Super Easy Shrimp Bisque (2024)

FAQs

What is the main liquid ingredient of a bisque? ›

Liquid — Bisque recipes aren't shy about liquids: cream or milk, broth, clam juice white wine, and often a bit of brandy are used to create a complex, fascinating flavor.

A bisque is a smooth, creamy French style of soup, traditionally made from crustaceans like lobster, crab or crayfish. It should include a stock made from the shells, a large amount of cream, and a thickening agent made from either finely-ground shells or rice.

Sautéed shrimp shells impart a sweet complexity to the foundation of this deeply flavorful bisque. White rice is slowly simmered in the aromatic broth and then pureed to give the soup body and a velvety consistency, without masking the flavor of succulent shrimp.

Most modern bisques are thickened using rice. Some cook the rice in the broth and strain it out later, using only the left-behind rice starch to thicken the soup. Others puree the rice into the soup to thicken it. Almost all bisques are finished with hot cream for a velvety texture.

Other thickening techniques, such as using rice or a roux – a concoction of flour and butter — are far more common in today's cooking and are the preferred way of thickening most bisques. However, should you find yourself someday overburdened with crustaceans and extra time, perhaps give the traditional method a go.

Overall, adding ice cubes to hot soup is a way to cool it down relatively quickly, and it involves the principles of heat transfer and thermodynamics. It's a common technique if you want to cool down a soup before serving without waiting for it to cool naturally.

When the dish came over to the United States, the culinary scene had an outsized influence on which proteins became synonymous with bisque. In American recipes, using a combination of lobster shells, bodies, claw meat, and tail meat provides the bisque its telltale taste and feel.

Bisque is a smooth, creamy, highly seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth (coulis) of crustaceans. It can be made from lobster, langoustine, crab, shrimp, or crayfish. The French bisque is one of the most popular seafood soups around the world.

Serve the seafood bisque with freshly baked biscuits or crusty bread. If it's a lunch or main course soup, add your favorite salad.

What are the two ingredients that make a bisque different from a puree soup? ›

Bisque, on the other hand, is characterized by its creamy and luxurious texture. While it will also incorporate a seafood broth or stock for depth of flavor, bisque is defined by the addition of heavy cream and, sometimes, a thickening agent, which imparts a rich, velvety consistency.

If it comes out thin just simply mix about 4-5 tbsp cornstarch in cold water and add to the Bisque at the end. Cook until slightly thickened. If you don't care for spicy you may want to start out using only 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper. You can always add more late if you wish.

Whatever the nutritional value of the other ingredients—from clams and lobster to broccoli and mushroom—it's compromised by the decadence of the base. Soups like bisques and chowders can be yummy, but they aren't what anyone would consider to be diet-friendly.

A bisque is a rich, creamy soup made with one or more types of seafood, cream or milk, and the bisque is often thickened with flour.

Cream and sherry are the finishing ingredients for most bisque's.

Bisque is far creamier and richer than traditional soup, which consists mostly of broth, veggies and spices. Soup and bisque also differ in their country of origin, as soup is originally from China and bisque is from France.