New England lobster roll
Maine-style cold lobster salad in a toasted split-top bun
From Kittery to Bar Harbor, roadside lobster shacks on the Maine coast serve this every summer: big chunks of sweet lobster meat, barely dressed with mayonnaise, lemon and celery, piled into a hot-dog bun toasted in butter. Over the border in Connecticut they serve it warm with melted butter instead, and both camps think the other is wrong. Chef's tip: dress the lobster lightly, just enough to gloss it; the meat should be the star, not the mayonnaise.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 2 live lobstersabout 700 g each, or 450 g cooked lobster meat
- 4 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 celery stickvery finely diced
- 1 tbsp chivessnipped
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1 ⅜ oz buttersoft
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Bring a very large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Check the 2 live lobsters are alive and moving; don't cook any that are dead. Chill them in the freezer for 20 minutes to make them drowsy.
25 minStep 2: Plunge the lobsters head first into the boiling water, cover and cook for 9–10 minutes from when the water returns to the boil. They are done when the shells are bright red and an antenna pulls out easily.
12 minStep 3: Lift into a bowl of iced water for 5 minutes, then twist off the claws and tails. Crack them, pull out the meat, remove the dark vein from the tail, and cut into 2 cm chunks. Chill.
20 minStep 4: Mix the 4 tbsp mayonnaise, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1 celery stick, 1 tbsp chives, ¼ tsp salt and 1 pinch black pepper and fold through the lobster. A common mistake is chopping the meat small and drowning it in dressing, which makes it taste like any seafood salad.
3 minStep 5: Spread the flat sides of the 4 split-top hot-dog buns or soft finger rolls with 1 ⅜ oz butter and toast them in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 1–2 minutes a side, until golden and crisp.
4 minStep 6: Line each bun with 4 butter lettuce leaves if using, pile in the lobster and eat straight away, with crisps and a pickle. Keep any leftover lobster in the fridge and eat within a day.
2 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 420 kcal
- Protein
- 28 g
- Carbs
- 30 g
- Fat
- 21 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does new England lobster roll take?
- About 50 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of lemon juice?
- Lime juice, same amount.
- What can I use instead of celery stick?
- Fennel, same weight.
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