Homard a L’américaine
A historical recipe from A guide to modern cookery, by Escoffier, A. (Auguste) (1907).
A historical recipe
A guide to modern cookery, by Escoffier, A. (Auguste) (1907). Project Gutenberg eBook #71395.
From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.
France
Known as a French recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.
Ingredients 6 ingredients
- one oz. of butter
- one-third pint of white wine
- one-quarter pint of fish fumet
- one tablespoonful of melted meat-glaze
- a pinch of concassed parsley
- a pinch of concassed
Cook safely
Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.
- Hot oil. Never put water on an oil fire: turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid or a damp tea towel. Pat food dry before it goes into hot oil, and lower it in gently, away from you.
- Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
- Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
- Grill and open flame. Keep sleeves, hair and tea towels away from the flame, and stay with the grill while it's lit. Barbecue outdoors only, never in a closed space.
- Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.
Method
Chef Wood
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- The first essential condition is that the lobster should be alive.
- Sever and slightly crush the claws, with the view of withdrawing their meat after cooking;
- cut the tail into sections;
- split the carapace in two lengthwise, and remove the queen (a little bag near the head containing some gravel).
- Put aside, on a plate, the intestines and the coral, which will be used in the finishing of the sauce, and season the pieces of lobster with salt and pepper.
- Put these pieces into a sautépan containing one-sixth pint of oil and one oz.
- of butter, both very hot.
- Fry them over an open fire until the meat has stiffened well and the carapace is of a fine red colour.
- Then remove all grease by tilting the sautépan on its side with its lid on;
- sprinkle the pieces of lobster with two chopped shallots and one crushed clove of garlic;
- add one-third pint of white wine, one-quarter pint of fish fumet, a small glassful of burnt brandy, one tablespoonful of melted meat-glaze, three small, fresh, pressed, and chopped tomatoes (or, failing fresh tomatoes, two tablespoonfuls of tomato purée), a pinch of concassed parsley, and a very little cayenne.
- Cover the sautépan, and set to cook in the oven for eighteen or twenty minutes.
- This done, transfer the pieces of lobster to a dish;
- withdraw the meat from the section of the tail and the claws, and put them in a timbale;
- set upright thereon the two halves of the carapace, and let them lie against each other.
- Keep the whole hot.
- Now reduce the cooking-sauce of the lobster to one-third pint;
- add thereto the intestines and the chopped coral, together with a piece of butter the size of a walnut;
- set to cook for a moment, and pass through a strainer.
- Put this cullis into a vegetable-pan;
- heat it without letting it boil, and add, away from the fire, three oz.
- of butter cut into small pieces.
- Pour this sauce over the pieces of lobster which have been kept hot, and sprinkle the whole with a pinch of concassed and scalded parsley.
Plating
Cookware for this recipe
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Frying pan
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Saucepan
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Chef's knife
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Cutting board
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Sieve