Carp Boatman's Style (Carpes à la Canotière)

Ingredients

• 4–5 whole fish small carp
• fish forcemeat (farce à poissons)
• butter
• shallots, minced
• small button mushrooms, raw
• fine breadcrumbs
• melted butter
• crayfish
• small gudgeons (goujons)
• puff pastry trimmings

Instructions

1. Stuff small carp (400–500 grams each) with fish forcemeat and score the skin with parallel diagonal cuts (ciseler).
2. Arrange the carp on a buttered baking dish sprinkled with minced shallots. Season. Surround with small raw mushrooms, turned into uniform barrel shapes.
3. Cook using the à la Bercy method (bake gently in a covered or partially covered dish, basting with cooking liquid).
4. A few minutes before the carp finishes cooking, dust generously with fine breadcrumbs and baste with melted butter to form a light gratin crust.
5. While the fish cooks, prepare small crayfish cooked in court-bouillon (aromatic broth with vegetables, herbs, and acidulant) without trussing them, and small gudgeons breaded and fried in sleeve shape (en manchons).
6. At service, surround the carp with the crayfish and fried gudgeons. Border the platter with decorative shapes cut from puff pastry and baked white.