Crawfish Bisque Like Your Maw-Maw Makes
Jun 20th, 2008 by Nola
I cannot say enough how much I like love crawfish bisque. It may well be my all-time favorite dish. Growing up, my mother never made it, not once. The first time I had it was at my best friend’s aunt’s. That bowl set the bar very high. My grandmother would make it every couple of years. Maybe. Sometimes less. The reason you see it so infrequently is that, done correctly, it takes a lot of time. All together, it probably takes a full day to prepare.
First, you need to boil crawfish. Then pick them. Then clean the heads. Cleaning the heads is the worst part of preparing this dish to me. Not because it is as gross as it sounds (it isn’t much more weird than peeling the tails) but because you have to snip off the noses of the crawfish. This rips my fingers to shreds. Here’s what four look like cleaned and ready to be stuffed:
Only 146 more to go. Yes, the recipe I use (from Marcelle Bienvenu’s “Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic and Can You Make A Roux? A Family Album Cookbook” –great title, eh?) calls for 150 stuffed heads. That’s a lot of heads! Now, the next step is to stuff said heads. To do that, you chop bell peppers, celery, onions, garlic, and crawfish tails and mix that together with stale french bread crumbs. You then mix in more tails you did not chop and saute in oil with lots of salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper.
Cooling crawfish head stuffing.
Let the mixture cool. Then stuff the heads and roll them in a mixture of seasoned and plain breadcrumbs. They will look like this:
Bake them until golden brown in a 375° oven (about 20 minutes). At this stage, go crack a beer. And give yourself a high mark for Effort. You have come far and done well. You are clearly at the point of no return and the rest, as they say, is a cakewalk.
Okay. Now, the recipe calls for sauteing more crawfish tails (the recipe calls for a total of four pounds of crawfish tails) with salt, cayenne pepper and paprika. The recipe suggests 1 tablespoon of cayenne. That will blow my mouth apart. We used 1/2 tablespoon this time, and that seems juuust right. Then you add warm water and roux to the pot. Well, damn. If I hadn’t read ahead, I’d have been in a pinch because I make roux and don’t buy it. So before I get going on this step, I make that roux first so that I can add it without having to take my cooking pot off the stove.
Pontchartrain Pete doing the work of the sous chef.
In yet another pot, saute green peppers, onions and celery until they are tender then add them to the main pot along with more water. Cook vigorously for 2 minutes. Add more water and cook for 15 minutes at a lower heat. Then add green onions and parsley and let cook 10 minutes more. Use this time to also cook a pot of rice. Your hard work will be rewarded with a lush pot of this:
Everyone you know, and some you don’t, will invite themselves over for dinner. Seriously. It IS that good.
And the best thing is that this is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day after the flavors have had time to meld and relax. So leftovers are as decadent, if not more so, than the first eating.
Bon appetit!
hmmmmm can I come over??
stacey’s last blog post..Crash and Burns
As sous chef and primary taste-tester, can say it was pretty darn good, probably even better now it’s all melded together overnight. I would vouch that it is as good as my ma-ma made, but I don’t even remember her ever making it. Her specialties were chicken sauce piquant, shrimp stew and jambalaya.
Pontchartrain Pete’s last blog post..A Friday Lunch at Galatoire’s
Yep, my maw-maw made this 2x in my life, and I remember it well. Is that a Magnalite pot? You’re doin’ it rite!
Those peppers look beautiful – how can they even be real?
Moondance’s last blog post..Raw Milk
I’ve never had this dish. I can only imagine how delicious it is! I am duly impressed.
Charlotte’s last blog post..Flashback Friday: My Boo
Drooling….
Lanny’s last blog post..Extra Info
Seeing as how getting 150 crawfish to Chicago would be next to impossible (or so expensive, completely out of the question) I shall instead ask that you make this specialty next time I’m in town…..
I’m coming back home to Slidell in August. Can you make this again? And, um, invite me over? Thanks again for the recipe!
Sharon’s last blog post..I was nicer this time
No wonder you haven’t blogged all week–you’ve been in the kitchen!
wpmomof2′s last blog post..Today’s conversation
Do you ship north of the Mason-Dixon?
Ed (zoesdad)’s last blog post..I Don’t Do Anything…..
I’ve had it once. Apparently my grandma used to make it every year (back before she was a grandma). About 2 or 3 years ago, she decided to make it one last time. It was amazing. Of note though, she did use the ENTIRE crawfish head, not just the “neck”
Ryan’s last blog post..Food, Music, and History – My Idea
I can tell you this- I shipped crawfish to Colorado this week and just the shipping was $256! The recipient thought it was worth every penny.
I like anything with Paprika – heck, I’m hungarian! I will pass this to hubby and hope that one Sunday he ventures into this recipe!
mybayouvieux’s last blog post..Waveland Beach Day
Oh. baby. I think I need to visit New Orleans…but then I might never leave.
sigh…. you just made me homesick… deep sigh
Patrice’s last blog post..7 songs meme
Nette- who did you use to ship the crawfish to Colorado? I am a Slidellian transplanted to Fort Collins Colorado!
I want to host a live crawfish boil this fall!
Thanks,
Sean Sanchez
Real estate broker and investor
seanbuyshouses@msn.com
970-631-9041