No. 2572

Pyramid of Crustaceans a la Rochelaise and Pyramid of Crawfish

Buisson de Crustaces a la Rochelaise et Buisson d'Ecrevisses

To be able to dress this entree correctly it will be found necessary to fasten a wooden foundation on a dish, having it two inches narrower than the basin of the dish itself; cover it with white paper and in the center attach a wooden support also to be covered with paper; this latter must be in the shape of a pyramid, its base measuring four and a half inches, its top two inches and its height four inches; cover its surface with a layer of butter. This pyramid or buisson is to be composed simply of large slices of lobster tails and of red shrimps, after suppressing their beards. The shrimps are stuck into the butter on the pyramid in regular circles, but having each row lay in a contrary direction; the slices of lobster are also laid in close circles just on top of the rows of shrimps. As soon as all are dressed cover both shrimps and lobster with half-set jelly applied with a brush. In order to insure its safety it is advisable to push a thick string of sticky jelly (No. 2526) through a cornet, exactly underneath the circle of lobster slices, so as to give them a good support. The hollow formed by the upper row of shrimps can be filled in with chopped jelly or parsley leaves, or else with a crimped paper case filled with a round truffle. Surround the bottom of the dish with a chain of pretty jelly croutons (No. 2442) cut into oblongs, having one overlap the other. Keep the buisson in a cold room and serve it with a sauce-boat of mayonnaise sauce (No. 606).

Pyramid of Crawfish.—Crawfish intended for this dish should be chosen as large as possible and cooked in a white wine court-bouillon (No. 39), then left to cool in the stock. When cold break off the small legs. Generally a buisson of shellfish is dressed on a tin step shelf made with projecting ledges, each one furnished with hooks on which the crawfish can be hung; these ledges are movable and are placed at any desired distance from each other, according to the length of the fish, but there must be no openings left between. The pyramid ought first to be fastened on to the center of a large dish and the empty space filled in with parsley leaves or water cress; surround the base with a bush of green, then fasten on the crawfish by the tails, beginning at the lower ledge. Between the edge of the dish and the pyramid dress the remainder of the crawfish, laying them down flat with the heads turned outward and the claws hanging over. This pyramid after being dressed should be laid on a large tray; have this placed in the center of the table. The green and the pronounced red of the crawfish form a pleasant contrast for the eye to rest upon.

← No. 2571 Larded Pullet with Jelly Garnishings for Cold Dishes No. 2573 Saddle of Venison a la Harder →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is an assembly job rather than a cooking one: everything is cooked and chilled first, then built on an armature. The hinge is temperature — the butter that holds the shrimp must be cold and firm, and the whole piece has to be built in the coldest room you have.

What you are actually buildingA truncated pyramid or cone of wood (Ranhofer says pyramid), 4½ inches across the base, 2 inches across the top and 4 inches tall, fastened to a wooden disc two inches narrower than the basin of the dish, everything papered over. A modern equivalent is a styrofoam or dense-foam cone trimmed flat on top, foil-wrapped, set on a foil-covered board and anchored to the platter with a dab of shortening or a rolled paper collar.
Butter as mortarThe layer of butter on the cone is adhesive, not seasoning. Spread it firm and cold, straight from the refrigerator, and work fast; once the butter softens the shrimp slide and the tiers collapse. Chill the buttered cone hard before you begin sticking anything into it.
"Suppressing their beards"This most likely means trimming away the legs, swimmerets and antennae from the cooked shrimp so only the clean curved body shows. Leave the shells on — the color is the point of the dish.
Red shrimpsHe appears to mean large shrimp or prawns cooked in the shell until deep red rather than one named species. Head-on 16/20 or larger shrimp give the regular, uniform rows the design depends on; small shrimp look like gravel.
Jelly, cornet, croutonsThe "half-set jelly" is aspic at the syrupy stage, brushed on as a glaze — it must be cool enough to coat but not so cool it sets in the brush. A cornet is a paper piping cone; the "thick string of sticky jelly" piped under the lobster circle is a structural ledge. Jelly croutons are firm aspic cut into oblongs and shingled round the base. A commercial aspic powder or a well-clarified stock set firmly enough to slice does the work of Nos. 2526 and 2442.
Crawfish court-bouillonHis No. 39 is a white-wine court-bouillon; the recipe simply refers you to it. Live crayfish go in for 3 to 5 minutes only, then cool in the liquid; longer and the tail meat turns cottony. Buy the largest you can get, as Ranhofer directs.
The step shelfThe tin étagère with movable hooked ledges is a professional garnishing stand that no longer exists in domestic kitchens. A tiered cake stand or a foil-covered cone with the crayfish tails pressed into piped aspic gets the same effect; hook the tail fan, not the head, so the claws hang free.
Holding time"Keep the buisson in a cold room" was a real instruction in a house with an ice room. Cooked shellfish under aspic should not sit out more than about two hours in total, display included, so build it as late as possible and refrigerate until the table is set.
YieldRanhofer gives no quantities. A cone this size would take on the order of two large lobster tails and a pound or two of shell-on shrimp, with the mayonnaise passed separately.

A Little History

Buisson means bush or thicket, and the name describes the silhouette exactly: a bristling cone of shellfish rising from greenery, a standard grand-buffet showpiece of the nineteenth-century French kitchen in the tradition of Carême's architectural pièces montées. Charles Ranhofer, chef at Delmonico's in New York, published The Epicurean in 1894 as a working record of that restaurant's repertoire, and its garnishings for cold dishes are essentially cold-buffet carpentry — wooden supports, papered plinths, aspic used as glue and glaze. The à la Rochelaise tag points to La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast, long a shellfish port; in classical French cookery the term is attached to more than one garnish, so it is not a reliable shorthand for any single formula. Écrevisses, freshwater crayfish, were a prestige garnish in France well before Louisiana crawfish reached American menus, and Ranhofer's method here is to cook them in a white wine court-bouillon and cool them in the stock. What the entry mostly records is a period assumption that a cold course should be looked at before it was eaten.