First, we all know the lobster sauce which too often
is handed round as an accompaniment to some boiled
fish, such as turbot or brill. It consists simply of
melted butter, with small pieces of lobster — some white,
some pink — cut up in it ; but as to the hquid sauce
itself, it does not contain even the slightest flavour of
lobster whatever. On the other hand, good lobster
sauce is of a bright red colour, and tasting so strongly
of lobster that it is too often apt to overpower the
flavour of the fish entirely. Yet this latter has probably
been made out of exactly the same materials as the
former. What, then, is the difference ? Simply this :
In the one case all the flavour of the lobster has been
extracted, and in the other it has not. Cutting up
the meat of a lobster and putting the pieces into melted
butter is no more making lobster sauce than cutting up
a calf’s head and throwing the pieces into boding -water
would be making mock-turtle soup.
We will suppose, now, the very ordinary case of
some lobster sauce being required for a small party,
KITCHEN ECONOMY.
21
say eight persons ; the ordinary method being for a
lobster to be ordered, the white part of the meat cut up
and put into some melted butter, while the pickings,
so called, generally make a tit-bit at the kitchen supper,
with the usual accompaniment of at least a pint of
vinegar. Now, what is the difficulty ? First, even a
small lobster is amply sufficient to supply sauce for
double the number. Everyone who has eyes, and
knows how to use them, must have observed how in-
variably it is the case that in small households fish
sauce of any description is always made in gigantic
proportions. We have seen melted butter of the con-
sistency of a pudding brought up for four persons, in
quantity sufficient for the table d'hote at the Grand
Hotel in Paris. Make up your mind, therefore, as
follows : — Order a moderate-sized lobster, and have
a dish of lobster cutlets as an entree in addition to the
sauce for the fish.
Now, there are few prettier dishes than lobster
cutlets, and few easier to make, yet how rarely is it
met with in small households !
First, get a lobster containing some spawn and coral.
Cut open the lobster and remove the whole of the meat,
including that in the claws, and cut it up into small
pieces, and put it on a plate and place it in a cool place,
to be used as we shall explain by-and-by. Next take
the spawn and coral and place it in a mortar with about
twice the quantity of butter, and pound it well together,
adding a good pinch of cayenne pepper. You will by
this means obtain what is called lobster butter, and
without it it is impossible to make either good lobster
sauce, or patties, or cutlets, or bisque — the latter being,
in other words, lobster soup.
This lobster butter has a strong lobster flavour,
and is of an exceedingly brilliant colour. It will keep
a long time, and good cooks should always try to
22
PRACTICAL HOME COOKERY.
✪ Lobster Sauce
Page 8 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1906. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
First, we all know the lobster sauce which too often is handed round as an accompaniment to some boiled fish, such as turbot or brill. It consists simply of melted butter, with small pieces of lobster — some white, some pink — cut up in it ; but as to the hquid sauce itself, it does not contain even the slightest flavour of lobster whatever. On the other hand, good lobster sauce is of a bright red colour, and tasting so strongly of lobster that it is too often apt to overpower the flavour of the fish entirely. Yet this latter has probably been made out of exactly the same materials as the former. What, then, is the difference ? Simply this : In the one case all the flavour of the lobster has been extracted, and in the other it has not. Cutting up the meat of a lobster and putting the pieces into melted butter is no more making lobster sauce than cutting up a calf’s head and throwing the pieces into boiling water would be making mock-turtle soup.
We will suppose, now, the very ordinary case of some lobster sauce being required for a small party,
say eight persons ; the ordinary method being for a lobster to be ordered, the white part of the meat cut up and put into some melted butter, while the pickings, so called, generally make a tit-bit at the kitchen supper, with the usual accompaniment of at least a pint of vinegar. Now, what is the difficulty ? First, even a small lobster is amply sufficient to supply sauce for double the number. Everyone who has eyes, and knows how to use them, must have observed how invariably it is the case that in small households fish sauce of any description is always made in gigantic proportions. We have seen melted butter of the consistency of a pudding brought up for four persons, in quantity sufficient for the table d'hote at the Grand Hotel in Paris. Make up your mind, therefore, as follows : — Order a moderate-sized lobster, and have a dish of lobster cutlets as an entree in addition to the sauce for the fish.
Now, there are few prettier dishes than lobster cutlets, and few easier to make, yet how rarely is it met with in small households !
First, get a lobster containing some spawn and coral. Cut open the lobster and remove the whole of the meat, including that in the claws, and cut it up into small pieces, and put it on a plate and place it in a cool place, to be used as we shall explain by-and-by. Next take the spawn and coral and place it in a mortar with about twice the quantity of butter, and pound it well together, adding a good pinch of cayenne pepper. You will by this means obtain what is called lobster butter, and without it it is impossible to make either good lobster sauce, or patties, or cutlets, or bisque — the latter being, in other words, lobster soup.
This lobster butter has a strong lobster flavour, and is of an exceedingly brilliant colour. It will keep a long time, and good cooks should always try to
Records on this page
Lobster Sauce