remove the tail ends from these, and the shells, and keep the meats aside for the garnishing, also half of the finest, but smallest shells from the head; stuff these with a red pike forcemeat finished with crawfish butter (for this see crawfish butter, No. 573), and with the remainder of the crawfish and the fragments make a bisque, pounding them with their equal quantity of rice; when all is well pounded, moisten with the broth they were cooked in and more plain broth, then strain through a sieve and a tammy. Warm it well without boiling, and incorporate into it when ready to serve, a piece of crawfish butter; pour the soup into the tureen and garnish with the tails and bodies both cut lengthwise in two. Crawfish bisque should be colored slightly more than the shrimp bisque. Use for coloring bisques some orchanet warmed in clarified butter or any other greasy substance, or clear vegetal carmine. Breton makes an excellent coloring for bisques.