No. 2531

Lobster or Spiny Lobster a la Ravigote

Homard ou Langouste a la Ravigote

Boil a lobster in a plain court-bouillon (No. 38) and let it cool off under a weight with the tail stretched out. Remove the tail meats from underneath, leaving the shell attached to the body; pare the meats on the thickest end and cut them up into slightly bias slices so as to have them somewhat wider; season and place them flat on a tinned-copper tray; decorate the tops with lobster, eggs, tarragon leaves and chervil; cover the decorations with half-set jelly and keep in a cool place. Break the shells of the large claws so as to remove the meats and divide these in two lengthwise, then brush them over with half-set aspic jelly (No. 103). Cut in dice the meats of a small boiled lobster, put the pieces in a bowl with an equal quantity of cooked truffles, a few spoonfuls of cooked mushrooms and raw gherkins; season this salpicon and stir it on ice into some thick mayonnaise (No. 606), and with it cover ten to twelve small cooked equal-sized artichoke bottoms. Turn over the lobster body and fill the empty tail with thick jelly pushed through a pocket; dress at once in its natural state, the red side uppermost, on a long dish, moistening it with half-set jelly, laid on with a brush, to prevent the lobster from slipping off. On the top of the shell, from one end to the other, push two thick strings of butter previously softened in a cloth and an inch and a quarter apart; between these strings range a bed of chopped jelly, and on top of this dress the slices of lobster, one overlapping the other. On the right and left of the head lay the jelly covered claws and around the body have chopped jelly surrounded with the garnished artichoke bottoms, and around them a border of pretty jelly croutons (No. 2442). Serve at the same time a ravigote sauce (No. 623), having the creamy parts of the lobster added to it.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A cold buffet centerpiece from Ranhofer's The Epicurean, built in the classic manner: the shell is reassembled as a stand, the meat is sliced, glazed and re-dressed on top. Nothing here is difficult, but the whole thing depends on aspic behaving, so read the jelly note first.

Half-set jelly is the hinge"Half-set" means the aspic has cooled to the point where it coats the back of a spoon and drags slightly but is still brushable: syrupy, not yet firm. Too warm and it runs off the lobster and loosens the decorations; too cool and it goes lumpy. Keep the bowl over ice water and stir it back to fluid whenever it stiffens.
Court-bouillon and cooking timeRanhofer's plain court-bouillon (No. 38) is a simple aromatic poaching liquid; consult that entry for its exact composition. A 1 1/2 lb lobster needs roughly 8-10 minutes at a bare simmer from the moment it returns to the boil; longer boiling tends to leave the tail woolly. Cool it in the liquid only briefly, then press.
Cooling under a weightThe tail is stretched straight and held under a board and a weight so the sliced medallions come out flat and even rather than curled. Do it while the lobster is still warm and pliable, and chill it that way.
Spiny lobster has no clawsThe langouste of the title is the clawless spiny or rock lobster, so the "large claws" step applies only if you are using a true clawed lobster. With spiny lobster, use extra tail meat or omit the flanking pieces.
Tinned-copper traySimply a cold, non-reactive working surface for glazing. A chilled sheet pan or a marble slab does the same job; steel or glass is preferable to bare copper in any case.
Salpicon and mayonnaiseThe dice of lobster, truffle, mushroom and gherkin bound in thick mayonnaise is a salpicon; keep the cuts uniform and small so the artichoke bottoms mound neatly. Stirring "on ice" is to keep the mayonnaise from thinning and breaking as the warm-ish garnish goes in. The mayonnaise is uncooked egg, so use fresh eggs, keep the finished dish refrigerated, and serve within a few hours.
The creamy partsThe green tomalley folded into the ravigote is the hepatopancreas. Modern advisories in several regions caution against eating it, as it concentrates contaminants and marine biotoxins; the sauce is complete without it.
Butter strings and chopped jellyThe two piped ribbons of softened butter, set an inch and a quarter apart, are structural — they stop the chopped jelly and the overlapping slices from sliding off the curved shell. Chill the shell hard first or the butter will not grip.
YieldThe ten to twelve artichoke bottoms suggest the scale: enough for a cold table of roughly that number, fewer as a main course. Everything can be assembled several hours ahead and held refrigerated, uncovered, so the glaze does not sweat.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchens at Delmonico's in New York for over thirty years, and The Epicurean (1894) is essentially the house repertoire written down — including the elaborate cold work that filled the buffets at balls and club dinners. A dish like this belongs to the tradition of chaud-froid and aspic cookery in which a cooked item is rebuilt into a display piece: the shell survives as a plinth, the meat is sliced and glazed, and everything is engineered to hold its shape for hours on a sideboard under gaslight. Ravigote, from the French ravigoter, to revive or perk up, names a family of sharp herb-and-vinegar preparations; in cold form it is a vinaigrette or mayonnaise sharpened with capers, shallot, tarragon and chervil. The distinction Ranhofer draws in the title between homard and langouste was a live one for an American kitchen — clawed Atlantic lobster was abundant off New England, while the clawless spiny lobster was the Mediterranean and Caribbean cook's version of the same dish.