If This Pan's a Rockin' Don't Come a Knockin'

While visiting Washington, DC, I took the rare opportunity of being near a body of water to eat as much seafood as possible: crab cakes, lobster, and Blue Point Oysters.



I enjoyed it so much that upon my return to landlocked Lubbock, I tried to recreate the lobster roll experience. Step 1: Procure a lobster.

The only way to go is buying a live lobster and boiling it yourself. Apparently the super cheap lobster I'd read about in the northeast ($5/lb lobster) had not made it's way to Lubbock ($17/lb). I wanted to feed lobster rolls to the whole family, so the price made me gulp. I decided to buy one live lobster and a couple of cheaper tails.

So I finished my shopping and drove home with a live, iced-down, lobster in tow. It was a little unnerving. He didn't say much, but I think his styrofoam ride rocked to and fro a couple of times. There was the requisite play time before dinner.





I put Lobby into the freezer to numb him before cooking. I was glad my brothers-in-law were there, because when the moment of truth came, I was squeamish about dropping a live lobster into a pot of boiling water. The deed was done. Lobby boiled for a few minutes until he turned bright red and started to float.



Into an ice bath, and then Mom and I (mostly Mom) started cracking shells to extract lobster meat. I avoided helping with that arduous task by making homemade mayonnaise, following an Alton Brown recipe.



Once the lobster meat was extracted and chopped, it was a cinch to mix it with the homemade mayonnaise and some diced celery. We toasted hot dog buns in butter, filled them with lobster, and plated the lobster rolls alongside a green salad.



If not for the high price per pound and time-consuming process of extracting the meat from the lobster, this would be a meal I'd eat regularly! And I guess there's that whole ick factor of boiling a living creature... If that deters you, you might want to try Vegan Lobster (trust me, you want to follow that link).

Watch the video "How To Make Your Own Lobster Roll."