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Bisque of Codfish

Boil two quarts water in a saucepan with tablespoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper; add one saltspoon thyme, one bay leaf, two cloves, one medium, sliced carrot, one sliced onion, one leek, two branches celery, two branches parsley, all sliced. Cover the pan and let slowly boil for thirty minutes. Add one pound fresh codfish cut into pieces, and bones. Re-cover the pan and boil for fifteen minutes. Heat in a saucepan one and a half tablespoons melted butter, adding three tablespoons flour; stir while heating for one minute. Strain the fish broth into this roux and briskly whisk for a minute. Then add one gill milk and two gills cream. Season with a saltspoon grated nutmeg and saltspoon cayenne pepper; mix with a wooden spoon while boiling for five minutes. Dilute one egg yolk with a tablespoon milk and add to the bisque, constantly mixing while heating, without boiling, for one minute. Strain through a cheesecloth into a soup tureen and serve.