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Maine Lobster Roll

Cook Time30 minutes
Assembly Time5 minutes
Total Time35 minutes
Course: Main Course, Sandwiches
Cuisine: American, Seafood
Keyword: Lobster, Lobster Roll, Maine, Roll
Servings: 4 sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Lobster meat cooked (see notes)
  • 2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup Celery, chopped optional
  • Leaf lettuce optional

Instructions

  • Chunk the lobster meat and chill it for at least an hour.
  • Fold the mayonnaise into the lobster meat, and add the celery if desired.
  • Butter and grill four frankfurter rolls (what the rest of the country calls a New England roll, a split hot dog bun having flat sides).
  • If tesired, add one leaf of lettuce to the roll.
  • Stuff the roll with the lobster meat mixture and serve.

Notes

  1. Try your best to avoid using frozen raw lobster.
  2. Get the freshest live lobster possible, less than about 72 hours after it was landed on the lobster boat. If you're not near any lobstermen, your best bet is to have live lobster overnighted from the coast. If it's been in a tank for a while, especially a tank that doesn't contain real seawater, it's not worth it. Check the color of the shell and make sure when you squeeze the sides there's a little bit of "give".
  3. If the live lobster has to sit at all before cooking, ensure that it's in well-salted clean room-temperature water for as short a time as possible.
  4. Cook the live lobster quickly using the time-honored methods of lobstermen or people in those fishing areas. Here are the two simplest methods as published in a 1964 local cookbook:

    Do You Boil It Or Steam It?

    As far as I am concerned, “you takes [sic] your choice.” Either method is satisfactory, although I feel that steaming is preferable: there’s not as much water to drain out of the lobster when it comes out of the pot, and the meat texture seems firmer yet more tender … For boiling you need enough water (sea water if possible, otherwise well-salted water) for complete immersion. The water should be boiling briskly when you dunk the lobsters headfirst. When the water comes back to a boil let them cook for about 15 minutes. Take them out and put them on their backs to drain. Then serve them hot, with lots of melted butter … For steaming you need only an inch of water in the pot, and when you have a good head of steam drop them in and give them about 18 minutes of cooking. (A nice touch: put in ½ cup of sherry. The flavor and sweetness of the meat will be enhanced considerably.) Simple, isn’t it? And in my opinion, about as fine a way as there is to enjoy the full, true flavor and succulent meat of a Maine lobster. [Roux, William C. What’s Cooking Down In Maine. The Bond Wheelwright Co., 1964. p. 3 – 4.]
  5. Either enjoy it immediately, or pick the meat immediately and chill it for making lobster rolls.

  6. If making lobster rolls, make sure to use the correct bun. In New England it's called a Frankfurter Bun (above, right, compared to hot dog buns at a Hannaford grocery in Maine), but in the rest of the country it's generally known as a New England Roll (below, in a Piggly Wiggly in southeastern Ohio).