Years ago, on a little island off the coast of Marblehead, Massachusetts, a friend’s aunt showed me how to eat a lobster, including the fine art of sucking the tender meat and juice out of the spindly legs.
It was July, when lobsters are in season, and we had a huge pot of them for our gang. Aunt Judy then explained that one makes lobster bisque from the leftover shells.
I still recall my astonishment. How could something so delicious come from boiled shells?
While New England has its summer lobster season, we in Northern California have our winter Dungeness crab season. In anticipation of making stock for seafood bisques and stews, I have been collecting our leftover shells from each crab feast and freezing them.
Making seafood stock is similar to making chicken stock; it takes time and attention, and the final result makes it worth the effort. Best to do on a weekend afternoon. Make a big batch and freeze what you don’t need!
How to Make Shellfish Stock
PrintIngredients
- 4-6 cups shellfish shells, from shrimp, lobster, and/or crab
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced or chopped
- 1 carrot, roughly sliced or chopped
- 1 celery stalk, roughly sliced or chopped
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- Several sprigs parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- 10-15 whole peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons salt
Method
1 Break up larger pieces of shell: Break thick shells (lobster or crab) into smaller pieces by putting in a sealed, thick plastic bag and either rolling with a rolling pin or hitting with a meat hammer to crush.
Cut up thinner shrimp shells with a chef's knife. Don't crush or cut too small. You can even skip this step if you want, if you are already dealing with broken up shell pieces (like cracked crab).
2 Roast shells (optional): Place in a large roasting pan and roast at 400°F for 10 minutes (this step you can skip, but it greatly enhances the flavor).
3 Cover shells with water and heat to not quite a simmer: Put the shells in a large stock pot and add enough water to cover the shells with an inch of water. Heat the water on high. As soon as you see that little bubbles are starting to come up to the surface, reduce the heat to medium.
Do not let the water boil! You want to maintain the temperature at just at the edge of a simmer (around 180°F), where the bubbles just occasionally come up to the surface.
Do not stir the shells! Stirring will muddy up the stock.
Skim the foam. As the bubbles come up to the surface a film of foam will develop on the surface. Use a large metal spoon to skim away this foam. Let the shells cook like this for about an hour; skim the foam every few minutes. The foam comes from shells releasing impurities as their temperature increases.
4 Add the wine, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, herbs, peppercorns: Once the stock has stopped releasing foam, add the wine, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, parsley, thyme, and peppercorns.
Bring to a low simmer and reduce heat so that the stock continues to barely simmer, but not boil, for 30 minutes. If more foam comes to the surface, skim it off.
Add salt and remove from heat.
5 Strain through a lined sieve: Use tongs, a large slotted spoon, or a spider strainer to lift out and remove most of the solids from the stock. (Later put in a plastic bag and put outside in the trash! Shellfish shells have a way of stinking up a kitchen.)
Dampen a few layers of cheesecloth and place over a large, fine mesh strainer, over a large pot or bowl.
Pour the stock into the strainer. Either use the stock right away, or cool for future use.
If you aren't going to use in a couple of days, freeze (remember to leave some headroom at the top of your freezer container for the liquid to expand as it freezes.)
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Links:
Williams-Sonoma Mastering Soups and Stews - great book for cooking techniques. I got the basic method for this shellfish stock from this book.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
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I have this cooling down on the stove right now and used shrimp, lobster and crab shells. It smells delicious and I can’t wait to use it for bisque or chowder! I’m so glad I ran across your recipe because I make shellfish often but never thought of making my own stock with all the shells. My adult children are coming for Christmas and will be ecstatic to have home made lobster/crab bisque!
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Hey loved that you mentioned the quaint town of Marblehead MA where I grew up but I’m wondering what island you are talking about? I’m in Louisiana now and looked up your recipe for my oodles of shrimp shells. I think it would add needed flavor to shrimp scampi
Hi Elise,
Great recipe!
Just a question, and it might be a silly one. What if you have already cooked shells? Can you use these? Would you need more or less? Since they’re already cooked, would you skip the initial 10 minute cook in the oven?
Thanks again!
Kind regards
Mark
I save shrimp shells in a ziplock bag in the freezer until I have enough. Then I freeze the stock in 1/2 cup portions. I use it in recipes like seafood enchiladas and fish pies, and to make Asian noodle bowls. Really wish I had access to crab or lobster shells, too, but it comes out very tasty with just the shrimp.
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How long would you cook this in a pressure cooker? I have an Instant Pot.