A classic French bisque is made with broth from shellfish — either crab, lobster, shrimp, or crayfish — although thick, cream-based vegetable soups are often also called bisques. Originally, a bisque was thickened not with cream but with rice and the ground shells of crustaceans. The word bisque, "crayfish soup" in French, stems either from the Bay of Biscay or the technique of bis cuites, or "twice cooked."