Lobster Bob and The Tails were a rockabilly band out of Portland, Maine that broke up in the 60s but got together for another shot at stardom with a Bisque-O album in the 70s. It didn't pan out, and they returned to their lives, wives, and lobster pots.

In keeping with my notion of food holidays, Valentines Day comes hard on the heels of Super Bowl Sunday, which may be because it takes about a week for guys to realize they’ve been neglecting their gals during the entire football season. Of course, if that’s the way it’s been, a fancy dinner probably won’t put you back in her good graces, but it’s a start. Especially if you make a fancy lobster bisque like this.

First off, I did some research to see what I could steal. Here are some of the more promising links I found.

• Tyler Florence’ Lobster Bisque (Food Network)
  Tyler’s usually reliable, but though he’s got the steps right, there are a lot of mixed reviews.
• HelpWithCooking (Elaborate Recipe)
  There’s an easy recipe and an “elaborate” one, but it’s still simpler than Tylers and probably close to what I’m going to do.
• Easy but Elegant Lobster Bisque
  The “easy” part, as Anna says, is always a plus. and I especially like these guys suggestion that you mush up the vegetables in the broth with your hand blender…my favorite tool. They’re not thinking you have lobster shells to deal with though.
• Better Than Sex Lobster Bisque (with tails)
  That’s a bold promise, but the part that interests me is that its made with tails, which are easier to get and store than whole lobsters
• Julia Child’s classic The Art of French Cooking does not include a recipe.


click on image for slideshow (now with captions!)



Really, how do yo make good lobster bisque for $8 a quart? Well, it helps to have a steady supply of lobster shells.

My friend Larry suggested that I just go to Wegman’s (a local chain of really good supermarkets) and buy theirs. Since my calculations figure the cost of making this stuff at twice what they’re selling the finished product for ($4.99/16 oz) he’s clearly right. Of course, I ‘m not planning on using Cod as a flavor filler, so maybe there’s still a reason (besides pride) to do it yourself.

Lobster Bob and the Tails Go Bisque-O
(Yield 4 quarts)

So, here’s the plan I came up with…

• Put 5 quarts of water in a stockpot with two cups each of chopped celery and onion and 2 tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning.
  Bring to a medium boil
• Throw in four 3/4 ounce lobster tails and the shell of one cooked lobster and cook for 10-12 minutes until the bright red
  (I got the lobster shell from a whole cooked frozen lobster I thawed and removed the meat from)
• Remove lobsters tails, reserve the meat, return the shells to the stock.
• Cook on a medium boil until its cooked down to half its volume.
• Strain and mash the stock – alternatively, it’s popular to blend in the vegetables…but separating the lobster shell can be tricky.
• Make up a roux with a 1/4 lb butter and 2/3 cup flour (Anne Seasby [400 Soups] uses long grain rice, instaed of roughly the same amount as the flour which adds tickles but allows you to make a gluten free bisque., a trick worth keeping in mind)
• Stir in a pint of half and half
• Temper and blend into the stock
• Add 2 tablespoons tomato paste – or maybe more
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• Season with salt and fresh ground pepper
• Adjust thickness and seasoning
• Add chopped lobster and a half cup of sherry
• Heat the lobster meat through, add to the soup and serve

Sent to me from Bob Howe after he saw that I too had named my lobster "Bob" Thanks Bob!

…and here’s what really happend…

Bob had given up a loose cup of meat before sending his shell back to the stock, and when it came to a boil I added the tails back in to cook until they turned bright red.

I used a whole frozen lobster because I didn’t want to worry about keeping one fresh, but the tail meat was of considerably better quality than the frozen steamed lobster. If I did it again, I’d just buy four fresh chick (1.25 lb) lobsters or not do it at all.

I threw in a tablespoon of Old Bay and a Teaspoon of Kosher Salt while the tails were cooking, then removed them, split and cleaned the shells, added the meat to my reserve and returned the shells to the stock, now on a medium simmer, uncovered.

