Chef notes
Nothing says summer — or early summer — like a lobster roll. It's luxurious and somehow, it's also soul-satisfying. I recall going to a shore in Maine as a kid and stopping on the side of the road for a lobster roll or at a walk-up window. This recipe brings me right back there every time I taste it.
Swap options: Shrimp or crab in lieu of lobster.
Ingredients
- 2 (1¼- to 1½-pound) live Maine lobsters
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced (2 tablespoons of juice)
- 1/4 cup finely diced celery
- 10 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 cup Kewpie mayo
- 4 potato hot dog buns
- melted butter, as needed
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 and cool in the refrigerator.
3.Once the lobsters are cooled, remove the meat from the shell by twisting the tail off, along with the two claws. If you press the tail down with the palm of your hands, you can crack the shells or you can use scissors to cut along the outer edge of the tail to free the meat. You can reserve the body and shells in the freezer to make lobster stock later.
4.Once the meat has been picked, chop it into 1/2-inch pieces and toss it with everything except the buns and the butter, and keep it chilled.
5.Open the buns and toast the insides of the bun with little bit of butter.
6.Evenly distribute the lobster into the 4 buns and serve immediately.
