Lobster Thermidor

This is the most classic example of French haute cuisine. Not only is lobster rich and indulgent on its own, but this lobster is swimming in a silky smooth, sumptuous cheesy cream sauce topped with more cheese, traditionally Gruyere and broiled to perfection in the lobster shell. One of the 5 French ‘Mother Sauces’, Veloute also contains mustard, cognac or brandy, a splash of wine, a little cayenne, and a rich lobster stock.

The dish does take a bit of time to prepare, but what would you expect from such a special dish and luxe presentation. The name of this decadent dish comes from an 1891 play about the French Revolution, Thermidor by Victorien Sardou. Chef Leopold Etienne Mourier of Chez Marie created this lobster dish and presented it to the cast and crew on opening night. The play closed after only 3 nights due to its highly controversial and questionable content, but Lobster Thermidor has lived on for centuries.

By the turn of the 20th century the dish traveled across the sea and became very popular in the US, especially New York City in high-end restaurants like the Hotel Knickerbocker, Delmonico’s and the Waldorf Astoria.

Ingredients have changed slightly over the years and the recipe I used was from Alton Brown’s, Serious Eats, although I did change up a few things. Originally, in France, the dish contained tomatoes. When the dish was adopted by swanky restaurants in NYC, the tomatoes were dropped. Sometimes mushrooms are added to the sauce.

Because the preparation is so involved, it is usually made for a special event or occasion. I made it for my hubby, Jerry, for Valentine’s Day.

Lily, our cat, was intrigued by the fire. Jerry’s Aunt Muddy’s dog, Bootsy, not so much, as he crossed the Rainbow Bridge years ago, but his memory lives on.

We are hopeless romantics and spent the entire day before a huge fire with me in the kitchen cooking and him acting as official ‘taste tester’.

I started putting this dish together on Wednesday by making the lobster stock. Fortunately I had lobster shells in the freezer from 2 lobsters and added about a cup of shrimp shells. The live lobsters were not arriving until Friday. The recipe Alton uses for the stock is ‘quick’ and only took about 30 minutes to make.  After it cooked, I left it covered on the stovetop for about an hour to completely cool before straining and storing in the fridge. This made 3 1/2 cups of stock and you need only 1 cup for the Lobster Thermidor sauce. Freeze the rest and use for Lobster Pasta, Shrimp Scampi, Seafood Bisque…

When the lobsters arrived on Friday, I began by hypnotizing them, which is believed to relieve some of the trauma of being killed in boiling water. In New England, which is where I’m from, you always hypnotize before boiling.

Set the lobster on its head or rostrum using the claws for balance and gently rub its body or carapace. This relaxation technique supposedly de-stresses the crustacean and the meat, after cooking, becomes more tender. Not sure if any of that is true, but it’s a fun tradition and makes me feel better about dropping these lobsters into a cauldron of boiling water.

I cooked the lobsters for 6 minutes. Generally you would cook for 9-12 minutes depending on the size of the lobster, but since the meat will be cooked again when baked, by cooking less time the meat stays much more tender. Alton suggests a completely different method for killing and cooking. I know many chefs prefer his method, but I cannot bring myself to splitting the head of the lobster in half, while it is alive. I will share his technique in the recipe below. Let me know if you try it.

Once the lobsters are cooked and completely cooled…here comes the fun part! Start by removing the claws. Gently twist away and off the body. Set aside until ready to remove the meat from claws and knuckles.

Next, using kitchen shears, split the lobsters in half lengthwise. The tricky part with splitting the lobsters in half is the joint between the body and tail is thin and you do not want to break it apart.

Using a spoon, gently remove any tomalley (the green stuff; liver-like digestive gland) and roe (the red stuff; unfertilized eggs). Neither Jerry or I are crazy about roe or tomalley, but they are both considered lobster delicacies used to flavor sauces or soups.

Next, once the lobsters are split begin removing the meat. I used both scissors and a very sharp pairing knife to carefully coax out the meat trying not to break the shell, which becomes the cooking vessel. Remove the meat from the claws and knuckles using lobster crackers, picks or a heavy cleaver to smash the claw open.

The ‘wanna-be butcher’ in me loved this operation! Cut the lobster into good sized chunks. These two 1 1/2 lb. lobsters produced 4 cups of meat.

Cover tightly and store in the refrigerator until ready to put the Thermidor together. By making the Lobster stock and cooking and cleaning the lobsters a day ahead made this recipe much easier to put together. I also made the Veloute sauce earlier in the day and stored in the fridge, with the top of the sauce covered firmly with plastic wrap to avoid forming a skin. I am going to give you the exact ingredients of the sauce I made, which did vary slightly from Alton’s recipe, but it was truly delicious. If you want his, go to:

https://www.seriouseats.com/lobster-thermidor-recipe-8790007

For the Valentine’s dinner, we added a portobello parmesan risotto and lightly steamed asparagus.

For dessert we had Key Lime Cheesecake…recipe coming soon.

It was all worth the effort, and again, by doing some of the steps in advance, it becomes much easier.

