- Bisque (food)
Bisque is a thick, creamy, highly-seasoned
soup of French origin, classically of puréed crustaceans. [The Academie Française Dictionary defines a bisque as: BISQUE n. Potage fait d'un coulis de crustacés. Une bisque de homard, d'écrevisses. (Soup made of of pureed crustaceans, e.g. lobster or crawfish.)] It can be made fromlobster ,crab ,shrimp orcrayfish . Also, creamy soups made from vegetables instead of seafood are sometimes called bisques.Etymology
It is thought the name is derived from "Biscay", as in
Bay of Biscay [ [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bisque "Bisque"] , "Online Etymology Dictionary", accessed 2007-04-27] , but the crustaceans are certainly "bis cuites" "twice cooked" (by analogy to abiscuit ) for they are first sautéed lightly in their shells, then simmered in wine and aromatic ingredients, before being puréed. [ [http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/biscuit?view=uk "Bisque (2) and Biscuit (3)"] , "AskOxford.com", accessed 2007-04-27]Method
Bisque is a method of extracting every bit of 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." [cite book
last = Child
first = Julia
authorlink = Julia Child
coauthors = Simone Beck
title = Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2
publisher = Knopf
date = 1970
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0394401522 ]Seafood bisque is traditionally served in a low two-handled cup on a saucer or in a mug.
Bisque is also sometimes used to refer to cream-based soups that do not contain seafood, in which the ingredients are pureed or processed in a
food processor or afood mill . Common varieties includetomato ,mushroom , and squash bisque. [ [http://www.lobsterhelp.com/recipes/lobster-bisque.htm Lobster Bisque Recipe] ]References
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