Crawfish Bisque

Published on May 29, 2023 | By
Crawfish Bisque

Making crawfish bisque is a labor of love and a team effort.

Unless you live in Louisiana, it is doubtful that you can source the ingredients needed, especially the crawfish heads, and you may not appreciate the effort that one must put forth to create this revered dish. Crawfish bisque is rarely found in restaurants. Rather, it is a treasured passed down family recipe and family and friend cooking and eating experience.

I was honored to receive an original recipe from a friends 90 year old mother who lived in New Iberia in Cajun country. Kinta Oubre Dautreuil was still stuffing heads and making bisque at 90 years of age. I used her recipe as a basic guideline and researched other recipes from Leon Soniat, Tom Fitzmorris and other home cooks that were willing to share their techniques and secrets. The recipe below reflects years of trial and error, cooking, tasting and testing. Any recipe can always stand to be improved. However, I feel that I have reached something close to perfection with the crawfish bisque recipe that I am sharing.

The recipe below appears to be daunting. However, if you think of it in parts, and make it a little at a time, it is possible. You will not be disappointed.

  1. Seafood stock, preferably shrimp stock. Refer to my Sur le Plat shrimp stock recipe.
  2. 100 -125 cleaned crawfish heads. Can freeze in large zip loc bags after cleaning
  3. 4-1lb bags of cleaned crawfish tails
  4. crawfish stuffing for heads
  5. basic roux and gumbo like soup or bisque

My daughter Maggie and her husband Devin and Gayden and I recently gathered one evening for the annual ritual of making crawfish bisque. Our family team stuffed over 100 heads and made a deep dark roux in two cast iron pots for the bisque. Once the crawfish tails were added ad the bisque allowed to simmer for an hour, we placed a dollop of steaming rice in the center of each bowl. This was followed by ladles of the soupy aromatic crawfish filled bisque. Finally, we floated the spicy stuffed heads in the broth. When we sat at the table to enjoy the fruits of our labor, there was first only silence and then quiet moaning as we tasted the goodness and the complexity of flavors from the tips of our tongues to the bottom of our feet. Ahhhh,  the sacred crawfish bisque.

Until next year…..bon appetit!

 

    • Prep Time
    • Minutes
    • Cook Time
    • Minutes

Ingredients

  • Stuffing for 100 cleaned heads:
  • 3 cups stale french bread, soaked in warm stock or water until soft.
  • 6 TBSP butter
  • 2 onions, chopped finely
  • 1 cup celery
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
  • 4 TBSP parsley, chopped
  • 2 lbs crawfish
  • 2 tsp thyme
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne or to taste
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • For stuffed heads: Egg yolks water plain bread crumbs or flour
  • For bisque:
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, minced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 bunch of green onions
  • 2 lbs crawfish tails
  • crawfish fat
  • 3 quarts stock
  • 3 TBSP parsley, chopped
  • 2 TBSP tomato paste
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 TBSP thyme
  • pinch of cayenne
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet, melt butter. Cook chopped veggies over medium to low heat. Can also use 1 container of chopped creole seasoning. Cook slowly until wilted and soft.
  2. While veggies are cooking, pulse crawfish tails in a food processor until roughly chopped. Do not over process.
  3. Add minced or pressed garlic and green onions to the sautéed veggies and continue cooking.
  4. Add remainder of herbs and spices and combine with cooked seasonings. Place chopped crawfish tails and moist bread in a large bowl. Add cooked seasonings.
  5. Fold all ingredients together to create the stuffing. Use a small spoon or whatever works to stuff each head. This recipe assumes that you have about 100 cleaned crawfish heads ready for stuffing. Place stuffed heads on a sheet pan. Once heads are stuffed, make an egg wash with egg yolks and water. Whisk or use a fork to combine eggs and water. Dip each head in egg wash then roll in bread crumbs or flour and place on sheet pan to dry.
  6. You can freeze the stuffed heads at this point or bake them to use with bisque.
  7. To bake stuffed heads: Heat oven to 350. Bake stuffed heads for 30 minutes until browned and warmed through. Some people prefer to lightly pan fry the heads in a little oil until browned and warm. Set aside until ready to add to bisque.
  8. To make bisque: ( can adjust size of roux and amount of stock depending on how many people you intend to serve) 11/2 cups oil 1/1/2 cups flour ( add more flour if roux seems too thin)
  9. Use a heavy cast iron Dutch oven to make a dark roux with flour and oil. Add chopped seasoning, except garlic, to browned roux. Sauté until soft.
  10. Add minced garlic. Slowly add hot shrimp stock to the roux and veggie mixture. Stir or whisk well to combine. Whisk in tomato paste.
  11. Add bayleaf, thyme, cayenne, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until bisque becomes thicker and flavors are more concentrated. You don’t want it to be too thick. Better if a little soupier.
  12. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Taste and adjust seasoning. If you have any crawfish fat add this now. Add parsley and chopped green onions before serving.
  13. To serve, place warm stuffed heads in deep bowl with a dollop of cooked rice. Ladle hot bisque over rice and heads. Can sprinkle with a little more parsley and chopped green onions in each bowl before serving. Serve immediately.
  • Servings : 8 servings of bisque with 6-8 stuffed heads/person. Extra stuffed heads can be frozen.
  • Recipe Type : , ,
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