Potted Crayfish is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton's recipe of 1861, for a classic method of preserving crayfish by pounding the cooked to a paste with mace and butter before packing into ramekins and sealing with melted clarified butter. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Potted Crayfish.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from the redoubtable Mrs Beeton's 1861 volume Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, the classic Victorian cookbook.
Original Recipe
247. INGREDIENTS.—100 crayfish; pounded mace, pepper and salt to taste, 2 oz. butter.
Mode.—Boil the fish in salt and water; pick out all the meat and pound it in a mortar to a paste. Whilst pounding, add the butter gradually, and mix in the spice and seasoning. Put it in small pots, and pour over it clarified butter, carefully excluding the air.
Time.—15 minutes to boil the crayfish. Average cost, 2s. 9d.
Seasonable all the year.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
50 crayfish
1/2 tsp ground mace
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
60g butter
200g clarified butter (ghee)
Method:
Bring a pan of salted water to a boil, add the crayfish and cook for 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain the crayfish, allow to cool until they can be handled then pick out all the meat from the crustacean. Pound the meat to a past in a mortar. Still pounding, gradually add in the butter then add the seasonings to taste.
Transfer the mixture into ramekins then melt the clarified butter and pour over the pots to exclude the air. Allow to cool then cover with clingfilm and store in the refrigerator.