SPREADING THE LOVE FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS!

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5 from 1 vote

Lobster Thermidor

Rich, elegant, creamy dish for a very special occasion. Haute cuisine at its best!

Ingredients

For the Lobster Stock:

• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil or other neutral oil I used Olive Oil as that's what I had in the pantry.
• 2 Large Shallots, peeled and sliced
• 4 Medium Cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 Celery rib, sliced
• 2 Large Stalks fresh fennel The fennel was not in Alton's recipe, but added a very nice touch of sweetness.
• Reserved Lobster/shrimp shells from 2 lobsters and a dozen shrimp
• 1 Tbsp. Tomato paste
• 1/4 cup Brandy
• 1/4 cup Sherry Alton calls for one or the other. I used both.
• 4 cups Water
• 2 sprigs Tarragon Or 1/2 tsp. dried

For the Lobster Thermidor Sauce:

• 2 1/2 Tbsp. Butter, salted
• 1 Large Shallot, finely minced
• 3 Tbsp. All-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp. Cayenne pepper Alton calls for 1/4 tsp.
• 1/2 cup Heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup Grated Gruyere cheese, plus more for sprinkling on top before baking
• 2 Tbsp. Grated parmesan Also not in his original recipe.
• 1 tsp. Dried tarragon
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsp. Grated parmesan for sprinkling

Instructions

To kill, cook and prepare the Lobster:

• On a work surface, kill each lobster by pressing the tip of a heavy chef's knife in the crack just behind the eyes in the center of the head pressing down to split the head in half.
• Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. Place a steamer insert in the bottom of a large lidded stock pot and add 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then steam the lobsters, covered until just cooked through, about 9 minutes. This shorter cooking time may not completely cook the tomalley or roe inside the lobsters, but will produce a more tender lobster. Immediately transfer the lobsters to the ice bath and let cool and 4 minutes.
• As soon as the lobsters are cool, split the lobsters in half lengthwise through the middle. Using a spoon, gently remove any tomalley and roe, if present, and save for another use or discard. Remove the stomach (small sac located in the head behind the lobsters eyes) and discard.
• Being careful not to break apart the halved lobster shells, remove the tail meat and transfer to a medium bowl. Carefully twist lobster claws and knuckles from bodies, again taking care not to break apart the body shells. Using kitchen shears, lobster crackers and/or the back of a heavy cleaver, crack claws and knuckles and remove meat, transferring it to the bowl with the lobster tails; transfer claw and knuckle shells to a bowl and set aside. These will be used to make the stock if you did not make it in advance. On a work surface, cut lobster meat into large chunks, then return to bowl. Cover lobster meat and transfer to the fridge.
• Arrange the 4 lobster shell halves on a rimmed baking sheet; cover and refrigerate. Cut up the remaining shells and body of the smaller lobster and transfer to the bowl with the claw shells, which will be used for the stock.

For the Lobster stock:

• In a large saucepan or 4-5 qt. Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add shallots, garlic, celery, and fennel if using and cook, stirring often, until softened; about 3 minutes.
• Add reserved lobster shells and cook, stirring, until the ingredients begin to brown on the bottom of the pot; about 4 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minutes. Add brandy (and sherry if using) and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot, until some of the raw alcohol smell is gone; about 2 minutes. Add water, tarragon and cook, stirring occasionally until stock is flavorful and liquid is reduced by about half; about 20 minutes. My stock only reduced by 1/2 cup to make a total of 3 1/2 cups stock, but it was both flavorful and delicious!

For the Lobster Thermidor Sauce:

• In a 2-3 qt. saute pan or saucier, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring until softened; about 3 minutes. Stir in flour and cayenne and cook until raw flour smell has cooked off; about 1 minutes.
• Whisk in 1 cup reserved lobster stock adding it in small additions and whisking out lumps as you go to ensure a smooth, silky texture. Then whisk in cream and mustard. Add Gruyere (and parmesan if using) and cook, stirring or whisking constantly until fully melted. Remove from the heat. Stir in tarragon and season with salt and pepper to taste. Scrape thermidor sauce into a heatproof container, press plastic directly against its surface to prevent a skin from forming, and let cool in the refrigerator.
• When ready to cook, position oven rack about 6 inches from broiler and heat broiler. Remove lobster meat from the fridge and drain any accumulated liquid. Stir cooled thermidor sauce into the lobster meat.
• Mound dressed lobster meat into reserved shells along their entire length from tail to head. Sprinkle with additional grated Gruyere and parmesan cheese. I also sprinkled with a little more dried tarragon. Broil until heated through and browned on top. If surface browns before lobster meat is warmed through, switch off the broiler; turn the oven on to 350 degrees and continue to cook until warmed through; 5 to 7 minutes more.
• Carefully transfer stuffed lobster shells to plates and serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Notes

Alton suggests cooking a third, smaller lobster to add to the lobster mixture, but the two  1 1/2 lb. lobsters I used provided a very generous amount of lobster per shell. We are both big eaters, and HUGE lobster fans, but one stuffed lobster shell was more than sufficient for a serving.