Lobster Thermidor



Classic Lobster Thermidor.







 

 






















When I was a child, my older brother and I heard about Lobster Thermidor somewhere, I can’t remember where, but I do know that it became synonymous with ‘posh food’. We thought it hilarious to ask for it whenever we went out to eat at a restaurant. My parents would take us to the local ersatz Italian diner, and when the waiter would ask for our order, we would titter and say, “The Lobster Thermiodor please, Garcon’.

And so, to this day, the classic French dish holds a place of respect in my mind. I imagine it to be an insurmountable culinary feat, the cooking of which would be akin to a ‘Babette’s Feast’. I wonder, is this true, or is it just a glorified lobster mornay?

So what do I really know? Well, its’ go t a lobster in it, it’s gratinated and no doubt has lots of cream and probably brandy, but that’s it…so what better dish to kick off my weekly culinary challenges. This week I’m going to cook Lobster Thermidor.

The first task is to decide on which recipe to follow. There are hundreds, if not thousands out there, and at first glance I’m thinking, ‘This is going to be a cinch - cook lobster, cover in bechemal sauce, swiss cheese and grill! Then I happen upon the REAL recipes. The French recipes and I realize the obvious. This is classic French cuisine and it’s all about the sauce, and By God, what a sauce it is!

I decide on Julia Child's recipe, because I’ve never followed one of hers before, and I loved that movie ‘Julie and Julia’. I like to imagine Meryl Streep’s version of Julia Childs instructing me from the page as I read.

While making this dish, I REALLY wanted to stray from the recipe. It seemed too intense, too much butter, cream, too many over complicated stages, that could be skipped. But the aim of this exercise is to follow the master and learn. So I stuck it out…and this is how it goes (I’ve doctored the original recipe which was for 6 people down to fit a menu for 2)

Serves 2

Ingredients

Ingredients for a classic Lobster Thermidor.

large stainless steel stock pot with tight-fitting cover 

smaller stainless steel saucepan

Wooden spoon

Wire whip

mixing bowl

fry pan

Shallow roasting pan

1 cup dry white vermouth

1 cups water



1 onion , thinly sliced

1 medium carrot , thinly sliced

1 stalk celery , thinly sliced

6 sprigs parsley

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp. thyme

6 peppercorns

1 Tbsp. fresh or dried tarragon



1 live lobsters , 2 pounds

1/4 pound sliced fresh mushrooms

1 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. butter

4 Tbsp. flour

1 Tbsp. cream

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 egg yolks



1/4 cup whipping cream

3 to 4 Tbsp. more whipping cream

Pinch cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp. butter

1/3 cup cognac

1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese

1 Tbsp. butter , cut into bits

Directions

The stockpot.



Steaming the lobsters: Simmer vermouth, vegetables, herbs, and seasonings in the stock pot for 15 minutes. Then bring to a rolling boil and add the live lobster, head first to kill it instantly. Cover and boil for about 20 minutes. The lobster is done when it is bright red and the long head-feelers can be pulled from the sockets fairly easily.

While the lobster is steaming, stew the mushrooms slowly in the covered saucepan with the butter, lemon juice, and salt for 10 minutes.




when cooked the front feelers
can be removed with a gentle tug.

The sauce: When the lobster is done, remove them from the pot. Pour the mushroom cooking juices into the lobster steaming juices and boil down rapidly until liquid has reduced to about by half. Strain into a saucepan and bring to the simmer.

Cook the butter and flour slowly together a saucepan for 2 minutes without browning. Off heat, beat in the simmering lobster-cooking liquid. Boil, stirring, for 1 minute. Set aside. Film top of sauce with the cream.

Split the lobster in half lengthwise, keeping the shell halves intact. Discard sand sacks in the heads, and the intestinal tubes. Rub lobster coral and green matter through a fine sieve into the mixing bowl, and blend into it the mustard, egg yolk, cream, and pepper. Beat the sauce into this mixture by driblets.

Return the sauce to the pan, and stirring with a wooden spoon, bring it to the boil and boil slowly for 2 minutes. Thin out with tablespoons of cream. Sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon fairly heavily. Taste carefully for seasoning. Set aside, top filmed with a spoonful of cream.


pass coral and green matter through a sieve



Sautéing the lobster meat: Remove the meat from the lobster tail and claws, and cut it into 3/8-inch cubes. Set the fry-pan with the butter over moderate heat. When the butter foam begins to subside, stir in the lobster meat and sauté, stirring slowly, for about 5 minutes until the meat has turned a rosy color. Pour in the cognac and boil for a minute or two, shaking the skillet, until the liquid has reduced by half.


Final assembly: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Fold the cooked mushrooms and two thirds of the sauce into the skillet with the lobster meat. Arrange the split lobster shells in the roasting pan. Heap the lobster mixture into the shells; cover with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. The recipe may be prepared ahead up to this point and refrigerated.

Place in upper third of 425-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until lobster is bubbling and the top of the sauce is nicely browned. Serve immediately on a platter or serving plates.

I served it with trimmed green beans that had simply been blanched for a few minutes, and a simple wedge of lemon. We drank an Alsatian Cremant Rosé .

 Lobster Thermidor? Done.

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So, what did I learn and would I do it again?

I learnt something most good cooks will probably already know. A good sauce maketh a good dish, and a fabulous sauce maketh a fabulous dish. This sauce was precise and time consuming; it was a little like baking with a lot of precise measuring, timing and technique required. I enjoyed it. I find time in the kitchen therapeutic, almost like meditation. I forget about everything else and think only of the food I’m looking at. It quiets my mind.

So getting back to the question, I learnt that you must spend time on a sauce. I kept thinking “Who invented this?”  like the ‘mushrooms’ bit, I’d never have added mushroom cooking liquor to this sauce if I was ‘inventing’ it, but it worked so well, the sauce needed that ‘musty, earthy’ base note. I now want to spend some time learning more about  great French sauciers, they are like the wine masters of the kitchen.

I’m not sure I’ll be cooking this regularly, too many pots and pans, but yes I’d do it for a dinner party, or on request. Personally I like my lobster meat fresh and clean with a light dipping sauce or just a squeeze of lemon. I do love the steaming process I learnt here though, and I shall do that part regularly. The lobsters turn out beautifully cooked and the cooking liquor is the base for a fantastic soup or sauce. So that’s what I’ll take from this. I’ll steam my lobsters a la Julia Child's Thermidor recipe. Eat the lobster meat with a squeeze of lemon in a salad, or through a pasta or as part of a Fruits de la Mer platter; then use the liquor to make a lobster bisque, seafood soup or (along with the coral and green matter) make a fabulous seafood sauce to serve with fish or prawns!