Bisque of Crawfish a la Bateliere

After removing the fins from the middle of the tails as for a la Persigny (No. 204), wash forty-eight crawfish in several waters, drain them, mince some carrots, leeks, onions and celery root, fry them in butter and just on the eve of browning, mix in a quarter of a pound of flour; cook the flour for a few minutes, and then add the crawfish, some sprigs of parsley, two bay leaves, salt and mignonette, cover the saucepan and cook for fifteen minutes, tossing them several times, then drain. Pick out the meat from the tails, cut them in two and reserve them for the garnishing: pound the shells as well as the claws with twelve hard boiled egg-yolks, and when a good paste is obtained, moisten it with the thick stock, strained first through a sieve not too fine, and afterward through a tammy; moisten again with fat or lean broth. Should the bisque be required for a lean dinner; warm it up without boiling and incorporate in half a pound of crawfish butter with cayenne and half a gill of Madeira wine. Set the crawfish tails into a soup tureen and pour the bisque over, and when serving the soup put into each plate six pieces of bread a quarter of an inch square, fried in butter.