Ruddock Crawfish Bisque a taste of the swamp

Louisiana produces some of the best food around, with one of my faves being crawfish bisque. The intense effort into this dish, nostalgic connection, and rich, unique flavor, is definitely a labor of love.

Ruddock Roots

From Spring to Fall, I always remember visiting friends’ fish camps around Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain. I came for the camaraderie, and stayed for the incredible food. Fish camps just happen to serve the best swamp cuisine.

One of my favorite spots was Ruddock, an old, long-gone logging town south of Manchac. There’s only an Interstate 55 exit sign to mark it’s location, and locals know the area well. Fish camps dot the canals from Ruddock to Manchac Pass.

Crawfish boils were commonplace on weekends we visited the camps. Cold beer and spicy bugs was all that we needed to get the party started. The leftovers from these boils were not wasted.

Enter Ruddock Crawfish Bisque.

Crawfish Bisque

When you ask any chef about a crawfish bisque, most describe it as a luxurious, velvety, creamy soup with deep crawfish flavor, built on a rich roux.

It’s thickened by puréed shells and rice, featuring tender crawfish meat and stuffed heads, balancing buttery richness with tangy hot sauce and aromatics for a complex, celebratory dish that’s labor-intensive but pure indulgence.

Common ingredients for crawfish bisque include the “Holy Trinity” of onion, celery, and bell pepper, garlic, butter or oil, flour, mudbug tails, rich stock (often homemade from crawfish shells), tomato paste, heavy cream, Cajun seasoning, and fresh green onions for garnish, often served over a dome of rice.

This is a damn good recipe for leftover crawfish from a party boil.

This bisque definitely falls into the Grillax lifestyle and I hope you will find time this year to enjoy this for yourself.

Ruddock Crawfish Bisque

Crawfish boils were commonplace on weekends we visited the camps. Cold beer and spicy bugs was all that we needed to get the party started. But the leftovers from these boils were not wasted.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Cajun, NOLA, Southern

Servings 6 people

Calories 600 kcal

Ingredients

  

Crawfish Stock

• 4-5 pounds Boiled crawfish
• 10 c Water

Stuffed Crawfish Heads

• 50-60 Crawfish heads
• 1 Stick salted butter
• 1 1/2 c Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 pound Crawfish tails peeled
• 1 Sweet onion finely chopped
• 1 Bell pepper finely chopped
• 2 Celery stalks finely chopped
• 1 T Garlic paste
• 1/4 c Green onions chopped
• Slap ya Mama seasoning to taste
• 1 Egg beaten

Bisque

• 1/2 c Vegetable oil
• 2/3 c All-purpose flour
• 1 Sweet onion finely chopped
• 1 Bell pepper finely chopped
• 2 Celery stalks finely chopped
• 1 T Garlic paste
• 1/3 c Chopped green onions
• 1/4 c Tomato paste
• 8 c Crawfish stock (see above)
• 1 t Onion powder
• 1 t Curry powder (sweet)
• Slap ya Mama seasoning to taste
• 1 T Liquid crab boil
• Remaining crawfish tails
• Fresh parsley to garnish
• White rice for serving
• 2 c Heavy cream

Instructions

 

Stock

• Peel all of the crawfish; reserve the heads, peelings, and tail meat in separate bowls.
• Remove cartilage and claws from the heads and add it to the rest of the peelings.
• Reserve empty heads and tail meat.
• Add peelings and claws into a large stock pot.
• Pour in 10-12 cups of water.
• Bring to a boil.
• Lower heat to a simmer.
• Simmer for about 1 hour.
• Skim off foam from the top of stock then drain stock into a bowl.
• Discard peelings and claws.
• Pour stock through fine-meshed strainer. Reserve stock and set aside.

Stuffed Crawfish Heads

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Rinse empty crawfish heads well; pat dry and set aside.
• In a food processor, finely chop the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, and green onions.
• Melt butter in a pan and sauté the veggie mix for 5 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
• Add 2 pounds of crawfish tails into a food processor and blend until the tails are finely chopped. Do not create a paste.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the veggie/butter mix, finely chopped crawfish tails, and breadcrumbs.
• Mix well.
• Taste and add Slap Ya Mama as needed.
• Stir in the beaten egg.
• Add stuffing into a piping bag and fill each empty crawfish heads with the stuffing.
• Place stuffed heads on a parchment paper or aluminum foil lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 30 minutes.

Bisque

• Add onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, and green onions into a food processor and blend until finely chopped
• Heat oil in a heavy-bottom stock pot. (cast iron preferable)
• When oil is hot (medium-high), whisk in flour to make the roux and stir constantly.
• Continue stirring until the roux is the color of peanut butter, or for a richer flavor, the color of Nutella.
• Add in finely chopped vegetables.
• Sauté for 5 minutes.
• Stir in tomato paste until well combined.
• Pour in the reserved crawfish stock, stir, and bring to a simmer.
• Add remaining crawfish tails in the liquid crab boil. Add crawfish tails to the pot.
• Stir in onion, curry and garlic powders.
• Add heavy cream and gently stir.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes to thicken.
• Add stuffed crawfish heads.
• Continue to simmer for 10-20 more minutes.
• Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.
• Serve over a warm white-rice dome and garnish with fresh, chopped green onions.

Keyword bisque, crawfish, crawfish bisque, louisiana, seafood, swamp