7/09/00

Dave Frary
BBQ List
Sausage List
dave@mrscenery.com

Lobster Recipes

With all the talk on the list about lobsters I thought some of you 
might like to try my favorite way to prepare them.

I've been catching and selling lobsters, on and off, since I was 12 
years old. I've tried every way imaginable to cook them. I'm lucky 
because I get to experiment with the "junk lobsters (culls and 
buffalos)" that are hard to sell. If you don't have excess to fresh 
lobsters from a fish market or if you live "way inland", wait till 
your supermarket has a lobster special and try to buy them the first 
day they go on sale.


Lobsters on the grill

1-1/2 Live lobsters (one per person if served with salad, chowder, 
cornbread, etc.)
Olive oil
Garlic - chopped fine
Ritz crackers
Butter
Parsley - chopped fine
Tin foil

Make garlic oil by sweating several cloves of minced garlic in 1/4 
cup (or more depending on the number of lobsters) in the olive oil.

In a small bowl make the "stuffing" (this is not really a stuffing in 
the classic sense - it's just a mechanism to hold the juices and the 
flavor in the lobster, and to prevent them from drying out). Mix 
together a cup or so of crushed Ritz crackers, 2 TBS melted butter 
and the parsley.

Start a medium hot fire on one side of your grill.

Put the lobsters on their backs and using a sharp knife, split the 
lobsters from head to toe. Do not cut all the way through. Remove the 
rubber bands and with the back of a knife crack the claws. This is 
best done outdoors on the picnic table. It can get messy.

Open the lobster and remove the liver, roe, and other guts and mix it 
into the Ritz cracker stuffing. Reach into the head, behind the eyes, 
and remove the grit sack and discard.

Put several tablespoons of the stuffing back into the stomach cavity 
and in the split in the tail.

Brush the entire lobster inside and out (brush all of the shell, it 
will help to keep it from burning) with plenty of the garlic oil. Be 
sure to force a little of the oil into the cracks in the claws.

Put the lobsters on the hot side of the grill, split side up, for 
about 10 minutes (you'll see it's juices start to bubble) and then 
move them off the direct heat and cook for another 10 minutes or so 
until the tail meat looses its translucent look. Like most grilling 
the object here is to NOT let them dry out, overcook, or let the 
shells burn too badly.

After about 20 minutes remove the lobsters and wrap each one in foil 
and put in a cooler (without the ice) for another 20 minutes, or 
longer, or until you're ready to eat. By wrapping the lobsters then 
setting them aside you're allowing the juices to redistribute and for 
the stuffing to "set-up".

This is a no-fail recipe - the secret is the wrapping and holding the 
lobsters for at least 20 minutes.

I've made these when we had 35 people to feed - The lobsters were 
grilled 2 hours ahead and they were still warm and juicy when removed 
from the cooler and served.
Have fun.

Dave
Night Train Smokers
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7/09/00

Lobster Sausage

The wholesale price of lobster hit bottom this week ($2.50/pound - no 
supply or demand) so it was time to take 25 lobsters home to make 
ravioli and sausages. At the end of a 3 hour session we made 11 dozen 
ravioli and 4 dozen 4" sausages. Enough to fill a shelf of the 
freezer. I used the recipes from Jasper White's book "Lobster at 
Home" with a few changes.

Both ravioli and sausage use the same forcemeat filling -- once I 
made a batch of filling I could use it for both.

I'm saving the shells to make lobster stock tomorrow. This involves 
roasting the shells in a hot oven (just like making beef or veal 
stock) and then simmering them with tomatoes, leeks, wine, saffron, 
and a few other things for several hours. The stock is great as a 
base for chowder or fish stew, and as a light broth to serve the 
ravioli's in.

