Mousseline of Kingfish a la Briere

Scale two or three fresh kingfish, weighing about two pounds; suppress the head and thin tail end, the fins and gills. Put into a sautoir two soupspoonfuls of chopped onions and shallots, add half a pound of clarified butter cooked to hazelnut (No. 567) and fry the onions and shallots lightly; put in the well-wiped fish and season with salt, nutmeg, a dash of cayenne, a pinch of thyme leaves and bay leaf; fry over a brisk fire until done. Remove the skin, pour the whole into a sieve laid over a large dish, so as to be able to collect all the liquid and butter, and let this as well as the fish get cold on ice. Take all the bones out of the fish and pound the meat, adding gradually the well-strained butter and liquid, also a few spoonfuls of good bechamel sauce (No. 409) reduced with the fish stock. Press this forcemeat through a sieve and smooth it in a vessel, mixing in with it slowly a few spoonfuls of very thick jelly (No. 103); try a small part of this preparation in a small mold on ice, and if not quite firm add more dissolved jelly until perfectly thick. When cold on the ice incorporate into it slowly about one pint of very firmly whipped cream, drained and sugarless. Stir the preparation again for a few moments, then pour it into a high mold incrusted on ice, coated with jelly, and bestrew with chervil leaves; let the mousseline harden for a couple of hours and at the last moment dip the mold into hot water so as to easily unmold it on a rice foundation two inches high; fill the bottom of the dish with half-set jelly, surround the foundation with quartered hard-boiled eggs standing erect, and these with a string of chopped jelly or jelly croutons. Serve at the same time a sauce-boat of mayonnaise (No. 606), finished with tarragon and chopped chervil.