Cajun Crawfish Bisque Recipe: How to Make Crawfish Bisque
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Feb 23, 2022 • 2 min read
You can serve creamy, cajun crawfish bisque as an appetizer, or with French bread or rice for a decadent entree.
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What Is Crawfish Bisque?
Crawfish bisque is a thick cream soup that chefs purée and strain for a fine, smooth final result. Traditional bisque recipes feature seafood like lobster, crayfish, shrimp, clams, or crab meat as the main ingredient—chefs typically grind the crustacean shells into a fine paste to thicken the mixture. However, modern bisques may use puréed vegetables or aromatics in place of shellfish and thicken the base with rice or other starches.
Other key ingredients of bisque soups are heavy cream and white wine. Common bisques include lobster bisque, seafood bisque, crab bisque, and tomato bisque. Crawfish bisque is often topped with toasted bread crumbs or stuffed crawfish heads.
What Is the Origin of Crawfish Bisque?
A popular theory for the name “bisque” is that it comes from the French words “bis” and “cuite,” which roughly translates to “twice-cooked,” a reference to the soup’s two-stage cooking process.
French colonization of Louisiana in the early eighteenth century led to strong French influence in creole and cajun cuisine. In the gulf of Louisiana, where seafood (particularly shellfish like crabs and crawfish) are plentiful, this version of the French classic is made with crawfish. Cooks mix this bisque with creole seasoning and cayenne pepper for a little heat to balance the sugars in the shellfish. In New Orleans, this is a popular dish at the end of Louisiana crawfish season as a way to utilize leftover crawfish shells to make crawfish stock.
Cajun Crawfish Bisque Recipe
makes
prep time
15 mintotal time
55 mincook time
40 minIngredients
- 1
Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook, stirring often, until golden brown, 3–4 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt.
- 2
In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt the butter.
- 3
Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and a pinch of salt and sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, about 6 minutes.
- 4
Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the flour is lightly golden brown and smells nutty, 1–2 minutes (it will still be much lighter than a roux).
- 5
Add the tomato paste, cajun seasoning, and cayenne pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until tomato paste is darkened in color, about 2 minutes.
- 6
Add the wine, scraping any browned aromatics on the bottom of the pot. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until wine is reduced by half.
- 7
Reduce to low heat and add the thyme sprigs, bay leaves, a few cracks of black pepper, and seafood stock. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors meld, 25–30 minutes.
- 8
Discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaves.
- 9
Using an immersion blender, puree the bisque until completely smooth. (Alternatively, blend in a blender, working in batches as needed and then return to the pot.) Strain, if desired.
- 10
Return the bisque to low heat and stir in heavy cream and ¾ of the peeled crawfish tail meat.
- 11
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- 12
Divide the bisque among 4 soup bowls and top with remaining crawfish meat.
- 13
Sprinkle the bowls with green onions, toasted breadcrumbs, and tarragon, if using. Drizzle with hot sauce. Finish with a few cracks of black pepper.
- 14
You can make the soup ahead and refrigerate it. The milk solids may separate, but they will come together when reheated.
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