This recipe has good proportions, but the method is a little off. Melt the sugar first, let it lightly caramelize, then add the butter. I can see where people were having problems because I had it too; my butter started burning before the sugar could emulsify. You'd think I'd remember the proper way to make toffee after going to school for baking.

Reviewed On: Oct. 6, 2008

I think this was a great base recipe; I don't know whether or not I did something wrong but initially the soup tasted very bland after I was finished making it, so I tweaked it just a little. I used all of the ingredients, except the egg yolks, which I compromised and just used 2 (each). For the fish stock I used Kitchen Basics (excellent company for stocks, btw) Seafood stock. Before the last step I pureed the celery and green onions with an immersion blender as suggested by other users. Towards the end I added about 5 drops of lime juice (I don't know if that did anything but my boyfriend doesn't like a strong fishy flavor so adding some probably didn't hurt), about a teaspoon of cayenne (we like our bisque spicy), about 5 drops of Worcestershire , OH and I ended up adding about 2 teaspoons of this very thick marinara I had a made a few days ago, so I suggest using a little bit of tomato paste. Then the bisque was a little watery so I had to add a slurry made with about a tablespoon of cornstarch. This ended up making an excellent bisque, with almost a dip-like consistency.

Reviewed On: Mar. 2, 2008