The Best Lobster Bisque Recipe

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The Best Lobster Bisque Recipe

• dinner
• October 18, 2024

The Best Lobster Bisque Recipe 

Recipes for lobster bisque vary widely, but they all rely on the same basic ingredients and methods. We believe the secret to the best lobster bisque recipe is found in sticking to the tried and true flavors and time tested techniques. Below is our recommendation on how to make lobster bisque from shells.

Key ingredients

1. Cooked or uncooked lobster
2. Onion
3. Carrot 
4. Celery
5. Garlic
6. Butter
7. Ground rice or flour
8. Tomato paste
9. White wine
10. Cream

Basic Recipe

1. If your lobster is already cooked, separate the tail meat from the shell and refrigerate the shell meat until it’s ready to be added to the bisque.
2. If your lobster is not cooked, bring lightly salted water to a boil and add the lobster. Let it boil for approximately 5 minutes before removing.  
3. Save the water used to boil the lobster. This water might look dirty, but it’s not! It’s actually full of nutrients and flavor that should be used for a seafood stock that will be the base of the bisque.
4. Add celery, carrot, and onion to a pan with a little bit of olive oil or butter and cook for several minutes (until soft).  
5. Add tomato paste and garlic to the pan and let cook until the vegetables are slightly caramelized. Fresh herbs like bay leaf and thyme can be added
6. Do a fast sautee of the shells in butter before adding them to the broth (or before adding them to the stock if that was cooked previously). 
7. Thicken the bisque using either rice or flour. Though rice is often considered to be a “classic” thickener, flour may make your bisque smoother. Use cream to gently blend in the flour, and be sure to add it evenly to avoid clumping.
8. Now, begin to add your stock and white wine, which will truly take the flavors to another level. 
9. Finish the bisque by pureeing or blending the entire mixture (before adding lobster meat). Rewarm the bisque and add lobster meat before serving.   

Additional Tips

1. Much like marinades, bisque can seriously benefit from sitting and letting the flavors blend together before eating. Try chilling in the fridge overnight, then eating the next day.
2. If you haven’t eaten the lobster meat separately, it can be added directly to the bisque to add texture, protein, and more succulent lobster flavor to your dish. 
3. Grinding lobster shells for bisque is a classic technique, and one that requires a little bit more work than the average dish. When it was first invented, bisque was often made using a paste created from crustacean shells. You can enrich the flavor of your dish by grinding lobster shells for bisque and then straining them out after cooking is finished. Many cooks swear that the crushed shells impart even more flavor!