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In November 1997, I had the pleasure and honor of studying with Jean-Pierre Silva at the Hostellerie de Vieux Moulin in Bouilland, France. It was my first stage at a Michelin-starred restaurant. I learned many things from Chef Silva, including how to remove the intestines from live crayfish. After my visit, when I was window shopping at the magazine store in the Dijon train station, I saw the book that this recipe came from on sale. As I scanned its pages on the train ride back to Paris, I was delighted to see that 11 pages were devoted to the cooking of Chef Silva. The following recipe was the first one in the section, but it wasn’t one that I had learned from during my visit.
When I first read the recipe, I had little expectation that I would ever be able to make it, let alone have the opportunity to eviscerate a handful of crayfish back home. Then about 18 months later, I noticed that one of the meat and fish stores I frequent had a bowl of live crayfish in the display case. I hurried home to find the recipe and to get an idea of how many I would need. I then rushed back to the store—they only had a few crayfish left when I was first there—and purchased enough to make the dish. That night I prepared the recipe for the first time.
There are over 500 species of crayfish worldwide so I doubt that the ones I used to prepare this recipe were the same as what I worked on in Bouilland. Nonetheless, removing the intestine worked just the same as I had learned. The process is very simple. At the end of the abdomen—the part we generally call the tail—is the tail fan. The fan consists of five fin-like appendages. The two outer pairs are called uropods. The center appendage on the tail fan is called the telson. To remove the crayfish’s intestine, which Chef Silva informed me has to be done before the crayfish is cooked, you hold the telson between your thumb and index finger and gently twist 90 degrees until you feel the telson crack away from the fan. Then you pull the telson gently to extract the intestine. That’s all there is to it! Très facile!
gâteau d’écrevisses et fromage blanc
| 14 |
live crayfish |
| 1/2 |
roasted red pepper |
| 4 tablespoons |
extra virgin olive oil |
|
fine salt |
| 100 grams |
fresh goat cheese, at room temperature |
| 1 tablespoon |
heavy cream |
| 1 tablespoon |
minced chives |
| 12 |
baby spinach leaves |
| for court bouillon: |
|
water |
| 1/2 bunch |
fresh cilantro |
| a few sprigs |
fresh thyme |
| 1 |
onion, quartered |
|
coarse salt |
| 1 stalk |
celery, coarsely chopped |
| 1. |
Place all the court bullion ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove the intestines from the crayfish. Add the crayfish to the pot and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain crayfish and set in the refrigerator to cool. When cool, remove the tails from 12 of the crayfish and shell. Set aside. |
| 2. |
Puree the red pepper with 2 tablespoons of oil and a little salt in a small food processor or blender. Strain and set aside. |
| 3. |
Using a spatula, combine the goat cheese with the cream and then with 2 tablespoons oil. Finally, fold in the chives and set aside. |
| 4. |
Arrange 6 spinach leaves on each plate in a 10-cm diameter rosette. Using a 6-cm ring, form a small “cake” of cheese in the center of the spinach. Arrange five or six peeled crayfish tails on the cheese. Drizzle some red pepper puree on the plates next to the spinach. Decorate each plate with a whole crayfish. |
| Yield: 2 servings. |
| Ref: Jean-Pierre Silva in Philippe Lamboley, Saveurs & Terroirs de Bourgogne, 1997, page 100. |
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