Bisques

[rockhopper]

I've heard various definitions like it has to be made from the shells of shrimp or lobster. That doesn't explain corn bisque though.

So, what makes it a bisque?

[Toliver]

I think you're right. Most bisques normally contain some sort of seafood...seafood plus cream.

I think the bisques with veggie substitutions are "knock-offs", meaning that they are made in the same manner as a bisque but just don't contain seafood.

Think of corn bisque as an homage to seafood bisque.

[Katherine]

I've never heard of bisque of corn, but bisque of tomato is about as traditional as they come.

[Carolyn Tillie]

From yourdictionary.com:

1. A rich, creamy soup made from meat, fish, or shellfish.

2. A thick cream soup made of puréed vegetables.

[dls]

Traditional bisque is a seasoned shellfish puree flavored with white wine, cognac, and heavy cream. The word is now used inprecisely for several pink pureed soups.

[Verjuice]

What's the difference between Campbell's cream of tomato and their tomato bisque?

[Schneier]

What's the difference between Campbell's cream of tomato and their tomato bisque?

Fifty cents a can?

[jackal10]

Kettner's "Book of the Table" (1877; my reprint is 1968; Amazon says it is about to be re-published, but both originals and reprints are available secondhand via www.bookfinder.com) devotes 3 pages to the (doubtful) derivation of Bisque.

The earliest example is in Varenne (1685) where a bisque refers to a browny pink stew of wood pigeons ( biset) , with a ragout dressing. The colour was derived from crayfish, and over time the original meaning, and the pigeons were lost, and anything of about that colour (such as unfired pottery) was called bisque, but especially cream of crayfish.

So to be a bisque, strictly it should be a cream soup of an browny/orange/pink colour, with chunks of the principal ingredient floating in it.

Campbell's tomato bisque has tomato pieces in it; Cream of tomato is smooth.

Edited November 15, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[gus_tatory]

bisque has butter and cream, and a reduced stock...

and egg yolks at the end. perhaps brandy...

[Brad S]

Hmmm.

The accomplised cook by robert may I thought was the first "bisk"?

[Katherine]

So to be a bisque, strictly it should be a cream soup of an browny/orange/pink colour, with chunks of the principal ingredient floating in it.

Unless, of course, it's a frozen dessert with cream and finely chopped nuts or macaroon crumbs. The color of bisque, of course. Yum.