Chef notes
My version of the Connecticut lobster roll is just deliciously butter-soaked. Big, meaty pieces of warm lobster make it absolutely decadent.
Ingredients
- 2 (1¼- to 1½-pound) live Maine lobsters
- kosher salt
- 1¼ cups plus 1 tablespoon water, divided
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks), cut in to 1-inch cubes, plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/3 cup butter cracker crumbs
- 1/3 cup panko
- 2 pinches cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1 pinch granulated garlic
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 1 lemon, zested
- 4 potato hot dog buns
Preparation
1.Boil 6 quarts of water with 1/4 cup of salt. You can kill the lobster by turning them over and piercing about 3 inches in from the tip of the head before boiling them (so you don't boil them alive).
2.Boil the lobster for 5 minutes and place them on a cookie sheet to cool slightly.
3.While the lobster is cooling, start the butter sauce by boiling 1¼ cups water, and adding the butter all at once in a small saucepot. Once half the butter is melted, make a slurry with cornstarch and remaining tablespoon of water, and add it to the butter.
4.Make sure you use a whisk to stir the butter sauce right away after you add the cornstarch slurry.
5.Once the sauce is made, put it on lowest heat and reserve.
6.Make the toasted breadcrumbs by putting the crackers and panko in the food processor, and pulse until they are all broken down to same size as the panko.
7.Add 2 pinches of kosher salt, cayenne, paprika and granulated garlic to the crackers, and toast it dry in a sauté pan. Once they are toasted golden brown, take it off the heat and toss it with extra-virgin olive oil, chopped parsley and the lemon zest. Reserve on the side.
8.Once the lobster is cooled enough for you to handle, remove the meat from the shells.
9.Twist the tail off, along with the two claws, you can reserve the body and shells in the freezer to make lobster stock later.
10.Cut the lobster tail meat in to 8 pieces, claw meats in to 4 pieces, and place them in the butter sauce.
11.While the lobster is warming in the butter sauce, lightly toast the buns with butter by opening the buns and toasting the insides of the bun.
12.Place the lobster, equally divided, into 4 buns and top it with the toasted breadcrumbs. Serve warm immediately.
