Shrimp Bisque

[Nick]

Here in Maine, shrimp season opened Monday and I got some yesterday. So, I've shucked them out and kept the shells thinking I'd make a bisque. The thing is that the shrimp right now have lots of eggs since they're headed to spawn - and most of the eggs come off with the shell. The question is - when I go to saute the shells in the butter, should I include the eggs or rinse them off before sauteing the shells?

Edited January 22, 2004 by Nick (log)

[Brad S]

Use the roe without question.

[beachcove]

Lucky you!

Are these the really small ones I've heard so much about, but never tasted?

[Nick]

Thanks, Brad. I'll use the eggs. Beachcove, they are the small Maine shrimp. Small, but tasty. I'll be using the recipe from the Pro Chef - if anyone's got a better one let me know. Thanks.

[Oreganought]

The question is - when I go to saute the shells in the butter, should I include the eggs or rinse them off before sauteing the shells?

Just a suggestion Nick.........I would remove the eggs before you saute and then

add them back into the pan after you have deglazed,this will give the bisque a

richer and deeper flavour.IMO.

[Alex]

The question is - when I go to saute the shells in the butter, should I include the eggs or rinse them off before sauteing the shells?

Just a suggestion Nick.........I would remove the eggs before you saute and then

add them back into the pan after you have deglazed,this will give the bisque a

richer and deeper flavour.IMO.

Agreed. Roe, roe, roe your bisque.

[Rachel Perlow]

On another note, I made Shrimp Bisque a couple weeks ago. There was leftovers that I knew wouldn't get eaten within the next few days, so I froze the leftovers in an ice cube tray. Besides reheating a few at a time as portions of soup, does anyone have any other ideas for its use? Perhaps as a sauce?

[Oreganought]

On another note, I made Shrimp Bisque a couple weeks ago. There was leftovers that I knew wouldn't get eaten within the next few days, so I froze the leftovers in an ice cube tray. Besides reheating a few at a time as portions of soup, does anyone have any other ideas for its use? Perhaps as a sauce?

Rachel I'm one of those people that uses chicken stock to make a sauce for

most seafood,but I do like an intense fish sauce for some applications.

One that comes to mind is a poaching liquid for lobster,shrimp any shellfish

really where I use a sauteed sticky rice cake base,the poached shellfish

lingini vegetables,carrots,parsnip and beans and a reduction of that poaching liquid

with a chili gastrique drizzled throughout the sauce and over,sparingly.

Generally my poaching liquid will be lobster,shrimp shells,veg,white wine

and some white fish frames and I usually through in a little heat nam plah

thai fish sauce that kind of thing......I would most definately add leftover

shrimp bisque to this.

Heartier fish like mackarel and salmon would probably stand up well

to a more robust sauce.It's mostly about balance,if it sounds logically acceptabe

then that's half the battle,and with a little experimenting I'm sure you'll

have it used up in no time.

[Nick]

Well, I've gotten myself into deeper water than I thought I was in. I can be so naive. I thought, well I have some shrimp shells so I'll make a bisque. Now I see that first I have to make a shellfish fumet so it's off to town to get some white wine and more shrimp. The Pro Chef recipe calls for heavy cream, but I discovered Judy Rodgers has a corn-shrimp bisque recipe in the Zuni cookbook that doesn't use cream. So - to cream or not to cream? I'm leaning towards Judy's recipe without the corn (and cream.)

Rachel, Judy's got a method of turning fumet into sauces in Zuni - see page 172 which will then lead to page 56. I don't know if it would work with the bisque, but it's worth looking at.

[Oreganought]

Nick I haven't seen judy's recipe but I'll bet it tastes like corn chowder with a shrimp flavour,which is not a bad thing,it's just not shrimp bisque.

If for some reason you don't want to use cream,you might try a fish veloute,

the taste and texture will not be the same,but it might work satisfactorily.

Keep us posted on your decision and outcome.

[Rachel Perlow]

I started by making a shrimp stock (pureed shells in blender then strained), then made a roux, added stock for a veloute. Finished with a little half & half and some chopped shrimp.

[AlexP]

Rachel Perlow Posted on Jan 22 2004, 11:30 AM

  I started by making a shrimp stock (pureed shells in blender then strained), then made a roux, added stock for a veloute. Finished with a little half & half and some chopped shrimp.

I always boil the shrimp shells in stock for whatever dish I am cooking (e.g. in fish stock for a fish soup or in chicken stock for a paella). After boil them for a while, I just remove them from the stock. Could you please explain a little more your method for a shrimp stock? Should I take the process a step further and put my mixture in the blender and then strain? Does the blending add a lot of flavor?

Thanks.

Alex

[jvcap]

I think that for a little added richness you can separate the roe out of the shrimp. Throw the row in a mixer with a little butter (the higher the fat content of the butter the better), to make roe butter. Then after your bisque is almost ready mount it with the roe butter a la francais.

[Nick]

Thanks for all the encouragement to use the eggs. I guess most of them would end up in the fumet when I make that out most of the shells. But, things have gotten slowed down considerably from my initial burst of enthusiasm to make bisque. Getting the smelts sidetracked me for a couple of days while I ate them - and figuring I better take care of the shrimp, I shucked most of them to freeze, including the shells to freeze, and freezing some with just the heads off. So it looks like I'm not gettin' to the bisque right away.

I also got sidetracked because after I started the thread I got a mess off different kinds of miso from South River Miso and one of them, Garlic Red Pepper, makes the most perfect shrimp miso soup I could ever imagine. When I was sampling the different misos I'd gotten and came to the Garlic Red pepper, I knew it would be perfect with shrimp and it is. Then too, the second night of cooking the smelts I made a temura batter for them and did a few shrimp tempured at the same time. Great! (The smelt are better off the old way - coat with egg and cornmeal.) Anyhow bisque faded off into the distance. I'll get to it sometime along. I was mostly viewing it as a way to use the shells, but now I'm thinking if I make a fumet that uses them, then I can use the fumet in the shrimp miso soup in place of water.

On the fishing front, I called Craig (the fisherman) a little while ago and learned than he's only getting 75 cents off the boat and little market. Cindy, his wife, is shucking them out for meat to sell to make some money. That's a bitch - especially as the shrimp are only about medium size right now. A lot of shucking for a little meat.

Shady - good to hear you're still around. I got to thinking maybe you'd drifted out to sea.