No. 1024

Lobster or Spiny Lobster, American Style

Homard ou Langouste a l'Americaine

Cook in a court bouillon some medium sized lobsters, proceeding exactly as described in crawfish au court bouillon (No. 1009); drain and then split them lengthwise in two. Cover with sweet oil in a sautoire, some onions and shallots both finely minced, also thyme and bay leaf; lay the lobsters over, the cut side on top, heat for a few minutes, season, and pour into the bottom of the sautoire, two gills of white wine, and the same quantity of court bouillon stock; cover closely and boil over a good fire for twelve minutes, then keep it warm without boiling for ten minutes longer. Drain, strain off the liquid, put it back to reduce to a half-glaze, then thicken it with tomato sauce (No. 549), mingling in a few spoonfuls of Madeira wine. When the sauce is finished, take it from the fire and butter it with fresh butter, adding a dash of cayenne pepper, and half a gill of burned brandy; dress and pour the sauce over the whole.

← No. 1023 Frogs' Legs Royer Lobster No. 1025 Small Lobsters a la Bordelaise →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer's method cooks the lobster twice: once in court bouillon, then again in wine and aromatics. The result is a sauce of real depth and, by current standards, badly overcooked meat. Everything below assumes you want the sauce without ruining the lobster.

The hinge: cut the second cookingA lobster boiled in court bouillon is already done. The recipe then boils it twelve minutes more and holds it ten beyond that, which turns the tail to cotton. Build the sauce base with the shells and bodies rather than the whole animal, and return the meat only long enough to warm through, two or three minutes.
A gillHalf a cup, 4 fl oz. Two gills of white wine is one cup, and the same again of court bouillon stock. Half a gill of brandy is 4 tablespoons.
SautoireA straight-sided saut he split split lobsters in one layer. A 12-inch pan takes two medium lobsters.
Sweet oilOlive oil, not a peppery finishing oil. "Sweet oil" was the common nineteenth-century term for olive oil, and also carried the sense of oil that was fresh rather than rancid. Use enough to film the pan generously, about 3 tablespoons.
Spiny lobsterLangouste is the clawless spiny or rock lobster, all tail and no claw meat. It is often sold frozen as rock lobster tails.
Burned brandyWarm the brandy, ignite it, and let the flame die before it goes into the sauce. The point is to drive off the raw spirit edge; adding it unlit leaves the sauce harsh.
Tomato sauce No. 549Ranhofer's is a long-cooked stock-based sauce, not a marinara. A few tablespoons of thick tomato purée cooked briefly in the reduction gives the same effect: colour and acidity, not tomato flavour in the foreground.
Finishing with butter"Butter it with fresh butter" means mounting the sauce off the heat with cold butter, whisked in a piece at a time. If the sauce boils after this it will break.
YieldTwo medium lobsters, roughly 1¼ lb each, serve four as a course or two generously.

A Little History

Homard à l'américaine has been argued over for more than a century. The usual account traces it to a Paris restaurant of the 1860s where a chef with Provençal training improvised a dish for late customers and named it for his American diners; a rival camp insists the true name is à l'armoricaine, after Armorica, the old name for Brittany, and that oil, tomato, garlic and brandy point south rather than west. The Breton claim is generally treated as later folk etymology. Charles Ranhofer, who ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York for more than thirty years and published The Epicurean in 1894, had no reason to hedge: he cooked for Americans and gave the dish its American name without comment. His version is more restrained than the modern one, leaning on court bouillon and a reduced half-glaze rather than the heavy garlic and tomato that later cooks piled on.