After London’s first “Lobster Revolution” in 2011/2012 we are now firmly entering a second wave of hedonistic shellfish eateries popping up all over town. Take-away dive-kitchens like Smack Lobster, Lobster Shack and Lobster Kitchen happily mingling with debaucherous spots like Burger & Lobster. Who said Surf and Turf is dead!
Having been a long time fan of B&L’s lobster brioche roll and recently being slightly put off by the long queues and seemingly endless supply of Chinese travel groups (they don’t call it “shrimp of the dragon” for no reason) I decided it was time to make my own!
Got me and Mark some lobster tails from Waitrose …
Boiled them for 10-15 minutes, which was probably a bit too long as I feel they ended up a tiny bit dry – in hindsight a mix of different parts of the lobster would have been a good idea to get a bit more fat going. The claws come to mind …
Also sourced some very basic brioche buns and brushed them with melted butter. They were a bit on the small side but looked fine before I squeezed them into the sandwich maker for about 2-3 minutes.
When the buns came out they were quite flat but perfectly crisp. I admit that the reduction in volume was unintentional, but I quite liked the way they looked. It also had the rather nice side effect of practically “sealing” the surface and stopping the buns from getting soggy.
Before filling the buuns I briefly pan fried the chopped lobster tails in lightly salted butter, added a tiny bit of real egg mayonnaise and a table spoon of crème fraîche. To top it off I used a generous amount of cayenne pepper and a sprinkle of finely chopped chives. Some recipes suggested finely chopped celery but I insisted on a purist approach.
The final result! A mini Lobster Roll! A Lobster Slider?! Anyways, fucking delicious!!
As mentioned above, next time I would probably use a combination of lobster meats instead of just relying on the tails. I am also not 100% sure about the need of crème fraîche in addition to mayonnaise. Adding it to the warm lobster makes things a bit runny and drippy. Overall very good result though, and if it wasn’t for the pretty hefty price tag an easily repeatable and quick dinner!
Oh yeah, needless to say we had french fries and cold beer with this!
