Bisque of Shrimps a la Melville

Throw one pound of shrimps into boiling, unsalted water and cook them for five minutes, drain, then dredge them over with salt and toss in a colander to mix the salt in well; when cold, shell the tails and keep them for garnishing. Mince one carrot, one onion, a celery stalk and two leeks, fry these in butter with one bay leaf and moisten with three quarts of either fish or vegetable stock and half a bottleful of wine; boil for twenty-five minutes, then put into this broth two pounds of raw shrimps and the shells of the tails reserved for the garnishing; boil for five minutes longer, then drain. Put into a stewpan two pounds of sliced bread, cover it with broth and let simmer for twenty minutes, then drain it on a sieve, pound the shrimps, add the moistened bread, and continue pounding until all is reduced to a paste, then dilute with the shrimp broth, and press all through a fine sieve, season and strain through a tammy. Heat it up till near the boiling point, but do not allow it to boil, then thicken with eight egg-yolks diluted with two gills of cream and a quarter of a pound of good butter, incorporating it vigorously into the bisque with a spoon, then pour it into a very hot tureen, with the shrimp tails cut into three or four pieces as a garnishing.