Editor's Blog0 min ago
Lobster
29 Answers
Has anyone here bought live lobsters and cooked them?
I fancy doing Lobster Thermidor.
I fancy doing Lobster Thermidor.
Answers
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NoM
Hope things are not too bad for you......and keep the chin up - those good memories etc.
Anyway I promised to get back to you as to a recipe:
Here we are:
Ingredients:
3 tbsp salt
4 tsp white wine vinegar
4x 1kg/ live lobsters (I prefer 1.25 to 1.5)
200ml/7fl oz white wine
8 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
400ml/14fl oz good fish stock
300ml/10½fl oz double cream, about 150 ml for a roux
Flour
4 tsp Dijon mustard
80g/3oz cheddar, grated
2 medium free-range egg yolks, lightly beaten
salt and freshly ground black pepper
chipotle or chilli
any herbs but to include thyme, (lemon if you can get it) and tarragon
Preparation method
1.Bring a very large pan of water to the boil and add the salt and the white wine vinegar.
2.Plunge the lobsters into the boiling water. Return to the boil and cook for five minutes for lobsters of this size. (You will probably need to cook the lobsters in two batches). Remove the lobsters from the water and leave to cool.
3.Meanwhile, in a clean pan, boil the white wine with the shallots until the wine has reduced to about two teaspoons.
4.Add the fish stock and boil again until the liquid has reduced to almost nothing. Add the herbs
5. Make a small amount of white roux, mainly using the cream over the milk
6.Add 200ml/7fl oz of the cream and the mustard, bring back close to the boil and simmer until that roux has taken.
7.Add the cheddar and whisk until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, chilli and chipotle pepper then leave to cool.
8.Mix the white wine sauce in to the sauce (a marriage made in heaven)
9.Preheat the oven to 230C/445F/Gas 8 (or heat the grill to its highest setting).
10.Add the egg yolks to the cooled cheese sauce and mix well.
11.Whip the remaining 100ml/3½fl oz of cream in a clean bowl, until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed.
12.Fold the cream into the thermidor sauce.
13.Remove the claws from each cooled lobster, crack them with a sharp, heavy knife and take out the claw meat, preferably in one piece.
14.Cut each body in half lengthways by inserting the point of a knife in the head and pushing it with the palm of your hand down the length of each lobster. Remove the meat from the tails and cut it into four pieces.
15.Place the tail meat into a bowl and add a little of the thermidor sauce. Mix well, then spoon the tail meat and thermidor sauce mixture into the empty tails of the lobster halves.
16.Place the meat from the claws into the head section of each lobster half.
17.Spoon equal amounts of the remaining thermidor sauce over the lobster meat, then place the lobster halves onto baking sheets. Transfer to the oven to roast for 10-15 minutes, until the sauce topping is golden-brown and bubbling. (Alternatively you can place the sauce-coated lobsters under the grill to cook for 4-5 minutes, or until bubbling and golden-brown.)
17.Serve immediately with a big white or even a chilled Pinot Noir......
Hope things are not too bad for you......and keep the chin up - those good memories etc.
Anyway I promised to get back to you as to a recipe:
Here we are:
Ingredients:
3 tbsp salt
4 tsp white wine vinegar
4x 1kg/ live lobsters (I prefer 1.25 to 1.5)
200ml/7fl oz white wine
8 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
400ml/14fl oz good fish stock
300ml/10½fl oz double cream, about 150 ml for a roux
Flour
4 tsp Dijon mustard
80g/3oz cheddar, grated
2 medium free-range egg yolks, lightly beaten
salt and freshly ground black pepper
chipotle or chilli
any herbs but to include thyme, (lemon if you can get it) and tarragon
Preparation method
1.Bring a very large pan of water to the boil and add the salt and the white wine vinegar.
2.Plunge the lobsters into the boiling water. Return to the boil and cook for five minutes for lobsters of this size. (You will probably need to cook the lobsters in two batches). Remove the lobsters from the water and leave to cool.
