Pawaru-Grahmata

№ 21IV. nodaļa

Vēžu pudiņš

Crayfish pudding

  • Serves 4
  • about 2 hours
  • Melnraksts · vēl nav izmēģināts

1796Wehschu puddinsch.

Modernizētslpp. 212–213 · PDF 226–227
4 porcijas

The book gives 60 crayfish, 2 stopi of milk and 10 + 6 eggs, which converts to about 2.55 l of milk and 16 eggs. As in 01-035, we've used two fifths.

Method

10 soļi
  1. If the crayfish are live, put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes, until they stop moving. Then kill them quickly: drop them head first, a few at a time, into a large pan of fast-boiling water, so the water stays at the boil. Lift them out after 2 minutes and drain.
  2. Twist and pull the middle tail fin to draw out the dark intestinal thread, and remove the small stomach sac behind the eyes (our addition). Pound the crayfish, shells and all, in a mortar, or chop them coarsely in a sturdy food processor.
  3. Melt the butter in a wide pan and fry the crayfish over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until the butter turns red. Spoon about 3 tbsp of the red butter into a small bowl and keep it: this is the crayfish butter for step 8.
  4. Take the pan off the heat and pour in the cold milk. Stir well, leave for 10 minutes, then strain through a sieve, pressing hard on the shells. Throw the shells away.
  5. Whisk the 4 eggs into the crayfish milk and pour it into a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring slowly, until it separates into soft curds and thin whey, like egg cheese. This takes 10–20 minutes. If nothing has happened after 20 minutes, add a squeeze of lemon juice (not in the book).
  6. Line a colander with muslin, pour in the curds and leave them to drain for 20–30 minutes.
  7. Heat the oven to 180 °C and butter a 1 l ovenproof dish.
  8. Put the drained curds into a bowl and mix in the 2 remaining eggs, the crayfish butter, the mace, salt and enough breadcrumbs to make a soft mixture that just holds its shape. Spoon into the dish and smooth the top.
  9. Bake for 35–45 minutes, until set and lightly golden; a knife pushed into the centre should come out clean, and the centre should reach 72 °C.
  10. Serve warm, from the dish or turned out, with melted butter, or in hot broth as in 01-035.

Notes

What the book says vs. what we added

the book washes 60 crayfish, pounds them alive in a mortar, fries them in butter, adds 2 stopi of fresh milk, strains it, beats in 10 eggs and heats it until it sets thickly "like egg cheese". The curd is drained in a colander, mixed with 6 more eggs, a good piece of crayfish butter, mace, salt and as much grated white bread as needed, and baked in a casserole "as already taught". Killing the crayfish first, cleaning them, keeping back some of the frying butter as the crayfish butter, the muslin, the oven temperature and the times are ours.

60, not 600

the OCR text read 600 crayfish. The scan clearly prints 60, which matches the same pudding in 01-035 (2 kāli, about 60).

Same as 01-035

this is the pudding from 01-035 without the soup, with crayfish butter in place of plain butter. The book's ratio of about 4 eggs per litre of milk may curdle slowly; see the notes to 01-035.

Crayfish welfare

crayfish feel pain, and in the UK decapod crustaceans are recognised as sentient in law. Never pound them alive as the book does. Chilling makes them sluggish but doesn't kill them; kill them quickly in fast-boiling water, or split the head lengthways with a heavy knife. Whole cooked crayfish (plain, not in dill brine) save this step; skip step 1.

Sourcing

native noble crayfish are protected or expensive in most of Europe. Farmed or imported signal and red swamp crayfish are sold live or cooked, especially in late summer in Sweden and Finland.

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