This is Tyler florence's recipe....should be good.

Here is a link that might be useful: bster bisque

Here is how I do it:

Steam the lobsters. Don't boil them but use enough water so it maintains heat when the lobsters are added. Two inches of water in the bottom of a large pot is about right. Cooking time depends on size of lobsters, not on the total weight. Put lobsters head down in vigorously boiling water. Start timing when water resumes boiling. Cook 15 minutes for "chicken" (1 1/4 pound) lobsters. Add 3 minutes for each additional pound.

Pick out the meat. Chop the meat, reserving the claw meat whole for garnish.

Here is the important part. The white fat lining the shell has far more flavor than the meat. Cover the shells with water and boil for 20 minutes. Reserve this broth.

For each cup of lobster meat, do the following:

Make a roux, cooking 1/4 cuo of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of paprika in 1/4 cup of butter. The paprika is gives the bisque a light pink color evocative of lobster.

When the roux has bubbled for a couple of minutes, whisk in one cup of the reserved lobster broth and simmer, stirring, until it thickens. Stir in one cup of evaporated milk and the lobster meat. Thickness can be adjusted to your preference by the amount of evaporated milk used. Heat throughly to just short of boiling. Add salt to taste.

Serve with pieces of claw meat and a small pat of butter topping each portion. Don't worry if the claw meat sinks out of sight. It will be relished by the diner.

Jim

The link to the recipe below looks tasty.

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Jim, sounds delish!

I've never cooked a live lobster but Clive is determined to do so after seeing how much I enjoyed the live lobster in Maine. He doesn't care for lobster as such but he loves lobster bisque. So this would make us both smile.

Can you clarify something for me. After the lobsters are submerged in the boiling water are they removed and placed in a steam basket to steam or do they stay in lightly boiling water?

I have always just boiled a lobster in a pot with enough rapidly boiling water to cover...

The only lobster bisque I've ever made was Julia Child's recipe.

A lot of work , but worth it.

Her recipe calls for killing the lobsters first and then cutting them up and cooking the raw lobster meat to get the most flavour for the soup.

Having done that once, I will never do that again. Now I just boil the lobsters for 2 to 3 minutes, just long enough to kill without really cooking the meat and then proceed with the recipe.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Lobster Bisque
==============
Julia Child "Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

"Considering the price of Lobsters that the pureed nature of a bisque, we think it is a waste to use whole lobster here. We therefore suggest only chests and the legs of the bisque, and the tails and claws, and tomalley for a splendid main dish such as the homard a l' Americaine described in volume I on page 223. In fact, you could well combine the two, starting them out together, since both follow much the same pattern. Serve the main dish one night and the bisque a day or two later. That is up to you, however, and we shall content ourselves with the chests and legs from 3 or 4 lobsters for the following recipe. As in most dishes of this type you can expand or contract the ingredients to a certain extent without upsetting the balance of tastes, and you need not be disturbed if you have a little more or a little less of anything that is called for.
. For about 2 quarts, serving 6 to 8

Step 1 Preliminary

1-cup mirepoix (equal parts finely diced onions, carrots, and celery)
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
A heavy 3-quart stainless or enameled saucepan with cover
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomato pulp (3 to 4 medium tomatoes, peeled,
seeded and juiced)
The chest parts with the shells and the legs from 3 or 4 fresh raw 1
1/4 to 1 1/2 pound lobsters

Cook the mirepoix slowly in the butter, in the saucepan for 6 to 8
minutes, or until vegetables are tender but not browned. Meanwhile,
prepare the tomatoes. Cut lobster chests in half lengthwise.

(My Notes: For lobsters: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the
lobsters head first and cook for 3 minutes. Remove and run under cold
water. Separate the tail and the claws from the body and split the
chest open. Discard the stomach sack and the black vein. Same the
tomalley, (Greenish Soft matter lying in chest cavity and the orange
red roe. (Found in females).

Step 2 Saut�ing the lobster

2 or more Tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil.
A heavy 10 to 12 inch no stick or enameled casserole
Cooking tongs.

Film the bottom of the casserole with 1/16 inch of oil; set over
moderately high heat until oil is very hot but not smoking. Add the
lobster chests cut side down and the legs. Do not crowd pan: saut� in
2 batches if all will not fit easily in one layer. Toss and turn
frequently until shells are a deep red (4 to 5 minutes in all). The
colour will tint the soup.

Step 3 Simmering the lobster and removing the meat.

Salt and pepper
1/3 cup Cognac
Either 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine; or 1 cup dry white vermouth
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon or 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1 bay leaf
The mirepoix and the tomatoes from Preliminary step.
1 clove mashed garlic
large pinch of cayenne pepper
Cover for the casserole

When the lobster is saut�ed, lower the heat slightly, salt and pepper
the lobster, and pour in the Cognac. Ignite by shaking pan vigorously
or tilting it into the heat source or use a lighted match. When flames
have died down, pour on the wine, mix in the tarragon, and add the bay
leaf and other ingredients. Cover casserole, and simmer slowly for 20
minutes.

Before proceeding you may wish to start the rice in the next step, so
that it will be done by the time you are through here. Remove the
pieces of lobster from their cooking sauce and extract the meat from
the shells. You will have about 1 cup' place in a bowl. Puree the
cooking sauce through food mill or sieve into the other bowl, and
scrape into a jar of blender; reserve for step 5. Chop shells into 1/2
inch pieces and reserve in bowl for step 6.

