Maine Lobster Roll with Whole Lobsters
- Six 1 1/4-pound Maine lobsters
- 1 cup plus 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 6 New England-style hot dog buns
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 ounces lemon juice
- 6 leaves romaine lettuce
- 6 lemon wedges, for serving
- Prepared a large ice bath.
- Fill a high-sided pot with a lid with 3 gallons water, then mix in 1 cup of the salt and bring to a rolling boil.
- Place the lobsters in the boiling water and cover the pot with the lid.
- Cook the lobsters for 8 minutes, and then remove them from the water and cool down the lobsters in the prepared ice bath.
- To remove the meat, pull the tail off of the body and break off the rear tail fins.
- Pull the tail meat out of the body-end of the tail using a fork.
- (The tail meat may not be totally opaque white like the claw meat will be.
- That is OK, it is properly cooked and in order for the tail to be tender it needs to be slightly less cooked than the claw meat).
- Cut the lobster tail into large chunks.
- Next, pull the bottom part of each claw directly down detaching it from the claw; if done correctly this will remove the cartilage from the claws.
- Then crack the claws and remove the meat.
- To remove the knuckle pieces, separate the sections and use a lobster pick to remove the pieces.
- Finally, remove the legs and line them up with the claws facing you.
- Cover with plastic wrap and use a rolling pin to push the leg meat out starting at the claws and rolling away from you.
- Repeat for the remaining lobsters.
- Heat a griddle or saute pan over high heat until it begins to smoke and then turn the heat down to medium-high.
- Spread some butter on both sides of each hot dog bun.
- Toast the buns on the hot griddle until golden brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side.
- Once toasted, remove from the heat and split the buns open, and then hold for plating.
- In a bowl, combine the lobster, mayonnaise, remaining teaspoon of salt, the pepper and lemon juice, and gently mix to coat the lobster but not break up the meat.
- To plate the lobster roll, place one piece of the hot dog bun on the plate with a lettuce leaf on top.
- Spoon 4 1/2 ounces of lobster salad on top of the lettuce leaf and then top with the other side of the hot dog roll.
- Repeat for the remaining rolls, and serve each with a lemon wedge.
lobsters, salt, butter, new, mayonnaise, freshly ground black pepper, lemon juice, romaine lettuce, lemon wedges
Taken from www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robert-irvine/maine-lobster-roll-with-whole-lobsters.html (may not work)