Rouse Does Bisque Business Paying Attention to Details

You can hear it in the way Craig Rouse speaks as he lays out the recipe sheet for Scott’s Seafood Grill’s Dungeness crab bisque--attention to detail.

The recipe looks simple--and it is--but there are several ways to make it ordinary. There is only one way to make it memorable. Rouse opts for the latter and won’t let you get past the first step without some direct tutelage: It’s not just butter, but clarified butter.

“There’s less fat and less water in clarified butter,” he said, “so it accepts the flour better when you’re making a roux. It makes it nice and smooth instead of getting lumpy, and if you need to you can hold it in the refrigerator forever.”

Not that you’ll want to. If your gustatory imagination is up to snuff, you’ll want to get on with it and produce this wonderful bisque as quickly as possible. But, said Rouse, the executive sous chef at Scott’s Costa Mesa restaurant, don’t rush. Deliberation carries the day.

The marinara sauce, for instance. The store-bought variety is fine, Rouse said, but try to find a chunky variety “for the added character.” Likewise, supermarket chicken broth also is fine, but to give it an extra kick, add a Knorr chicken broth cube for each can of broth you use.

Cook this soup for a while, Rouse said. This ensures that you’ll “cook out the flavor of the flour. It takes a while, but you won’t be able to taste that starchy taste in your mouth.”

Finally, said Rouse, the cream. If you’re planning to serve all of the bisque at one sitting, or within a day or so, add all the cream to the pot during cooking. If you plan to save the bisque for a while, add the cream in proportional dollops to whatever quantity you’re heating up. The bisque without the cream “has a longer shelf life,” Rouse said.

“This bisque is always on our menu,” said Rouse, 30, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy. “It’s easy. Any soup, really, is easy to make. I love soups. They’re the best.”

He’s also a fan of the sweet-spicy traditions of Cajun, Louisiana and Southwestern cuisine. “It seems like everything I do comes down to that spicy-sweet combination,” he said. “That’s the way I tend to lean.”

This bisque is a good example.

DUNGENESS CRAB

BISQUE

1/3 cup clarified butter

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 clove garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon dried sweet basil

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

1/8 teaspoon thyme

1/4 pound flour

4 cups rich chicken stock

1/8 cup sherry

1/8 cup brandy

1 cup marinara sauce

1/2 pound Dungeness crab meat

1/2 cup heavy cream

*

Saute onions, garlic, basil, cayenne pepper, black pepper, bay leaf and thyme in butter until onions are translucent. Add flour, stir and cook for two minutes. Add chicken stock and stir until thick and smooth. Add brandy, sherry, marinara sauce and crab meat. Cook 20 minutes at medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Skim any scum that accumulates during the cooking process. Add cream and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Adjust thickness with chicken stock. If marinara sauce is too strong, add more cream. Makes eight to 10 servings.

Patrick Mott is a free-lance writer who regularly contributes to The Times Orange County Edition.