All the talk recently about salt cod reminded me of my favorite 
childhood treat, fish cakes and beans on Friday nights. My mother 
would soak the salt cod for several days, then shredded it with onion 
and mixed the whole mess with leftover mashed potatoes. She made 
patties, rolled them in cornmeal and fried them in butter or bacon 
grease. Yum!  I still have several of the wooden boxes with the 
sliding lid that the cod came in.

There are still a few diners along the north coast of Massachusetts 
that feature fish cakes of Fridays.

I'm still experimenting with turkey, cranberry and stuffing sausage. 
Anyone have any ideas?

Good health,
Dave

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7/09/00

Lobster Sausage
Lobster Ravioli

For those who asked about my recipe for lobster sausage here's the one I used last week.
I'm always trying different ones so it's a crap shoot from batch to batch -- but this one
tasted great when I made it last summer.

This force meat recipe is also great for stuffing home made ravioli.

This recipe is from Jasper White's book "Lobster at Home". If you like lobster and New
England-style cooking you'll love this book. There's not a "bad" recipe in it.


>>Lobster Forcemeat #1

4 live l-pound chicken lobsters or
4 pounds other live lobsters, or
1 pound fully cooked lobster meat

8 ounces peeled and deveined fresh shrimp, fresh scallops or frozen peeled shrimp
1 small carrot (2 ounces), finely diced
1 rib celery (2 ounces), peeled and finely diced
small red bell pepper (1-1/2 ounces), finely diced
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large egg white
1 bunch chives (1 ounce), finely chopped
6 tablespoons dried white bread crumbs
kosher or sea salt
freshly ground black pepper or cayenne pepper (pinch)

1. If using live lobster, steam or boil them. Let cool at room temperature. Use a cleaver to
crack and remove the meat from the claws, knuckles and tails. Pick all the meat from the
carcass and remove all meat from the walking legs. Remove the cartilage from the claws
and the intestine from the tail. Cut the lobster meat into 1/2-inch chunks. Add the
tomalley to the meat. If there is any roe, finely chop it and add it to the meat as well.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
2. If using shrimp, check to see that there are no fragments of shell and that they are
cleanly deveined. If using scallops, pick them over, looking for pieces of shell as you
remove the strap, the stringy little hard piece of flesh on the side of the scallop. Cover
with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

3. Combine the carrot, celery and red pepper with the butter in the smallest pot you have.
Place the pot over low to medium heat and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. The vegetables should
be cooked but still have a little crunch. Remove from the heat and let cool to room
temperature.

4. Puree the shrimp or scallops and egg white in a food processor until very smooth. Put
the puree in a mixing bowl. Fold in the room-temperature vegetable mixture. Add the
chives, diced lobster and bread crumbs. Gently mix and season to taste with salt, pepper
and cayenne.

Makes 2 pounds

COOK'S NOTE: When making this forcemeat for sausage, you will want to have the
sausage casings and equipment ready to go. It is essential that you make the sausages
immediately after the forcemeat is prepared, because it sets very firmly and quickly,
making it difficult to work with if allowed to sit. For other uses, the forcemeat should be
refrigerated. <<

I cut the lobster pieces by hand so they're just large enough to fit through my hand
operated stuffer. I also added more lobster meat and a little more butter to the forcemeat.
Stuff the casings and use within 3 days or freeze for later use. I like them poached and
then grilled.

Have fun!
Dave
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8/01/02

I've been in the lobster business on and off for almost 50 years (12 
to 62) and in all that time I've only caught thirty 5 lb., or more, 
lobsters. All the really big lobsters (anything over 5 pounds) you 
see in fish markets or as center pieces in Las Vegas buffets are 
either caught way off shore on the edge of the continental shelf, or 
by draggers, that use roller drags, and catch everything that moves 
on the bottom of the sea. And the draggers are exempt from most of 
the rules that lobstermen have to live by. Some big lobsters also are 
a by-product of gill netting for cod and flounder. They get tangled 
in the nets.

In Maine and Massachusetts any lobster with a carapace (body shell) 
longer than 5" has to be thrown back for breeding stock. That 
eliminates us from selling the larger lobsters. When I make lobster 
sausage I use the equivalent weight of smaller lobsters.

