Crab Bisque (April 2005) - original recipe by Barry L. Kramer

Preparation time: 30-45 minutes preparing ingredients and initial cooking.
Cooking time: two additional hours of simmering, stirring every 10-15 minutes.
10 on a scale of 1 to 10. This is really amazing.

3/4 to 1 lb. crabmeat - claw meat or lump crabmeat
about 5 to 8 medium shrimp, deveined, raw, whole with shells
small, whole inner stalk of celery
1/4 t thyme - fresh preferred, but dried is okay
1 t Minor's chicken base, or powdered chicken bullion
1 medium size cooking onion, finely chopped or minced
1/2 t minced or freshly crushed garlic
6 T butter (a little less than 1 stick). You can probably use a bit less if desired.
3 T Wondra flour
1 1/2 C half and half
1 C light cream
2 t tomato paste
1/4 t cayenne pepper (slightly less if the pepper is very fresh; this is not a hot/spicy recipe)
1 T worchestershire sauce - I use Lea & Perrins
1/2 C dry cocktail sherry, a cheap one such as "Fairbanks" (do not use cooking wine as it is too salty)
1 T brandy
1 t Hungarian sweet paprika
1 t salt
pinch of fine ground black pepper

1. Carefully pick through crabmeat, removing shells. Claw meat has less shells and is good here.

2. Make seafood broth by combining the following:

6 C water
1 T crabmeat
5 to 8 medium shrimp, deveined, raw, whole with shells
one small, whole inner stalk of celery
1/4 t thyme
1 t Minor's chicken base, or powdered chicken bullion
Boil these together. When shrimp are pink and cooked, remove them from liquid. Shell the shrimp, put shells back in the liquid. Chop about 5 shrimp into pieces to include in bisque; reserve until step 4. Eat the rest as an appetizer.
Continue boiling, moderately, uncovered, until liquid is reduced to 1 C to 1 1/4 C.
Strain liquid into measuring cup; discard strained solids.
Note: instead of shrimp, a whole lobster would probably be excellent, but I didn't have one available.

3. In small shallow frying pan, sautee chopped onion with 1/2 t garlic in 2 T butter until it is very soft, stirring frequently; do not brown. Add a little water if needed. When done, cover to keep warm.

4. Simultaneously, in another small shallow frying pan, sautee crab with shrimp (previously reserved) in 2 T butter. Sautee until cooked, stirring occasionally; do not brown. Cover to keep warm.

5. In saucepan, slowly heat 1 1/2 C half and half, and 1 C light cream together until hot. Do not boil.

6. Locate a 6 quart cooking pot with tight fitting lid that will hold the final recipe. Melt 2 T butter in this pot and then whisk in 3 T Wondra flour, adding gradually. At first it will be creamy when flour is whisked in, and later it will become flaky. If you reduce butter, do it in the other steps, not here.

7. As soon as all the flour has been whisked into the butter, whisk in the heated cream mixture, then quickly add all of the remaining ingredients (repeated here for convenience) and the reserved items (crab/shrimp, onion/garlic, hot seafood broth) and stir well:

2 t tomato paste
1/4 t cayenne pepper (don't omit but use less if you want it less spicy or if it is very fresh)
1 T worchestershire sauce
1/2 C dry cocktail sherry
1 T brandy
1 t Hungarian sweet paprika
1 t salt (for some tastes, it needs a bit more, possibly 2 t)
pinch of fine ground black pepper

8. When mixed, cover and simmer carefully without boiling, on very low heat for two more hours. Stir well every 10 to 15 minutes, stirring and checking much more frequently at the beginning to make sure the heat is not too high. Mixture should be steaming but never or just *barely* boiling, otherwise it will stick. If it sticks, reduce heat or stir more often. Note that simmering is primarily to enhance flavor and kill the harshness (which will happen suddenly after about 90 minutes), NOT to reduce the liquid.

Reheats extremely well in microwave, but you must cook it for only 10 seconds at a time, then stir, repeating 10 seconds at a time until hot. Do not boil it when reheating!

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