Crawfish season on the Gulf Coast runs deep, and few dishes show it off like crawfish bisque. The team at Kitchen on George, the restaurant at 351A George Street in Mobile’s Oakleigh neighborhood, shared its full recipe — including the traditional stuffed crawfish heads that crown each bowl.
The bisque starts with a peanut-butter-colored roux built from a cup of vegetable oil and a cup of flour, stirred carefully so it never burns. Diced yellow onion, red and green bell pepper and celery go in next, cooked soft before three quarts of crawfish stock are added. The pot simmers for an hour, then two pounds of crawfish tails go in for ten final minutes, finished with sliced green onions and parsley.
The signature garnish takes more work. Finely chopped crawfish tails are sautéed with butter, onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic and stock, bound with beaten egg and panko, then packed into cleaned crawfish heads. The stuffed heads are dredged in seasoned flour, dipped in egg wash and coated in panko before frying until golden brown.
Kitchen on George serves dinner Monday through Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.