Truite à la Cambacérès

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Flexible boning or filleting knife
• •Kitchen shears and fish-bone tweezers
• •Food processor
• •Fine-mesh sieve or tamis
• •Close-fitting roasting pan at least 20 by 14 inches (50 by 35 cm)
• •Baking parchment and kitchen twine
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Two small saucepans and a wide skillet
• •Large warmed oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Make crayfish butter

   Melt ½ cup (120 ml / 115 g) of the butter in a small heavy saucepan. Add the crushed crayfish shells and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring and pressing them often, until the shells are vivid red and the butter has turned deep coral. Keep the heat low enough that the milk solids never scorch. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing hard, and chill the resulting crayfish butter until cool but still pliable. You need about 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 55 g) for the sauce.

2. 2

   Make the Mousseline

   Chill the food-processor bowl and blade, then process the raw crayfish meat with ¾ teaspoon of the salt and a pinch of white pepper until it becomes a sticky, smooth paste. Add the egg white and process only until absorbed. Press the paste through a fine sieve into a bowl set over ice, then fold or pulse in the cold cream in three additions, stopping as soon as the Mousseline looks smooth, light, and firm enough to hold a soft peak. Poach a teaspoon-sized quenelle (oval dumpling) in barely simmering water for 3 minutes; cut it open to confirm it is opaque, then taste and correct the seasoning. Mousselines depend on cold. If yours becomes glossy, slack, or grainy, stop adding cream and spread it in a chilled bowl over ice until nearly stiff, then pulse it briefly until smooth. Ça se rattrape. Cover and keep over ice.

3. 3

   Prepare the morels

   Cover the dried morels with 3 cups (710 ml / 710 g) of the cold water and leave them for 30 minutes. Lift them from the water rather than pouring them out with the grit, rinse each hollow cap carefully, and trim any tough stems. Simmer them in fresh water for 10 minutes, then drain and press them gently in a clean towel. Morels must be cooked thoroughly; their final turn in butter is for browning, not for making raw mushrooms safe.

4. 4

   Prepare the whole trout

   Blanch the carrot rods in simmering water for 1 minute, drain them, and cool them completely. Remove the trout's gills through the gill openings without cutting the belly. On one flank, score the skin 1 inch (2.5 cm) behind the head and 2½ inches (6 cm) before the tail, then ease away the broad panel of skin between those marks. With a thin skewer, make shallow diagonal channels nearly parallel to the surface and insert alternating rods of black truffle and the bright outer carrot flesh. Lay the trout belly-down on a damp towel. Cut along each side of the backbone from head toward tail, working the knife against the bones to free both fillets from above. Snip the spine near the head and tail, lift it out with the rib bones, remove the intestines through the back opening, and pull any remaining pin bones. Wipe the cavity scrupulously clean. If a fillet tears, lay it back in place; the twine and bacon will support it during the braise.

5. 5

   Stuff and reconstruct

   Season the inner faces of the trout with about ¾ teaspoon of the remaining salt and a little white pepper. Spoon the cold crayfish Mousseline evenly into the cavity, using only enough to restore the trout's natural rounded shape. Do not pack it hard, because the forcemeat expands as it cooks. Draw the fillets together over the filling and tie the fish crosswise with kitchen twine at 2-inch (5 cm) intervals. Drape the bacon over the back opening and across the exposed flank so the flesh is completely protected.

6. 6

   Braise it gently

   Heat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Make a broad sling from doubled baking parchment and lay it inside a close-fitting roasting pan, or set a narrow rack in the pan if you have one. Place the trout belly-down on the sling, pour the Sauternes around it, and cover first with parchment and then tightly with foil. Braise for 35 to 45 minutes, basting once, until the liquor scarcely trembles, the fish is just opaque beside the backbone, and the centre of the Mousseline reaches 145°F (63°C). A hard boil squeezes moisture from both fish and filling. If the liquor begins bubbling fiercely, lower the oven at once and add 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) of water around the fish.

7. 7

   Build the Béchamel

   While the trout braises, melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) of the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the ¼ cup (60 ml / 30 g) flour and cook the roux gently for 2 minutes without letting it color. Add the warm milk a little at a time, whisking each addition completely smooth before adding the next. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring often, until the Béchamel is silken and thick enough to coat a spoon. Cover its surface directly and hold it warm.

