Diners have a soft spot for the classics of American cuisine, but they don’t want yesteryear’s food. If that sounds like a paradox, it’s one that creative chefs can resolve by giving the classics a contemporary twist. Clam chowder? Bor-ring. Lobster chowder with corn and applewood-smoked bacon? You’ll seal the deal.
Lobster gives renewed appeal to dishes customers might consider too retro to order. Who can resist an old-fashioned club sandwich reconstructed with lobster and lemon mayonnaise? A chef’s salad gets a new lease on life when it has lobster center stage and components like shaved fennel, heirloom potatoes and a tarragon dressing. Pasta salad? That’s so over. But a lobster salad with Israeli couscous or fregola (a coarse semolina pasta) would pique appetites.
America’s current romance with regional ingredients gives you another route to update the menu. Pairing lobster with local mushrooms can be a winning strategy: consider a lobster pot pie with local morels. In the South, a chef might use creamy grits as a luscious bed for a lobster stew, or add a splash of Kentucky bourbon to a cream sauce for lobster meat. The Southwest’s heirloom beans paired with cooked lobster meat could make a beautiful antipasto salad along the lines of Italy’s shrimp and white bean salad. On the East Coast, springtime’s ramps and fiddlehead ferns would complement lobster in a pasta dish or risotto.
A few ideas for showcasing lobster in a modern American style:
Maine lobster club sandwich
Creamy grits with Maine lobster, roasted tomatoes and wild mushrooms
Fresh corn risotto with Maine lobster and asparagus
