Rule of thumb: Any recipe that calls for chicken stock or veal stock when you're trying to make Lobster Bisque is full of the wrong liquids! Lobster Bisque requires Lobster Stock!
I don't mind that my father's first cookbook called for chicken stock, but for Escoffier to call for veal stock is scandalous!
Fortunately, Jasper White has a good Lobster Stock recipe in his book 50 Chowders. He starts with splitting two pounds of lobster carcasses lengthwise and removing the head sac from each. He then puts the carcases and shells in an 8-qt. stockpot, covering them with water and bringing the whole mess to a boil. After skimming the skum off the water, he reduces the heat to a simmer, then adds a cup of white wine, another cup of chopped tomatoes with their juice, a couple of thinly sliced onions, two small carrots and two stalks celery (also thinly sliced), four crushed cloves of garlic, four fresh thyme sprigs, two bay leaves, a teaspoon of black pepper corns, and a quarter teaspoon of fennel seeds. This all simmers for about an hour, adding water if too much evaporates.
Salt the stock towards the end with salt, and taste. If it tastes rich enough, strain with a fine mesh strainer; otherwise, simmer for maybe twenty minutes longer. Chill the stock quickly, refrigerate or freeze.
Hey, simple! And it sure beats chicken stock for what I want to do!
On to finding out what I'm supposed to do with the stock once I've made it!