Shrimp Mousseline ~ the butcher, the baker

With forcemeats there are levels of delicacy. The spectrum runs from roughly ground sausage like has been published here before, to smoother emulsified sausages(like hot dogs or mortadella), to the finest and most delicate: the mousseline. While the normal sausage is an emulsification of solid animal fat in animal protein, the mousseline is an emulsification of cream within entirely lean meat. A mousseline when made carefully by hand can be very very light and smooth on the tongue as long as it is also cooked carefully. The process follows.

shrimp mousseline with grill marks

First things first, keep everything cold! This is rather like a shrimp-whipped cream, and just like any other whipped cream if it gets warm it will have trouble holding together. Go ahead and set the bowl for your food processor in the freezer before even beginning this project. There are many other ways to skin this cat, especially considering that these were also made before food processors were invented, but this is how we're going to roll. On to the recipe:

Shrimp Mousseline

Ingredients

    1540g Shrimp, cleaned and shelled
    768g Heavy Cream
100g Egg Whites
20g Piment d'Espelette
    21g Salt
45g Roasted Garlic Paste

Procedure:

Begin to blend the piment, shrimp, salt, garlic and egg whites.
Add the cream in a gentle stream while blending until it's all in. That's the mousseline!
If you wanted to go for an exceptionally light and rich mousseline, you could continue by moving the mixture as it is to a bowl(set in ice) and gently fold in two or three times as much already-whipped-cream manually with a spatula. You would also have to adjust the seasoning, so keep that in mind.

adding cream
This mixture can now be stuffed into sausage casings, or cooked in a timbale and served with some roe on top, or you could even go the classic route and shape into quenelles(three-sided footballs) to poach in a compatibly-flavored stock. It can be easy to judge doneness on smaller bits by touch but if a number on the thermometer helps, 145F is the target.

quenelle, seared

What to Do With This

Well, at the restaurant it is being served(pictured at top) as part of a plate of cured fish. You know, cured this, smoked that and mousseline. Stuffed into sausage casings and put on a bun, this would be a pretty decent shrimp "hot dog," particularly if you were to smoke it. As a final example, the classic timbale preparation could be served as an appetizer.

the butcher, the baker

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Shrimp Mousseline

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