Recipe no. 125 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 67.
Ingredients
- live spiny lobster
- butter
- onion
- carrot
- bouquet garni
- celery
- cognac
- white wine
- tomato puree
- juice or broth
- meat glaze
- Liebig extract
- salt
- pepper
- parsley
Preparation
- Preparation and browningTake a live spiny lobster, cut it into 5 or 6 pieces and keep the roe and the innards. Put a piece of butter the size of an egg in a saute pan or a small pot and set it over the heat; when it is nice and hot, arrange the pieces of spiny lobster in it, the flesh touching the bottom. Brown them briskly, add a sliced onion, likewise a carrot, a bouquet garni and a sprig of celery; let everything brown well together.
- Deglazing and reducingAdd a glass of cognac, light it and let it flame, add a glass of white wine which you reduce by half, then two or three spoonfuls of tomato puree, two spoonfuls of good juice or broth, add a little meat glaze or Liebig extract, season richly, with plenty of pepper.
- Bound butterPut in a small silver dish, or another that can go on the heat, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, set it on the stove; when it is nice and hot add the reserved roe and innards, cook while stirring, let it take on a slight hazelnut colour and take it off; then pound it in a small mortar with 50 grams of butter.
- ServingWhen ready to serve, take out the pieces of spiny lobster and arrange them on the serving dish, keep them warm; strain the sauce briskly into another saucepan, add the mortar preparation, working it briskly with a whisk; pour it over the spiny lobster, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve.
Reboul's text
Take a live spiny lobster, cut it into 5 or 6 pieces and keep the roe and the innards. Put a piece of butter the size of an egg in a saute pan or a small pot and set it over the heat; when it is nice and hot, arrange the pieces of spiny lobster in it, the flesh touching the bottom. Brown them briskly, add a sliced onion, likewise a carrot, a bouquet garni and a sprig of celery; let everything brown well together.
Add a glass of cognac, light it and let it flame, add a glass of white wine which you reduce by half, then two or three spoonfuls of tomato puree, two spoonfuls of good juice or broth, add a little meat glaze or Liebig extract, season richly, with plenty of pepper.
Put in a small silver dish, or another that can go on the heat, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, set it on the stove; when it is nice and hot add the reserved roe and innards, cook while stirring, let it take on a slight hazelnut colour and take it off; then pound it in a small mortar with 50 grams of butter.
When ready to serve, take out the pieces of spiny lobster and arrange them on the serving dish, keep them warm; strain the sauce briskly into another saucepan, add the mortar preparation, working it briskly with a whisk; pour it over the spiny lobster, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| langousto | spiny lobster |
| casseto | small pot |
| reveni | to brown |
| besuscla | to flame |
| vin | white wine |
| purèio | tomato puree |
| burre | butter |
| mourtié | mortar |
| fouit | whisk |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 125, page 67. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.