Bisque is French in origin and is commonly made from a broth flavored with seafood shells. Its rich creamy texture comes from cream and half-and-half. The name suggests a connection to the Bay of Biscay, which borders both Spain and France and is full of shellfish. This lightly seasoned soup features a variety of seafood and tends to be found where seafood is plentiful. Seafood soups and stews are common across many cultures and use favorite regional ingredients; Puerto Rican seafood stew includes rice, cilantro, and jalapeño.
Recipe Servings: 8
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
35 minutes
Total Time
40 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
½ lb butter
½ cup flour
1 quart water
- 1 Tbsp chicken base
1 can (14 oz) baby clams, with juice
½ lb uncooked shrimp, cleaned, shelled, deveined
⅓ lb cod, boneless, leave in one piece
⅓ lb salmon, skinless, boneless, leave in one piece
- ⅔ lb cooked crabmeat, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
½ cup dry sherry
- Salt, to taste
- Ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
- Cook shallots in butter in a small pot until soft, about 8–10 minutes.
- Add flour and whisk on low heat for 5 minutes. Set aside.
- In large pot, bring 1 quart of water to boil and add chicken base, clams, crab, shrimp, and whole pieces of cod and salmon.
- Return to a boil and then lower heat and simmer 5 minutes.
- Reserving both stock and seafood, strain stock.
- Return stock to pot and stir shallot mixture into stock.
- Add crabmeat, heavy cream and half-and-half to stock, bringing to a simmer on low heat. Cook until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Use fork to break up salmon and cod into chunky pieces and add back into soup pot.
- Add sherry and heat through, no more than 3 minutes.
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