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Lobster Salad, Mrs. Allen
Split lengthwise two fine, freshly boiled and thoroughly cooled medium lobsters. Crack claws and carefully pick meat from shells of bodies and claws, being careful to discard intestines and pouch, cut meat in equal-sized square pieces and place, in a salad bowl. Shell three cold hard-boiled eggs, lay on a plate, chop up finely and add to lobster. Finely chop up two small, sound, peeled shallots, sprinkle over lobster and eggs, then sprinkle over a teaspoon very finely chopped parsley, light teaspoon of finely chopped chives (ciboulette), and gently shuffle the contents of bowl. Chop up very fine half a head fresh, well cleaned and dried lettuce, add to bowl, lightly mix again, season with three and a half tablespoons dressing and mix whole well together. Just before serving add three tablespoons mayonnaise, gently mix again, wipe edges of bowl all around and send to table.
A straightforward composed salad that depends entirely on cold lobster, restrained dressing, and last-minute assembly. A few of its terms and proportions need translating.
- "Dressing" means vinaigretteIn books of this period, plain "dressing" in a salad recipe is oil-and-vinegar French dressing, distinct from the mayonnaise added later. Roughly three parts oil to one part vinegar, seasoned with salt and pepper; three and a half tablespoons is a light coat, not a soaking.
- Two stages of dressing, on purposeTwo stages of dressing -- The vinaigrette goes on early and the mayonnaise only just before serving, as the recipe directs. The recipe gives no reason; the usual explanation is that late-added mayonnaise stays glossy and does not weep into the lettuce.
- What to discardThe "pouch" is the sand sac behind the eyes and the "intestines" the dark vein running the length of the tail. The green tomalley and any red coral are edible and were often kept back for sauces, though this recipe does not use them.
- Lobster size and yieldA "medium" lobster of this period is usually taken as around 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb, yielding roughly 1/4 to 1/3 lb of picked meat apiece. The recipe does not say how many it serves; two lobsters, three eggs and half a head of lettuce would suit a first course for four to six.
- CibouletteSimply the French for chives; the recipe gives the English word with the French in parenthesis. No substitution needed.
- Chopping the lettuceFinely chopped lettuce is the period style and it does soften quickly once dressed. Use a crisp head lettuce, dry it thoroughly, and cut it just before it goes into the bowl.
- Keep everything coldThe insistence on "thoroughly cooled" lobster is not fussiness. Assemble on chilled plates, hold the bowl in the refrigerator until it goes to table, and do not let a dressed seafood salad sit out.
- Homemade mayonnaiseIf you make the mayonnaise rather than buying it, it is raw egg that is never cooked. Pasteurized eggs are the sensible choice for anyone serving children, elderly guests or anyone pregnant.
Alexander Filippini worked in the kitchens of Delmonico's in New York, and the recipe's style is consistent with that trade: French technique, French vocabulary left half-translated, and dishes named for individual patrons and acquaintances. "Mrs. Allen" may be one of those dedications, though there were also contemporary cookbook authors known as Mrs. Allen, and the page itself does not settle the question. Lobster salad itself was a fixture of American restaurant and banquet menus from the mid-nineteenth century onward, when rail and ice made New England lobster reliably available inland; this version is distinguished by its two-stage dressing and the closing instruction to wipe the edges of the bowl before it leaves the kitchen.