Bisque Of Clams

Place a good knuckle of veal, weighing about a pound and a half, into a soup kettle, with a quart of water, one small onion, a sprig of parsley, a bay leaf, and the liquor drained from the clams, and simmer gradually for an hour and a half, skimming from time to time. Then strain the soup and again place it in the kettle; rub a couple of tablespoonfuls of butter with an equal amount of flour together and add it to the soup when it is boiling, stirring the while until again boiling. Chop up twenty-five clams very fine and place them in the soup, season, and boil for about five minutes, then add a pint of milk or cream, and remove from the fire immediately, and serve.

Bisque Of Crabs

Place a dozen live crabs in some cold water with a little salt, and let them soak there for one hour, then hash up a couple of ounces of carrot with an equal quantity of onion, and fry them together with a little butter in a saucepan large enough to hold the crabs, add a little parsley in sprigs, thyme and bay leaf, seasoning with salt, a quarter of a bottle of white wine and a little white stock, then cover with the lid and cook for fifteen minutes, after which remove the crabs, strain the broth, and place it one side for twenty minutes, when the top should be poured off. Next, remove the shells from the crabs, taking out the lungs from both sides, and wash each one at a time in some slightly warmed water, removing the small legs, then drain them and pound to a paste, with about half their quantity of cooked rice, add a little of the juice in which they have been cooked, drain first through a sieve and then through a tammy-cloth, and mix in half a pint of bechamel sauce. Add a little salt and red pepper, and place over the fire just previous to serving, but do not allow it to come to a boil, adding an eighth of a pound of fine butter, and mix with a spoon until entirely melted, and serve with bread crusts fried in butter.

Bisque Of Crayfish

Procure five or six dozen fresh water crayfish, and boil them without any vinegar in the water. Select two dozen and a half of the finest tails that remain whole, and pound the rest with all the fleshy parts and meat in a mortar, with the flesh from the breasts of two roasted chickens or fowls. Boil the crumb of a couple of French rolls in some rich broth; place this in a mortar with a few yolks of hard boiled eggs, and pound well together, then mix thoroughly with the crayfish and chicken; put the shells of the fish to boil in a little water or broth, and rub through a fine sieve. Boil a pint and a half of cream, stirring continually so that no scum will arise; pour this into the soup, seasoning with salt and pepper. Have in readiness two spawn of a lobster well pounded, dilute it with some of the broth, and mix in with the soup, which must be kept hot but without boiling. Soak a few rounds of bread and lay them at the bottom of a tureen, pour the bisque over them, place the tails which have been placed one side, over the soup, and serve very hot.

Bisque Of Lobster

Remove the meat of a lobster from the shell, and cut the tender pieces into quarter inch dice; put the ends of the claw-meat and any tough portions in a saucepan with the bones of the body and a little cold water, and boil for twenty minutes, adding a little water from time to time as may be necessary. Put the coral to dry in a moderate oven, and mix a little flour with some cold milk, and stir into the milk, which should be boiling, stirring over the fire for ten minutes; then strain the water from the bones and other parts, mix it with the milk, add a little butter, salt, pepper and cayenne to taste, and rub the dry coral through a fine hair sieve, putting enough into the soup to make it a bright pink color. Place the green fat and lobster dice in a soup tureen, strain the boiling soup over them and serve at once.

Bisque Of Oysters

Place about thirty medium sized oysters in a saucepan together with their own juice, and poach them over a hot fire, after which drain them well. Then fry a shallot colorless in some butter together with an onion, sprinkle over them a little curry and add some of the oyster juice, seasoning with salt and red pepper; pound the oysters to a good firm paste, moistening them with a little of their juice, and strain through a fine tammy-cloth; warm them over the fire, but do not let them boil; add a small quantity of thickening of potato flour mixed with a little water, (about a tablespoonful for each quart of the mixture), and when about to serve, incorporate some cream and fine butter, garnishing with some chopped oysters and mushrooms, mixed with bread crumbs and herbs; add a little seasoning of salt, pepper and nutmeg, some raw egg yolks and roll this mixture into ball-shaped pieces, place them on a well buttered baking sheet in a slack oven and poach them, then serve.

Tomato Bisque

Stew half a can of tomatoes until they become quite soft and will strain readily, then boil a quart of milk in a double boiler. Cook together a tablespoonful of cornstarch and an equal quantity of butter in a small saucepan, adding enough hot milk to make it pour readily, then stir it carefully into the boiling milk, and let it boil for about ten minutes; then add a third of a cup of butter in small lumps, and stir it until it has become well incorporated, add some salt and pepper and the strained tomatoes, and if the tomatoes are very acid, half a saltspoonful of soda may be added. Serve while hot.