3.Meanwhile, in a clean pan, boil the white wine with the shallots until the wine has reduced to about two teaspoons.
4.Add the fish stock and boil again until the liquid has reduced to almost nothing. Add the herbs
5. Make a small amount of white roux, mainly using the cream over the milk
6.Add 200ml/7fl oz of the cream and the mustard, bring back close to the boil and simmer until that roux has taken.
7.Add the cheddar and whisk until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, chilli and chipotle pepper then leave to cool.
8.Mix the white wine sauce in to the sauce (a marriage made in heaven)
9.Preheat the oven to 230C/445F/Gas 8 (or heat the grill to its highest setting).
10.Add the egg yolks to the cooled cheese sauce and mix well.
11.Whip the remaining 100ml/3½fl oz of cream in a clean bowl, until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed.
12.Fold the cream into the thermidor sauce.
13.Remove the claws from each cooled lobster, crack them with a sharp, heavy knife and take out the claw meat, preferably in one piece.
14.Cut each body in half lengthways by inserting the point of a knife in the head and pushing it with the palm of your hand down the length of each lobster. Remove the meat from the tails and cut it into four pieces.
15.Place the tail meat into a bowl and add a little of the thermidor sauce. Mix well, then spoon the tail meat and thermidor sauce mixture into the empty tails of the lobster halves.
16.Place the meat from the claws into the head section of each lobster half.
17.Spoon equal amounts of the remaining thermidor sauce over the lobster meat, then place the lobster halves onto baking sheets. Transfer to the oven to roast for 10-15 minutes, until the sauce topping is golden-brown and bubbling. (Alternatively you can place the sauce-coated lobsters under the grill to cook for 4-5 minutes, or until bubbling and golden-brown.)
17.Serve immediately with a big white or even a chilled Pinot Noir......
Plunging live lobsters into boiling water is so cruel. The humane way to do it is a sharp knife to the back of where the neck would be. I think there are videos on the internet about the correct way to do it. I remember Gordon Ramsay demonstrating it on TV. Quick and as humane as possible. Boiling a live chicken, sheep or any other animal for consumption would be outlawed. I don`t see why lobsters shouldn`t have the same consideration.
I'm all conflicted about lobster-killing. I love fresh shellfish - but these are critters that live as long as us, if we leave them alone - somehow the whole boiling-them-live thing is cruel. I think what I'm saying is, if they were fluffy there'd be an outcry against it, but as they are not in our image we can handle them cruelly.
And I'm a pisces, so, fellow-feeling etc.
And I'm a pisces, so, fellow-feeling etc.
Its the way I rend to treat them 237 but one must also put things in context, a Lobster's brain is about the size of a thumb nail, if that, and has no cerebellum and is there geared at primary functions only.
There is an intermediate and that is put them in a freezer for ten to fifteen minutes and it stuns them. If you do get the infamous screaming, it is only the release of pressure through the head plate....
There is an intermediate and that is put them in a freezer for ten to fifteen minutes and it stuns them. If you do get the infamous screaming, it is only the release of pressure through the head plate....
Surely, if they have a nervous system they feel pain. Yes, I remember the "screaming". I used to work in a pub as a teenager and I remember seeing them put in the pot. As you say, the screaming is just air being released apparently. Using a quick sharp knife stab in the back of the neck area is so effective I can`t really see any point in doing it any other way. Maybe people are too squeamish to do that but by bottling out, the lobster gets boiled alive which isn`t nice. If they are stunned by being frozen, surely that effect will wear off pretty quickly when they are plunged into the water. They won`t stay stunned.
Wouldn't think any more by having a massive chunk of forged steel driven through your skull and into your brain, then slicing your spinal cord in two.
Personally, I don't wince at it - they are so simple in terms of nerve systems, boil them, split them, and be done with it, steaming, drawn butter, thermidor - they taste so good when fresh.
Personally, I don't wince at it - they are so simple in terms of nerve systems, boil them, split them, and be done with it, steaming, drawn butter, thermidor - they taste so good when fresh.
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