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Ud Bisque D’Ecrevisses

A creamy crayfish bisque made with butter, rice, anchovies, and French roll crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Ud Bisque D’Ecrevisses

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

  1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Add the crayfish and cook until they turn pink.

  3. Stir in the onion, anchovies, and rice.

  4. Pour in enough water to cover the ingredients and bring to a boil.

  5. Simmer for 30 minutes, then strain the soup.

  6. Return the liquid to the pot, add the French roll crumbs, salt, and mignonette pepper.

  7. Cook for an additional 10 minutes, then serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Crayfish + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together343 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  5. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Crayfish
Provide the main flavor and body of the bisque as they cook down in the broth.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor as the crayfish and aromatics cook.
French roll crumb
Thickens the strained broth slightly, giving it a fuller texture.
Rice
Breaks down during simmering to add body and thicken the soup.
Anchovies
Contribute savory depth to the broth without a distinct fishy taste.

The step that matters

Simmer for 30 minutes, then strain the soup. Simmering extracts flavor from the crayfish, onion, and rice into the water, and straining removes the solids so the broth turns smooth. Simmering gently keeps the liquid from reducing too fast or clouding.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crayfish, butter, rice, onion, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against crayfish, butter, rice, onion, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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