8. 8

   Finish the sauce

   Lift the cooked trout from the pan with its sling and keep it in a warm place. Strain the Sauternes braising liquor into a clean saucepan, skim away bacon fat, and reduce it to ¾ cup (180 ml / 180 g). Reserve 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) for glazing the fish. Whisk the rest gradually into the Béchamel, then simmer until the sauce is nappant (coating), meaning it covers the back of a spoon while leaving a clean trail under your finger. Remove it from the heat and whisk in 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 55 g) crayfish butter a little at a time. Do not boil after the butter goes in. If orange droplets collect on the surface, lift the pan from the heat and whisk in 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 15 g) cold milk until the emulsion returns. Strain the sauce, correct the salt and white pepper, and keep it warm for serving separately.

9. 9

   Toss the morels

   Melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) butter in a wide skillet. Add the drained morels with a small pinch of salt and toss them over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until their moisture has cooked away, their edges have taken a little bronze, and every hollow cap wears a clean butter sheen. Hold them warm.

10. 10

    Cook milt Meunière

    Pat the milt completely dry and season it lightly with salt and white pepper. Spread the ⅓ cup (80 ml / 40 g) flour on a plate, coat each lobe thinly, and tap away every excess speck. Melt 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) butter in a skillet until its foam subsides, then cook the milt à la Meunière, lightly floured and sautéed in butter, for about 2 to 3 minutes per side. It should be pale gold outside, opaque within, and just firm enough to lift intact. If the flour blackens before the centre cooks, lower the heat and add a small piece of fresh butter.

11. 11

    Glaze the trout

    Heat the broiler. Remove the bacon and twine carefully, then blot the trout's surface without disturbing the truffle and carrot rods. Warm the reserved reduced braising liquor with 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 10 g) butter and brush this glaze over the fish. Set the trout under the broiler for 30 to 60 seconds, watching without looking away, until the surface turns lacquered and lightly golden. The glaze needs shine and color, not another round of cooking.

12. 12

    Arrange the platter

    Transfer the whole trout to a warmed oval platter, belly-down, with its decorated flank facing the table. Arrange alternating generous mounds of buttered morels and milt à la Meunière along both sides. Bring the fine Béchamel enriched with reduced Sauternes and crayfish butter in a warmed sauceboat, exactly as a separate sauce. Carve the trout crosswise so each serving receives fish, coral Mousseline, and a little of the larded flank. Spoon the sauce at the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The original prefers a male trout. Most markets cannot promise the sex of a fish, so shape and handling matter more tonight: choose a broad, very fresh trout that will hold the Mousseline, and ask for it scaled but not opened through the belly. A skilled fishmonger can back-bone it for you while preserving the belly and head.
• •Ask the fishmonger for raw crayfish tail meat and cleaned shells from roughly 3 pounds (1.35 kg) whole crayfish. Cooked tail meat cannot make this Mousseline; its proteins have already set and will not bind the cream into the filling the dish requires.
• •Milt is soft roe, not fish eggs, and it generally requires an advance order. Trout or carp milt preserves the original garnish. If none can be obtained, double the morels rather than disguising another ingredient as milt, and say plainly that the formal garnish has changed.
• •Use true Sauternes, the sweet Bordeaux wine, and reduce it only to the stated volume. Taken to syrup it overwhelms the trout. At the table, pour a dry white Bordeaux rather than more Sauternes; the dry wine gives the rich sauce somewhere to go.
• •A broad parchment sling is the safest home equivalent to a fish-kettle drainer. Make it long enough to grip at both ends, and recruit one guest to hold the platter while you lift. Cooking well is not cooking fancy, but a whole stuffed trout does reward an extra pair of steady hands.
• •Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and use them within a day. Reheat covered portions gently at 275°F (135°C), with a spoonful of sauce, stopping as soon as the centre is warm; strong heat turns the Mousseline rubbery and breaks the sauce.

Advance Preparation

• •The crayfish butter can be made up to 3 days ahead, covered tightly, and refrigerated. Let it soften slightly before whisking it into the sauce.
• •The morels can be soaked, cleaned, simmered, and drained a day ahead. Refrigerate them dry, then toss them in butter shortly before serving.
• •The plain Béchamel base can be made a day ahead. Press parchment against its surface, chill it promptly, and reheat gently before adding the reduced braising liquor and crayfish butter.
• •The crayfish Mousseline can be prepared up to 6 hours ahead and kept below 40°F (4°C). The trout may be boned, larded, stuffed, and tied up to 4 hours before braising, but it must remain thoroughly chilled. Cook it close to serving so the glaze and buttered garnishes reach the table at their best.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 650g)