The place smelled like a Maine dock. Not that that’s a bad thing.

For some reason I really wanted to roast my vegetables before adding them, so out I took out  my roasting pan, quartered an onion, added some very roughly chopped carrots and leeks,  liberally sprayed it all with olive oil, sprinkled it with salt,  and roasted it at 400 degrees for twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, the vegetables were just getting some color, but not as much as I’d have liked. I should have turned the cut surfaces down so they would have gotten more color and flavor, but I stole a taste of the onion as it went into the stock and it tasted pretty good.

I didn’t roast the celery or the leek tops, which I’d trimmed down to the reasonably firm portion, but threw them into the stock as they were. My four quarts were looking pretty scanty at this point, so I added another two cups of water.

It’s generally agreed that you’re supposed to leave the cover off and simmer until I get a 50% reduced stock but the stock was coming along so well I just covered up Bob and his friends and let them simmer for an hour while I cleaned up and kicked back with a book. At the one hour mark they were just getting into the groove,  so I gave them another half hour and then let them cool before straining the stock.

After removing as much of the shell as I could pick out, I hit it with my immersion blender to make it easier to strain out the vegetable pulp. The blender didn’t like the bits of shell left in the stock, which is what I get for snipping the legs up into little pieces, but it didn’t seem any the worse for wear when I was done.

Pressing the stock through my fine mesh sieve left me with two thirds of a cup of pulp, to which I added a cup of water and then restrained. Total yield, one gallon, right on target. A more reasonable quantity of soup would be 2 quarts, which more or less means halving all my measurements.

The resulting stock tasted pretty good, though boiling it down a third would probably not be a bad idea, and the leek greens had given it a brownish-green cast that I hoped wouldn’t make the bisque look muddy after adding the cream and tomato paste. All in all I think it came out pretty well. On the other hand, a little insurance couldn’t hurt, so I added a teaspoon of [amazon_link id=”B00016LA7K” target=”_blank” ]Better Than Bullion Chicken[/amazon_link] base. Then, on to the roux!

In a sauté pan I whisked 2/3 cups of flour into 1/4 lb of melted butter over medium heat until it lost the raw flour taste. Then I whisked in my quart of half and half, tossed in a pinch of salt, and stirred until I had a nice white sauce. I didn’t want to add the white sauce to the stock and have it form lumps, so I whisked in two cups of hot stock (slowly) to temper and thin the sauce. Then I added it to the stock. At this point the soup had a nice tan color, relieving me of my fears about green soup.

To get it pink, and to get the richness I wanted, I added a few tablespoons of tomato sauce. Then I added a few more. Then I threw the rest of the 8 oz can in, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I also added a teaspoon of cayenne and a pinch or two of salt. Then I set the bisque to low and left it alone for a half an hour to meld before shutting it off to cool and wait for dinner.

Just before serving, I chopped up the lobster and sautéed it in butter and brandy over a high heat until some of the liquid had dissolved and the meat was warmed through. I’d brought the soup back up to temp while sauteing the meat, so when I added the lobster to it it was just about ready to serve. Lastly, I added half a cup of cream sherry and ladled it out.

From the first reports, it looks like Lobster Bob and the Tails are a hit.

Lessons Learned:

After the first bowl, I decided it needed a bit more cayenne, a pinch more salt, and another half cup of roux to make it thicker. So far, everyone’s said it was excellent, but I think I over adjusted it a bit.  All total I got up to about 2.5 teaspoons of cayenne, which is fine for the spicy set, but for most folks sticking with just one would have added zing without getting anyone zapped. Adding a little cream or half and half allowed individual adjustment. A whole 8 oz can of paste was overkill, but it’s not like the lobster had trouble coming through. I just think half as much would have been enough. Balancing the roux ratio was tricky, and it helps to know your audience. I think 1 cup sifted flower and 1.25 sticks of butter would have been fine.  Lastly, next time, fresh lobsters or bust.