Homard à la Palestine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 5-quart sauté pan with lid
• •Heavy 3-quart saucepan
• •Sturdy lobster crackers and kitchen shears
• •Heavy kitchen towel and mallet
• •Fine-mesh sieve with cheesecloth or muslin
• •Small covered saucepan and water-bath pan
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Large oval serving platter and warm sauceboat

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the foundations

   Have both portions of Mirepoix (No. 228), the fish fumet, and the fish velouté ready before the lobster meets the pan. Time the Riz Pilaff (No. 2255) to be hot when the sauce is finished. Blend the softened butter with the curry powder until its color is perfectly even, shape it into a small block, and chill it; cold curry butter forms a cleaner emulsion than warm butter.

2. 2

   Prepare the lobster

   Ask the fishmonger to dispatch and joint the lobster immediately before cooking, separating the tail into four thick sections, cracking the claws, and cutting the head and body into manageable pieces. Bring home every shell, leg, juice, and soft interior part over ice. Blot the shell pieces dry and season them lightly; wet shells spit when they meet hot butter.

   Never buy a lobster that has died before the fishmonger handles it. Once dispatched, keep it cold and cook it promptly.
3. 3

   Color the lobster

   Melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) of the plain butter in a wide covered sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the first Mirepoix (No. 228), let it become fragrant for 2 minutes, then add the lobster pieces and collected juices. Toss and turn them for 4 to 5 minutes, until the shells are vivid red and the butter carries a roasted shellfish aroma. Keep the heat lively without browning the butter.

4. 4

   Burn the brandy

   For the flambage (flaming the brandy), warm the Cognac in a small saucepan, then take it away from the burner. Turn off the extractor, keep a lid beside you, and ignite the Cognac with a long match, never from the bottle. Let the flame die, then pour the burnt brandy over the lobster. If it refuses to light, ça se rattrape: boil it briskly for 1 minute before adding it. Pour in the white wine and fish fumet, scraping the pan floor clean, then cover and cook at a lively but controlled simmer for 15 minutes. The shell should be scarlet and the thickest tail section should reach 145°F / 63°C.

5. 5

   Hold the meat

   Lift out the tail and claw sections. Crack them while still warm, withdraw the meat in the largest pieces possible, and return every empty shell to the head and body remains. Put the meat in a small covered saucepan with the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) plain butter. Hold the pan in a water bath kept between 140 and 150°F / 60 and 65°C; direct heat will make the lobster contract and turn rubbery. Remove the feathery gills and hard stomach sac from the body. If coral and creamy parts are present and local shellfish guidance permits their use, press them through a fine sieve and reserve them for the liaison.

6. 6

   Pound the shells

   Pour the lobster cooking liquor into a bowl and reserve it. Cut the larger shells with sturdy kitchen shears, wrap them in a clean heavy towel, and strike them with a mallet or the base of a small saucepan until they are broken into thumbnail-sized pieces. Do not reduce them to powder, and do not put hard claw shell into a household food processor. Pounding exposes the flavorful inner surface, which is why this step is the dish rather than ceremony.

   Work inside the folded towel so sharp fragments stay contained. Check the cloth before lifting it and discard any loose splinters from the work surface.
7. 7

   Fry the carapace

   Heat the neutral oil in a heavy saucepan until fluid and very hot. Add the crushed shells and fry them for 4 minutes, stirring and pressing them against the pan until their aroma deepens and the oil turns coral-red. Add the second Mirepoix (No. 228) and cook for another 3 minutes. Keep the pan moving, because scorched shell makes the entire sauce bitter.

8. 8

   Extract the shells

   Moisten the fried shells with all the reserved lobster cooking liquor. Bring it just to a simmer, lower the heat, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, pressing the shells beneath the liquid from time to time. A violent boil muddies the extraction and drives away the delicate wine aroma; a steady tremble draws out the shell without roughening it.

9. 9

   Strain and skim

   Strain the liquid through a fine sieve lined with damp cheesecloth or muslin, pressing firmly with the back of a ladle. Let it stand undisturbed for 5 minutes so the extraction oil rises, then remove that oil completely with a shallow spoon or fat separator. The sauce must be clean before the butter enters. If a fine slick remains, touch the surface once with the corner of a clean paper towel and lift it straight away.

10. 10

    Reduce the essence

    Return the strained liquid to a clean saucepan and boil it briskly until only a generous 1/2 cup (140 ml) remains. It should smell powerfully of lobster and lightly coat a spoon, but it will not yet be a finished sauce. Watch closely near the end. If it reduces too far or begins to taste salty, ça se rattrape: add fish fumet 1 tablespoon at a time until the balance returns.

11. 11

    Finish the sauce

    Lower the heat and whisk in the fish velouté, followed by the sieved coral and creamy parts if using. This is the liaison (the final thickening), so keep it below a boil and whisk until the sauce is nappé, meaning it coats the back of a spoon in a smooth veil. Remove the pan from the heat and montez au beurre (finish by whisking in butter), adding the cold curry butter piece by piece. Taste for salt and white pepper. If the sauce splits into oily beads, stop. Ça se rattrape: whisk 1 tablespoon of cold fumet in a clean pan, then rebuild the broken sauce into it a spoonful at a time.

12. 12

    Build the platter

    Warm an oval serving platter. Arrange the hot Riz Pilaff (No. 2255) as a broad border, pressing it just firmly enough to hold while keeping the grains distinct. Set the buttery tail and claw pieces in the center. Spoon several tablespoons of curry sauce over the lobster, coating it generously without drowning the rice, and send the remaining sauce to the table in a warm sauceboat. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A single hard-shell lobster of about 3 lb / 1.35 kg gives the sauce enough carapace and the table enough meat. Ask the fishmonger to crack the claws and return every fragment; the shells are not packaging here, they are an ingredient.
• •Use a light, clean fish fumet with restrained salt. It reduces dramatically, and a salty fumet becomes punishing before the lobster flavor is concentrated enough.
• •The curry butter should perfume the sauce, not bully it. Choose a mild, rounded French-style curry powder and measure it. More heat does not make the sauce more classical; it only hides the lobster you worked to extract.
• •The source uses the lobster's coral and creamy parts as a liaison. Local health authorities sometimes advise against eating lobster tomalley, so follow the guidance where the lobster was caught. Without it, the fish velouté still binds the sauce, though the finish is a little less rich.
• •Pour a broad dry white with enough body for the curry butter, such as white Burgundy or dry Chenin Blanc. A thin, sharply acidic wine disappears beside the sauce.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the two portions of Mirepoix (No. 228), the fish fumet, fish velouté, and curry butter a day ahead. Keep them covered and cold, then bring the fumet and velouté near room temperature before cooking.
• •The shell extraction can be strained and skimmed up to 4 hours before dinner. Cool it promptly and refrigerate it, then reduce it and add the liaison and curry butter only when you are ready to serve.
• •Time the Riz Pilaff (No. 2255) to finish shortly before the sauce. Hold it covered for no more than 20 minutes so the grains remain separate and the border reaches the table hot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 365g)