Step 4 Simmering the rice

3 cups fish stock or canned clam juice
2 cups beef stock
The saucepan from Step 1 in which the mirepoix was cooked
1/4 cup plain raw white rice

Bring the fish stock or clam juice and beef stock or bouillon to a boil
in the saucepan; sprinkle in the rice. Stir up once and simmer for 20
minutes. Set aside.

Step 5 Pureeing rice and lobster meat

Drain rice through sieve, reserving its cooking liquid in the bowl.
Scrape rice and the half portion of lobster meat into the blender.
Puree adding a little of the rice cooking liquid if mixture is too
thick for easy blending in the machine. Scrape the puree out of the
blender and into the rice-cooking saucepan.

Step 6 Shellfish butter for final enrichment - lobster butter

6 Tablespoons butter
The bowl of chopped lobster shells

Heat butter to bubbling in casserole, stir in the chest and leg shells
and saut� for 2 to 3 minutes tossing and turning to heat thoroughly.
Immediately scrape into blender and puree, flicking switch on and off
and scraping shells down into blades as necessary. Scrape puree into
sieve and mash vigorously with spoon to extract as much butter as
possible. Scrape all butter off bottom of sieve with rubber spatula
and pack into bowl. Set aside for Steps 7 and 8.

To extract all remaining flavour from blender jar, shells, and sieve,
pour rice-cooking liquid into the casserole in which you just saut�ed
the shells. Heat to the simmer and pour liquid into blender to rinse
it then pour liquid back into casserole, and swish sieve about in the
hot rice cooking liquid to dislodge all debris. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes;
strain liquid through the sieve and into the saucepan with pureed rice
and lobster.

Step 7 The Lobster Garnish

2 Tablespoons lobster butter
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons Cognac or dry white vermouth

Heat the butter to bubbling in the frying pan; stir in the remaining
lobster meat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saut� over moderate
heat for 2 minutes, tossing and turning. Pour on the cognac or
vermouth, and cook for moment until liquid has evaporated. Scrape the
lobster into the saucepan containing the rest of the soup mixture from
Step 6, and you are finally almost ready to serve.

(The recipe may be completed to this point; let cool uncovered, then
cover and refrigerate or freeze.)

Step 8 Final Flavouring and serving

If needed more fish stock, clam juice or bouillon
Salt and pepper
Cayenne and tarragon
1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream
The lobster butter from step 6
2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh chervil, tarragon or parsley
Croutons, homemade Melba toast, or fresh French bread.

Shortly before serving, bring the bisque to the simmer. It should be
quite thick, but if it needs thinning, stir in a little stock or
bouillon. Carefully correct seasoning. Just before serving, stir in
the cream, then remove from heat and stir in the lobster butter by
tablespoonsful. Pour the bisque into a hot tureen or soup cups, and
decorate with the fresh herbs. Pass the bread or croutons separately.

"After the lobsters are submerged in the boiling water are they removed and placed in a steam basket to steam or do they stay in lightly boiling water"

I know of nobody who boils a lobster around here. They are always steamed. I have used three methods.

1. Tell the fish market or supermarket when you want to pick them up and let them do it at no charge in their steamer. All the stores which sell lobsters here offer that service.

2. A lobster steamer for home use is a two piece pot like an enameled canner. The bottom part has a spigot for draining off broth when it is used for steaming clams. The top part has holes in it to allow steam to rise from the bottom part. You just get water boiling in the bottom and put the lobsters in the top part.

3. If you have neither of the first two methods available, it is no problem to steam lobsters in any pot large enough to hold them. Put about two inches of water in the pot and get it to a hard boil. Hold each lobster with its head in the boling water for several seconds to kill it. This is slightly more humane than allowing them to thrash around in the pot which takes longer. The idea is to use enough water to maintain a good head of steam while not using so much as to waterlog the lobsters. I haven't used a steam basket, but it might not be a bad idea if it is large enough.

I hope this is a clear enough explanation. It's easier to do than to explain.

Jim

Got it Jim! Perfect!

I will use my pasta strainer/pot. I was just a tad confused about the process.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Her recipe calls for killing the lobsters first... Having done that once, I will never do that again.

Funny, I'm just the opposite. After having gotten used to killing them swiftly with a chef's knife, I have a hard time seeing them suffer in steam/boiling water. Either way, I just try to remember what Alton Brown said - In the animal kingdom they're very closely related to cockroaches. Makes me feel not so bad!

Jim - In your method, are you cleaning out the abdomen before you chop up the shells? Also, for the stock part do you reuse the steaming water or do you start with fresh?

Ann - I'll have to read that recipe when I have some more time, LOL!

Looking forward to summer lobster. Not much meat in the hard shells I get this time of year.

"In your method, are you cleaning out the abdomen before you chop up the shells?"

No. There is good stuff in there.

"...for the stock part do you reuse the steaming water or do you start with fresh?"

The steaming water is pretty dilute because the shell hasn't been opened. Not much to be gained from using it.

Jim

"In your method, are you cleaning out the abdomen before you chop up the shells?"

No. There is good stuff in there.

"...for the stock part do you reuse the steaming water or do you start with fresh?"

The steaming water is pretty dilute because the shell hasn't been opened. Not much to be gained from using it.

Jim

Thanks-A-Million! Everyone for recipes, etc. I have everything I need for the bisque except the LOBSTER.

Plan to order 6 poundandaquarter Lobsters; 3 for bisque and 3 for lobster salad.

Will order when the snow-storms slack-off.

Sue Ellen