CopyRight @ 1998
This is one of the tastiest ways to prepare lobster and it makes it go pretty far. This was my "Recipe of the Year" a while back.
Prepare the lobster tails as described in the Lobster Preparation page. You make this with pre-cooked tail meat. Take the meat all the way out of the shell. Make sure to remove the main vein. Trim off the outer skin of the tail, as much as reasonable.
This recipe is sized using 1 lobster tail. It would be fine for 4 people. Adjust as appropriate. This recipe also requires butter, milk, cream, oregano, bay leaves, sherry, tomato soup, and a Surgeon Generals release form regarding the estimated cholesterol content.
In a pan, put 2 cans Campbell's Tomato Soup and between 2 and 3 cans of milk. Put in some oregano and about 10 whole bay leaves. Add in 3 tablespoons of butter and start it all heating.
Now, you have to cut the tail up as finely as possible. Cut it across the grain with a real sharp knife. Add all of this to the pan.
This leads to a key point about this dish. You have cut up the lobster into a bunch of fine fiber. It makes a great insulator. This means that anytime you are heating the bisque, even on low heat, it must be stirred or it will tend to burn on the bottom of the pan.
So just keep the stove pretty hot and stir. When it gets close to a boil, pour in a cup of cream and maybe an ounce of sherry. Keep stirring as it trys to boil. Cook it perhaps a minute at boil and let it cool.
Now comes the hard part. Let it cool and put it in the refrigerator. Lobster bisque is twice as good the second day as the first. The bay leaves have added their flavor by then and everything has come together. I actually do always make it the day before. It is so much better. Again, stir it when heating or it will burn.
Serve it with French bread. Parmesan cheese really helps it.