Lobster Bisque

Bar Harbor Lobster Bisque

There are few soups more elegant than lobster bisque. These days most bisques are prepared just like any other cream soup, but actually traditional bisques are thickened with rice, which gives a distinctly different texture than the flour-thickened versions. I’ve had wonderful lobster bisques around the country, but my favorite has always been from Maine. Perhaps there is just something about the partaking of the fragrant bisque in the gorgeous Maine countryside.


Serves 6 to 8


1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
½ bunch parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2-pound lobster
4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely diced
1 leek, quartered, rinsed, and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3 tablespoons brandy
½ cup white rice, uncooked
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt to taste
Cayenne pepper, for garnish
4 tablespoons minced chives

Place 8 cups cold water in a pot with sliced onion, carrots, celery, parsley,
salt and black peppercorns and thyme. Bring to a boil and place lobster in pot. Cover and boil for 20 minutes. Remove lobster from pot and set aside to cool. Strain the cooking liquid and set aside. When lobster is cool, remove meat from shell and claws, chop meat into bite-size pieces and set aside. Break up the shells and claws into small pieces. Place in a food processor fitted with the steel chopping blade. Chop the shell and reserve.

Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed pot and sauté the onion for several minutes. Add the leek, carrot, and celery and continue to sauté for 6 minutes. Add the lobster shells and brandy, and cook for 5 minutes longer. Pour in 5 cups of the reserved lobster broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes. Add the rice and salt and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, or until rice is thoroughly cooked. Remove pot from the heat and blend batches of the bisque in a blender or food processor and pass through a fine strainer. Return strained bisque to the cleaned pot and add cream. Heat until very hot, but not boiling. Add chopped lobster meat and a pinch of nutmeg. Gently simmer for 10 minutes longer. Adjust seasonings. Bisque may be served right away or reheated later. Garnish the bisque with a very light dusting of cayenne and sprinkle in the chives.