Crawfish Bisque

Ingredients

• 2-3 dozen crawfish
• Small portion of chicken or veal
• Small portion of stale bread
• Pepper [red or black]
• Laurel leaf
• Spoonful [tablespoon] of lard
• Quart of Bouillon

Directions

1. Put the 2-3 dozen crawfish into boiling water for a minute or two.
2. Clean them thoroughly. 
3. Remove the heads and empty them, clean and wash them, but keep the fat part from the tails. 
4. Put them on a chopping board with the fat and the small portion of chicken or veal and the stale bread, and chop them all finely together.
5. Season with the pepper and laurel leaf.
6. Brown all of this in a saucepan with a spoonful of lard.
7. Stuff the crawfish heads with it.
8. Put them in a saucepan to simmer for a quart of bouillon for an hour or more, until it is a soup.
9. Serve hot.

— Mme. Josephine Nicaud.

Source — Cooking in Old Creole Days.
Prepared by Victoria R. Reier
Louisiana Anthology
July 12, 2017