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Lobster Wiggle
Into the chafing-dish put two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of flour. Stir together till like a paste, add one cup of cream or rich milk, half a teaspoon of salt, a dash of paprika, one teaspoon of lemon juice and chopped parsley. Beat till creamy with a whisk, add one and one-half cups of lobster meat cut into small cubes. Cook for a few minutes with the lid on. Just before serving add half a can of French peas.
Pour over fingers of buttered toast.
A chafing-dish supper built on a plain white sauce. It comes together in about ten minutes, so have everything measured before the butter goes in.
- Chafing dish or saucepanThe recipe assumes a chafing dish over a spirit lamp, which gives gentle, indirect heat. A small heavy saucepan over medium-low works the same way; the point is that the sauce must not catch or boil hard.
- The hinge: cook the roux before the creamThe recipe says only "stir together till like a paste." Cooking the butter and flour briefly before the liquid goes in keeps the sauce from tasting of raw flour; adding the cream in a slow stream while whisking keeps it smooth.
- Lobster goes in last and barely cooksThe lobster meat is already cooked. "A few minutes with the lid on" is enough only to heat it through — two or three minutes. Longer and it turns fibrous and squeaky.
- French peasCanned petits pois, small and soft, packed in liquid. Half a can is roughly two-thirds of a cup drained. Frozen baby peas, thawed and warmed, are the closest modern substitute; add them at the end as directed so they do not break up.
- Cream or rich milk"Rich milk" of the period was closer to today's whole milk with some cream in it. Half-and-half gives the intended body; heavy cream makes it heavy.
- Paprika, not cayenneA dash of paprika here is for colour and mild warmth. Sweet paprika is what is meant, not smoked or hot.
- Fingers of buttered toastFirm white bread, toasted, buttered and cut into strips about a finger wide. Toast just before serving; the sauce soaks in quickly.
- YieldAbout three cups of mixture — two generous servings as a supper dish, or four as a first course.
"Wiggle" was the standing name in American cookery around 1900 for a creamed shellfish and pea mixture served over toast, most often made with shrimp and known simply as shrimp wiggle; the lobster version is the same formula with the more expensive shellfish. Its home was the chafing dish, a piece of equipment that had a genuine vogue in the 1890s and 1900s because it let hosts, students in rooms without kitchens, and late-returning theatre parties cook at the table without a stove. The canned French peas are part of the same story — imported petits pois were a small, affordable luxury that signalled a dish above plain creamed fish. The origin of the odd name is not documented; it is often said to describe the way the loose sauce moves on the plate, but that is folk explanation rather than evidence.