National Seafood Bisque Day

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

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Friday 19th October is National Seafood Bisque Day! I'm not sure who decided that - but anyway...

Seafood bisque is a creamy and well-seasoned soup consisting of a crustacean based broth. The most common forms of seafood bisque are made from lobster, crab, shrimp, or crayfish. Culinary historians believe that the word “bisque” is derived from the French word “bis cuites,” which means “twice cooked.” Seafood bisque is typically cooked twice. The first time cooked occurs when the crustaceans are sautéed in their shells; the second time cooked is when the dish is mixed with the cream for simmering. For some of the best Provencal seafood bisque recipes.
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https://quakervalleyfoods.com/national-seafood-bisque-day/

Do you make seafood bisque? How do you make it?
 
Saw the link. That looks good!! I'm tempted to try it someday!! I already have some scallops, shrimp & haddock in the freezer. I'll make it with some dinner rolls. :wink:
 
I prefer chowder (chowdah for our New England members:giggle:), a nice gumbo or paella.
 
According to one source:
Chowder is quite a different thing altogether. Unlike bisque which is smooth, chowder is thick and chunky. Traditionally it's filled with pieces of vegetables, seafood and/or meat. It also usually includes milk or cream, and gets its thick texture from hearty vegetables, like potatoes.

Fun fact: the word chowder comes from the French word for cauldron, which was the type of pot fisherman used to use to cook their stew.
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whats-the-difference-between-bisque-and-chowder-word-of-mouth-207847
 
...which is strange really because if you do an image search for 'bisque' most images have chunky bits in them:

Screen Shot 2018-10-19 at 11.44.28.png
 
I like seafood bisque. I haven't made it but have eaten it in restaurants in France and London. Lobster bisque is something we once had in France and it was very good.
 
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Always up for a challenge! The most challenging thing was finding fresh crab for this crab bisque. The soup should be clear, but that would have meant sieving out all the good bits of blitzed vegetables which I wasn't prepared to do. It was a bit disappointing.
 
epicuric said:
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Always up for a challenge! The most challenging thing was finding fresh crab for this crab bisque. The soup should be clear, but that would have meant sieving out all the good bits of blitzed vegetables which I wasn't prepared to do. It was a bit disappointing.
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Looks good to me - why was it disappointing?
 
morning glory said:
Looks good to me - why was it disappointing?
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I just couldn't get the taste right. It had all the right ingredients - a mirepoix (shallot, carrot, fennel, celery), white wine, fish stock, brown crab meat, lemon juice, but no matter what I tried it tasted rubbish.
 
epicuric said:
I just couldn't get the taste right. It had all the right ingredients - a mirepoix (shallot, carrot, fennel, celery), white wine, fish stock, brown crab meat, lemon juice, but no matter what I tried it tasted rubbish.
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Was the fish stock home-made?
 
@epicuric - just been scouring my cookbooks - apparently bisque is supposed to have cognac and cream and traditionally the stock is made from the shells. I've never made stock using crab shells but I've seen it done on TV. Do you have Rick Stein's 'Seafood'? There is a step by step with photos on how to do it.

If not I'll photograph the page and post it here.
 
Nine years ago went to the country of Iceland for the 1st time and we had our very first lobster bisque, it was exquisite, no other has ever come close.
 
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