Joe Jefferson's Lobster Bisque

By Flyer920

This recipe will make about 1 gallon of delicious lobster bisque, it's not inexpensive, nor a recipe to make at the last minute, but the finished product is worth the time and the money.

Ingredients

• 10 Whole Maine lobsters (live preferred, but cooked will be OK and save you about 90 minutes of prep time).
• 6-8 Large Carrots
• 1 Bunch celery
• 6 yellow or white onions
• Roux (1lb unsalted butter, 2 cups flour)
• 1 bottle of good Dry Sherry (you can use Cream Sherry, but DON"T use sweet or cooking sherry!)
• 1-2 Qts heavy cream
• 2 sticks unsalted butter (in addition to roux butter)
• 2 small cans or 1 large can Tomato Paste
• Kosher Salt
• White Pepper
• Bay Leaves

Details

Preparation time 120mins
Cooking time 124mins

Preparation

Step 1

The lobster stock is key in this recipe, so do not skimp on the ingredients) With fresh live lobsters you're going to need about 6 hours for the stock (with cooked about 4 1/2-5 hours)

Lets start with the lobsters. In order to separate the meat from the shells you will need to poach the lobsters. Boil them for about 2 minutes and the immerse them immediately in ice water. With cooked you don't need to do this. Separate the shells from the meat (save the shells, heads and all).

The remaining lobster meat, marinate with the sherry (bit don't pour it out after save it) and refrigerate.

You're going to need at least a 16 qt. stock pot or more. Place the shells, mir poix, and bay leaves (carrots, onions, celery) in the pots and cover with with cold water. Bring to boil for at least 1 hour and simmer (low boil for another 30-45 minutes).

Strain out the solids and now reduce the stock by about a little more than 1/2. At this point you should have a little more than 1 gallon of great lobster stock.

Strain the sherry from the lobster meat (KEEP THE SHERRY). Take 6 of the 10 tails and cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chop (or food processor) the remaining meat.

Take the sherry that you marinated th e meat with and pass through a fine strainer, add remaining sherry and place into saucepan and bring to a boil. Ignite and burn off the rest of the alcohol.

Finishing the Soup
Add the sherry to the boiling stock and about 1/2 cup of tomato paste (can be adjusted later, for color), add salt and pepper to taste .(You'll adjust seasoning again after adding the cream so don't over season). No start adding the roux whisking it in until the stock has thickened. You;ll want to make it thicker that the final consistency because you'll be adding the cream. Always let the stock come back to boil before adding more roux. Drop the heat to a low simmer an start whisking in the cream. Do this by eye and taste and them whisk in all the lobster meat. If you used live lobster, cook thru. Take off the heat, add tomato paste to adjust the color (pink) and add the remaining softened butter to taste. You can serve with straight sherry on the side with hot sauce on the side as well along with crusty rolls or bread.