Pascal Breant cooked this lobster for our shoot at Wooloomooloo Prime in Hong Kong in January 2014. He chose it as a fresh, festive dish for the New Year: clean, crisp flavors after the heavy dining of the Christmas period.
The lobster is cooked gently in a water bath at 60 °C, then served chilled over baby Cos lettuce in a sour cream aioli, with caviar on the claw meat.
Ingredients
Method
- Put the lobster in the freezer for 20–30 minutes so it is still and sluggish.
- Lay it on a board and push the tip of the heavy knife firmly down through the cross-shaped mark behind the head, then bring the blade down through the head.
- Twist off the claws, then twist the tail away from the head.
- Bring a large pot of water with the 2 tbsp of salt to a rolling boil.
- Boil the claws for 5 minutes, then plunge them into the iced water.
- Boil the tail for 1½ minutes, then plunge it into the iced water; the meat will still be raw in the centre.
- Cut along the underside of the tail shell with scissors and pull the tail meat out in one piece; remove the dark vein.
- Crack the claws and knuckles and pull out the meat, keeping the claw meat whole if you can; it is fully cooked.
- Heat a saucepan of salted water to 60°C (140°F) over the lowest heat, checking with the thermometer.
- Slide in the tail meat and keep the water at 60–62°C (140–144°F) for 8–10 minutes, turning the heat on and off as needed, until the meat is opaque and just firm.
- Lift the tail into the iced water for 2 minutes, then drain it, pat it dry and refrigerate it with the claw meat for at least 20 minutes.
- Cut a cross in the base of the tomato, dip it in boiling water for 15 seconds, then into the iced water, and peel it.
- Quarter the tomato, scrape out the seeds and cut the flesh into small dice.
- Mix the sour cream, tomato, garlic, mustard and sherry vinegar in this order, and season with salt and pepper.
- Cut the lettuces lengthwise into quarters, rinse and pat dry.
- Spread the aioli on two chilled plates and lay the lettuce in it.
- Slice the tail into medallions and arrange them on the lettuce with the claw meat.
- Top the claw meat with the caviar and serve cold.
- For the aioli, combine the sour cream, tomato concassé, minced garlic, Dijon mustard, sherry vinegar, salt and pepper in this order and mix well.
- Cook the lobster in a water bath at 60 °C for 8–10 minutes, then chill it.
- Cut the baby Cos lettuce and place it in the aioli, with the chilled lobster on top.
- Garnish the lobster claw meat with the caviar.
What we changed for home
- Water bath at 60°C (140°F) made in a saucepan on the lowest heat, checked with a thermometer, for the tail meat only A circulator holds the temperature by itself; a saucepan needs a thermometer and an occasional nudge of the heat, but gives the same tender, just-set meat.
- Lobster killed, then split into tail and claws before cooking; claws boiled for 5 minutes Claws are thicker and in a hard shell, so they need longer than the tail. A quick blanch loosens the raw tail meat from the shell so it can be poached on its own.
- Brittany lobster replaced with any live lobster of 600–700 g Blue Brittany (European) lobster is sold mainly in France and the UK. American and Canadian lobster cook the same way.
- Aioli doubled, 'one drop' of sherry vinegar given as ¼ tsp 50 g of sour cream dresses only a few leaves; the list's quantities serve one.
- Baby Cos read as Little Gem lettuce Little Gem is the baby Cos (romaine) sold in most supermarkets.
- Caviar can be replaced with trout or salmon roe Sturgeon caviar is expensive and not always in stock; trout roe gives the same salty pop.
The dish in the photograph was cooked by the restaurant for this story. Photo: Oleksandr Slyadnyev.
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