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CRAB BISQUE

'Recipes for Seafood', J. H. Griffin (1913)

Twelve large, hard-shell crabs boiled in salted water. The female crab, known by the light red claws and large flap, is the best.

Drain, remove the large shell, but save the creamy part that sticks to it.

Put this with the coral that is in the crab, pound fine with four ounces of butter and the yolks of four eggs, and rub through a sieve.

Pare off the flaps and gills, wash off the sand, and pound what is left of the crab to a puree.

Chop a medium-sized onion, put it in a saucepan with four ounces of butter, fry a minute or two, then add one pound of steeped and pressed white bread and the crab puree.

Stir the whole to a paste and gradually stir in one-half pint Catawba wine and enough white broth to make it of the right consistency.

Add a bouquet (garni) and boil all for one-half hour.

Rub through a fine hair sieve, stir and boil again. Add the prepared egg yolks, white pepper and a pinch of cayenne, one-half pint boiling cream.

Mix well without boiling and pour into a tureen. If possible, serve with small boiled oyster crabs separately on a plate.