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LOBSTER, BAKED (or Lobster a la Braise)
Take the flesh of a large fresh hen lobster, chop it small, then pound it in a mortar, and mix with it a quarter of a small nutmeg, grated, three grains of cayenne, half a saltspoonful of salt, two table-spoonfuls of fine bread-crumbs, and two well-beaten eggs. Shape the mixture with the hands into its original form. Pound the coral and spawn, and lay them on the meat; then bake in a quick oven. Before serving, put the shell, tail, and small claws upon the meat in such a way as to make it have the appearance of an undressed lobster. Bake a quarter of an hour. Probable cost of a medium-sized lobster, when in full season, 1s. 6d. Sufficient for six or seven persons.
A Victorian dressed lobster: the meat is seasoned, bound with egg and crumb, reshaped into a lobster-sized loaf, baked, and then reassembled inside its own shell for the table. Most of the work is in the presentation.
- Cook the lobster firstThe recipe does not say whether the flesh is raw or boiled, but "fresh" here most likely means freshly caught rather than raw, and Victorian lobster dishes of this kind generally start from boiled meat. Use the picked meat of a boiled lobster and keep the head shell, tail fan and small claws intact for the garnish.
- A quick ovenRoughly 400–425F in modern terms. At about that heat a quarter of an hour suits a mixture of already-cooked meat; the eggs set and the surface colours without the loaf drying out.
- Hen lobster and coralA hen is a female, valued for the dark green coral (roe) that turns coral-red when heated. Hens carrying visible external eggs ("berried") cannot legally be landed in many fisheries today, and a hen with a good body of coral is in any case a matter of luck at the fishmonger. Without it, the dish still works; the top will simply be pale.
- Three grains of cayenneA grain is about 65 mg, so this is a scant pinch — roughly an eighth of a teaspoon, no more. Half a saltspoonful is likewise about an eighth of a teaspoon of salt.
- Quarter of a small nutmegRoughly a quarter to a half teaspoon freshly grated. Nutmeg with shellfish is a period signature and easy to overdo; err low.
- Mortar, not puréeChop and pound only until the meat holds together with the egg and crumbs. A food processor will go to paste in seconds — pulse a few times and stop while there is still visible texture.
- Shaping and reassemblyForm the loaf with the hands on a buttered tray; it holds shape better if chilled first. The shell, tail and claws go on after baking, purely as decoration, so warm them briefly rather than roasting them.
- Yield"Six or seven persons" assumes a multi-course dinner where this is one dish among several. As a main course it serves two, or four as a starter.
The alternative name is misleading: nothing is braised. What the recipe really belongs to is the Victorian taste for the reconstituted dish — meat pounded, seasoned, bound, and then rebuilt to look like the whole creature it came from. Hen lobsters were asked for because the coral supplied colour. Cassell's, published in London in the 1870s and reissued for decades, gives prices in shillings and pence throughout; 1s. 6d. for a lobster in full season places it as a respectable but not extravagant purchase for a middle-class household, which is precisely the reader the book was built for.