Lobster Bisque
Recipe by Nate Long
Ingredients
1 pound of lobster heads (legs attached)
4 sticks of butter
2 cups of flour
2 white onions (roughly sliced for mirepoix)
4 sticks of celery (roughly sliced for mirepoix)
4 carrots (roughly sliced for mirepoix)
Garlic (smashed and minced)
Half a bottle of white wine
3 oz of tomato paste
2 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons pink peppercorns
10 long peppers
2 tablespoons mustard seed
4 bay leaves
Fresh thyme
Cayenne, paprika, salt and pepper to taste
2 cups champagne vinegar
Creme fraiche (for garnish)
Chives (for garnish)
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and roast lobster heads for 5-10 minutes
Add 2 sticks of butter to a large soup pot and melt over medium high heat. Add your mirepoix and garlic and allow to cook together for 5 minutes stirring occasionally until fragrant. Add your peppercorns, long peppers, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, bay leaves, and tomato paste and allow to cook together for a few more minutes stirring occacionally until fragrant.
Add roasted lobster heads to the pot and stir together
Add (2 cups) of vinegar and a (whole bottle) of white wine and allow to cook together for 10-15 minutes
Add cold water to the pot, an inch over the ingredients, and bring it up just above a simmer. Allow to this to cook together for an hour
After an hour the color should be a beautiful deep red color. Strain out solids and discard, saving the gorgeous red stock off to the side
In a large pot melt a stick of butter and 2 cups of flour over low heat and create a roux. Stir constantly (to ensure no part of it burns) until it is the color of hershey chocolate. Once that is achieved pour the stock over and bring it up to a simmer. Season to taste with paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. Tie your fresh thyme together and add it to the bisque, allow this to simmer together for 30 minutes or so
Serve with freshly chopped chives and a spoonful of creme fraiche
Note from Jack
Nate and Charlie are without a doubt the two best cooks I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Both of them have a presence, skillset, and passion for cooking that humbles the hell outta me, and pushes me to improve. Nate’s resume is especially insane and I adore the way he’s found himself working in a butcher shop alongside fools like me. I’ve always likened his professional path to the bistro movement in France, where world class chefs escaped the rigid uptight nature of fine dining to get back to the roots of home style cooking, in a refined yet accessible way.
