No. 2591

Shells of Perch or Red Snapper

Coquilles de Perche ou de Red Snapper

Cold shells are prepared with the same materials as the hot shells, using the cold meats of perch, red snapper, salmon, bass, sole, halibut, turbot, lobster or crawfish, the manner of preparation differing only. Cut the cold fish into small three-eighths of an inch dice and put them into a bowl with a third as much cooked mushrooms, as many truffles and a few spoonfuls of gherkins cut the same as the fish; season with salt, oil and vinegar and let macerate for a quarter of an hour. Drain the seasoning from the salpicon and replace it by a jellied mayonnaise (No. 613), and with this preparation fill up the shells, smoothing the surface to a dome and covering them over with a layer of the same mayonnaise; decorate the tops with details of smoked salmon, truffles, egg-white and gherkins, cut out with a column tube. Surround the base of each one of the domes with a string of chopped jelly pushed through a cornet.

← No. 2590 Shells of Capon with Jelly Garnishings for Cold Dishes No. 2592 Socles and Ornaments →

For the Modern Kitchen

A cold salpicon of fish bound with aspic-stiffened mayonnaise, piped and mounted in scallop shells. The whole thing depends on temperature control: the mayonnaise must be fluid enough to coat and set firm enough to hold a dome.

The hinge: jellied mayonnaiseRanhofer's No. 613 is mayonnaise combined with liquid aspic jelly so that it sets. Use it at the point where it is barely warm and just beginning to thicken; too hot and it slides off, too cool and it sets in the bowl and cannot be smoothed.
ShellsReal scallop shells, scrubbed and boiled, or the deep porcelain coquille dishes sold for the purpose. Figure one shell per person as a first course.
Dice sizeThree-eighths of an inch is deliberate — large enough to read as fish rather than paste. Cut mushrooms, truffles and gherkins to the same size so the mixture stays legible under the coating.
MacerationA quarter hour in oil, vinegar and salt is enough to season and no longer. Drain thoroughly and blot; residual vinegar will thin the jellied mayonnaise and stop it setting.
Turbot and trufflesTurbot is rarely available outside specialist fishmongers in the U.S.; halibut or brill behaves the same way. Fresh truffles here can be replaced by a small amount of preserved truffle for the decoration, or omitted, in which case lean on the smoked salmon and gherkin for contrast.
Column tube and cornetA column tube is a small round cutter used to punch discs and rings from thin sheets of truffle, egg white and salmon; the back of a piping tip works. The "cornet" is a paper cone, the equivalent of a small piping bag, used here to lay a border of finely chopped aspic around each dome.
Chopped jellySet a shallow tray of clear aspic firm, then chop it on a cold board with a wet knife. Chop at the last moment — it weeps quickly and will slump into a puddle around the shells.
Serving and holdingAssemble and refrigerate until the coating is set, then serve within a few hours. This is cooked fish held cold with no further heating, so keep it below 40F throughout and do not let it stand out on a buffet.

A Little History

This entry belongs to the cold-buffet chapters of Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the record of thirty-odd years running the kitchens of Delmonico's in New York. Coquilles — food served in a scallop shell — were a standing device of nineteenth-century service because the shell portioned, presented and needed no plating; Ranhofer gives both hot versions, gratinated, and these cold ones, which are essentially a fish salad disguised by a smooth mayonnaise glaze. The technique of stiffening mayonnaise with aspic (mayonnaise collée) was the era's answer to a problem it took seriously: cold food had to hold a modelled shape on a sideboard for the length of a long service, and decoration cut from truffle, egg white and smoked salmon with tiny tubes was the standard grammar of that display. Red snapper and perch alongside turbot and sole is a small piece of American evidence — Delmonico's was working from local markets while cooking in French forms.