Bisque Soup

Bisque

It is shellfish puree soups, thickened with rice or cream. It is passed and garnished with dices of the sea-food. Bisque is a smooth, creamy, highly seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth of crustaceans. It can be made from lobster, langoustine, crab, shrimp, or crayfish.

Bisque is a method of extracting flavor from imperfect crustaceans not good enough to send to market. In an authentic bisque, the shells are ground to a fine paste and added to thicken the soup. Julia Child even remarked, “Do not wash anything off until the soup is done because you will be using the same utensils repeatedly and you don’t want any marvelous tidbits of flavor losing themselves down the drain.” Bisques are thickened with rice, which can either be strained out, leaving behind the starch or pureed during the final stages. Seafood bisque is traditionally served in a low two-handled cup on a saucer or in a mug.

Bisque is also commonly used to refer to cream-based soups that do not contain seafood, in which the sometimes pre-cooked ingredients are pureed or processed in a food processor or a food mill. Common varieties include squash, tomato, mushroom, and red pepper.

Examples:

Lobster bisque

Crayfish bisque