Five Food Finds about Seafood Bisque:

• Bisque is a smooth, creamy, highly seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth of crustaceans.

• It can be made from lobster, crab, shrimp or crayfish.

• It is thought the name is derived from Biscay, as in Bay of Biscay, but the crustaceans are certainly bis cuites“twice cooked” (by analogy to abiscuit) for they are first sautéed lightly in their shells, then simmered in wine and aromatic ingredients, before being strained, followed by the addition of cream.

• Bisque is a method of extracting every bit of flavor from imperfect crustaceans not good enough to send to market. In an authentic bisque, the shells are ground to a fine paste and added to thicken the soup.

• Bisque is also sometimes used to refer to cream-based soups that do not contain seafood, in which the sometimes pre-cooked ingredients are pureed or processed in a food processor or a food mill.

Simple Seafood Bisque

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YIELD:  Makes 4 servings
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INGREDIENTS

1 (12 ounce) can evaporated
  milk
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup dry white wine 
1 roasted red pepper,
  chopped 
2 teaspoons butter
1 bay leaf
1 pinch salt 
1 dash hot pepper sauce
  (such as Tabasco®) 
2 (8 ounce) cans oysters,
  drained and rinsed 
2 (6.5 ounce) cans chopped
  clams with juice 
1 cup chopped portobello
  mushrooms 
2 green onions, minced

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat evaporated milk, half-and-half,
   white wine, roasted red pepper, butter,
   bay leaf, salt, and hot pepper sauce in
   a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring
   often, until very hot but not simmering,
   about 5 minutes. 

2. Stir in the oysters, clams with juice,
   and mushrooms. Cover and cook until
   canned oysters are just heated through,
   about 3 minutes. 

3. Do not boil. 

4. Remove bay leaf, sprinkle with green
   onions, and serve.