Back on topic - sales pitch - all the super markets around here are 
now having their lobster specials. It's a great time to grill a few 
lobsters:
Split them down the middle
Crack the claws
Brush with a garlic infused oil/butter mixture
Grill shell side down until the meat turns from translucent to white
Brush with more garlic infused oil/butter mixture
Wrap in foil and store for at least 20 minutes in a dry cooler (just 
like brisket) so the juices will redistribute and the tomalley sets.
Unwrap, eat and enjoy

Dave
-- 
Dave Frary
Night Train Smokers
Salem, Massachusetts, USA
==

~~Dave Fray follow up on 11/03/02 to grinding lobster for sausage and ravioli.~~ 

I like the food processor because I can control the chunk size of the meat. My grinder attachment for the KA only came with 3 discs, and all have holes that I think are too small except if you're making hot dogs. I did use the KA a lot before I knew about how other folks made sausage and what equipment was available. One time it took me all-day to make some lobster sausage and after passing the meat through the KA it turned to mush. Now I hand chop lobster meat.
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I mix equal parts mustard flour and powered milk when making sausage. 
The milk acts like a binder to hold the juices in the sausage. Give 
it a try.

Dave
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I want to thank Mr. Bigwheel for posting his recipe for "Bigwheel's 
Genuine (not for yankees) Texas Hotlinks".

Being a yankee I naturally broke the rules. On Sunday I made about 8 
pounds of these sausages (with only a few yankee-type changes to the 
recipe -- a little sugar, less red pepper and salt, and Bass Ale 
instead of beer) and immediately ran out into the snow, fired up my 
grill, and cooked 2 of these to see how they tasted. Wow! A great 
taste that doesn't need mustard or sauce to help it out. This recipe 
is a keeper.

The local supermarkets are having a price war and pork shoulders were 
.59 cents per pound (I bought a bunch and froze all but one). I used 
my food processor to pulse the pork into a coarse "grind" that I 
prefer and stuffed the casings with a hand pump-type stuffer. All in 
all it took less than an hour to make them. All but the two I ate are 
resting in the refrigerator to "age" and ripen till I freeze them. If 
it wasn't so damned cold outside I'd try cold smoking a few.

YANKEE FRIENDLY VERSION -- Bigwheel's Genuine Texas Hotlinks.

6-7 lbs. Boston Butt (I started with an 8.5 pound shoulder and 
removed the skin and bone. I diced the meat and fat, and pulsed it in 
a food processor until it looked like a coarse grind)
1 bottle beer (Bass Ale)
2 T. coarse ground black pepper
1 T. sugar
2 T. Hungarian Paprika
1 T. Tender Quick
1 T. Kosher Salt
1 T. Whole Mustard Seeds
1/4 cup minced fresh garlic (about 8 fat garlic cloves, minced)
1 T. granulated garlic
1 T. MSG
1 t. ground bay leaves
1 t. crushed red pepper
1 t. Cayenne
1 t. whole anise seeds (I used fennel seeds because I couldn't find 
the anise seeds)
1 t. coriander
1 t. ground thyme

Preparation;
Mix all the spices, cure, and garlic into the beer and place in refrigerator
while you cut up the meat to fit in the grinder. Pour the spiced beer over
the meat and mix well. Run meat and spice mixture through the fine plate and
mix again. Stuff into medium hog casings. Smoke or slow grill till they are
done. Wrap in a piece of bread and slap on the mustard heavy. Bob Wills
music and Lone Star Beer on the side.

Dave
-- 

-
Dave Frary, Blue Ribbon Models, The Trackside Modeler, and Model 
Railroad Resources, Inc., P.O. Box 333,  Swampscott, MA  01907-3333, 
U.S.A.
Model railroads, train displays, movie props, and museum dioramas - 
http://www.mrscenery.com 