lobster rolls

[Roux]

Super Bowl Sunday. and I'm going to try to make lobster rolls. "Try" because I've never made them before.

Kenji says that sous vide is the way to cook lobster:

If buttery, tender, sweet poached flavor is what you're after, there's no better way to cook it. It's better than the best steamed or boiled lobster you've ever tasted. How much better? If I were in the mood for writing in hyperbolic tropes, I'd tell you that it's [insert arbitrarily large number here] times better. But, if I'm being honest, it's a lot better than boiled lobster, significantly better than steamed lobster, and plain old better than roasted lobster (see this post for more on those techniques). It's also a heck of a lot more foolproof than any of those methods, and affords the opportunity to infuse that lobster meat with extra flavor. Think: lobster with the butter built right into it. Doesn't that sound swell?

Who am I to argue with Kenji López-Alt? Here's what I've done so far:



Costco



Following the recipe linked above



Boil the tails for a minute, the claws for 5 minutes



Into ice bath after the boiling



Getting the lobster out of the shell sucked. Obviously I don't know the right technique.



Ready to sous vide.


We'll eat at halftime, more pics later.

[Roux]

Ok, wow. Wife says that this was one of the best things I've ever made, and our guests were going on and on about it as well. Absolutely will be doing this again. And it may be the best use of sous vide that I've experienced.

Just a few more pics. This is right after coming out of 130° sous vide for 40 minutes.



The green on the right is chives and tarragon.



It doesn't look pretty. But damn was it good.


This is what I made the sauce with, really because that's what I had. Big squirt of mayo, small squirt of mustard, seasonings, and some squeeze of lemons.

[mvscal]

Looks like you did it the hard way. Crab mallets make short work of claws. You can put flat skewers through the tail. That will keep them from curling and make the easier to remove from the shell after cooking...which only takes a few minutes under the broiler instead of two hours in the toilet tank.

[Roux]

In the 2nd pic you can see that I put skewers in the tails.

And surely there are techniques to cleaning lobster from shells that I don't know, but wish that I did. It took me awhile.

I've done lobster on the grill, boiled, baked, broiled, and steamed. But none of those methods produced anything close to sous vide. Best use of sous vide that I've experienced, it really was phenomenal.

At some point in the not too distant future, I'll make a lobster bisque, or something similar. Maybe a bisque and a steak for surf and turf for my birthday next month.

[Mikey]

How’s your cholesterol?

Just wondering because I have familial hypercholesterolemia and have to watch my intake even though I’m on several meds.

[Roux]

I'm ok. Is it 200 you're supposed to be under? Not sure. But I've been tested many times, including preop for my recent surgery, and I'm ok. Which is amazing I guess, considering that I eat whatever I feel like eating.

Do lobsters have cholesterol? I have no idea.

[mvscal]

Do lobsters have cholesterol? I have no idea.

Yeah, relatively high-ish.

[Mikey]

Shellfish has some cholesterol, but dietary cholesterol isn't generally what's going to make your cholesterol rise. Your liver produces cholesterol from saturated and trans fats, and refined carbs (cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour, etc.). Everything is OK in moderation.

[Rootbeer]

I ate a lobster roll in the club level seats at Coors Field. It was good. $28, I think. Probably don't need to do that again.

[Mikey]

Do they sell any Coors beer at Coors Field? I’m pretty sure that they don’t sell any Petco products at Petco Park. If they do I’m not going to try it.