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Cold Lobster En Coquille, with Mayonnaise
This is simply cold boiled lobster, served in the shell, in individual portions, a spoonful of mayonnaise colored red with the coral of the lobster being laid on top of the lobster meat.
A serving formula rather than a method, of the kind that fills the cold-fish pages of turn-of-the-century books. Everything hinges on how the lobster is boiled and cooled, since nothing after that stage can rescue overcooked meat.
- En coquilleFrench for "in the shell." Here it means the cleaned half-shell of the lobster's body, or occasionally a scallop shell or china shell-shaped dish, used as the serving vessel. It implies individual portions, not a platter.
- Boiling timesA 1 to 1 1/4 lb lobster needs roughly 8 to 10 minutes in heavily salted boiling water; a 2 lb lobster about 12 to 15. Period books often give much longer times, 20 minutes or more, which turns the tail to cotton wool.
- Cool it fastPlunge the cooked lobster into ice water immediately so it stops cooking and the meat pulls cleanly from the shell. Chill thoroughly before assembling; the dish is served cold, not cool.
- The coralThe coral is the roe, found only in hen lobsters, and it is black-green raw, turning coral-red only when cooked. Press the cooked roe through a fine sieve and beat it into the mayonnaise for both color and flavor. A male lobster yields no coral, only the green tomalley (liver), which is present in both sexes and will not tint the sauce red.
- MayonnaisePeriod mayonnaise was made to order from raw yolks and oil. If you make your own for a dish that is never heated, use pasteurized eggs, keep it refrigerated, and use it the same day.
- Preparing the shellSplit the lobster lengthwise, lift out the tail meat and the claw meat, scrub the body shell and dry it. Cut the meat into neat pieces rather than shredding it — the dish is entirely about appearance.
- Yield and serviceReckon half a 1 1/2 lb lobster per person as a first course, a whole one as a light main dish. Serve on shaved ice or a chilled plate with lemon and a little cress or shredded lettuce beneath the meat.
Cold dressed lobster in its own shell was a fixture of the American "cold fish" course from the 1880s through the 1920s, when reliable rail and steamer shipment of live New England lobster made it available well inland. Butterick's cook book was published by a pattern company for a middle-class readership, and entries this brief are typical of its approach: the book appears to assume you have already read its instructions for boiling lobster and for making mayonnaise, and needs only to tell you how the dish is put together and presented. The en coquille label, like en casserole and en brochette, reflects the period's habit of borrowing French service terms for what were essentially plain preparations — a marker of gentility on the printed menu.