Lobster Mania
| October 13, 2009 | Posted by admin under Uncategorized |
Executive Chef, Bryan Moscatello
Maine Lobster has long been a very sought after luxury commodity, but now it seems that people are shying away from so called luxury items including lobster, foie gras, caviar, truffles, etc. This has caused, at least in the lobster market, a drop in price on some of the sizes of this delicacy. Does this mean that it is no longer a luxury ingredient? Will it now become food for the masses? Or does it simply mean a sell-off of current inventories and a price rise just in time for New Years Eve? I for one am not going to wait around to find out; I am going to take advantage of the current situation and cook more lobster than I ever have before!
I will begin my lobster mania this coming Friday evening at Zola Wine and Kitchen for our first secret supper. Secret suppers will be held every Friday night and the 5 course menu will feature a special ingredient themed into each delectable course with a secret recipe. Guests will receive the menu when they arrive for dinner. I have been excited about these dinners because we will get to have a ton of fun cooking and serving a limited amount of guests in an amazing setting. The menu you will also feature paired wines with each course. I don’t want to give away any of the surprises but I am seeing vanilla, pomegranate, chanterelle mushrooms, caviar, oso sweet onions, sweet potatoes, butter, don’t forget about some kind of cured or smoked pork product. I think the biggest challenge will be incorporating lobster into a dessert. Here’s a question: does one of the courses have to be dessert? Or if you are like me and you feel that it’s a necessity to round out a great meal with something sweet does the dessert have to contain lobster?
A Lobster dessert? I think the idea of having a lobster dessert in itself is worth the price of admission. But for those of you not so keen on having lobster with your sugar think about this. Many chefs use rosemary, tarragon and various other herbs in their sweet plates and these items are far more savory than lobster. When you break it down lobster meat is nice, sweet and has a slight bit of salt from the sea water. These components are necessities in pastry. I’m not sure if I just sold you on lobster for dessert but I think it deserves an attempt. Who knows… if the lobster dessert is a little too far out there then maybe we should just do five savory lobster courses and add a sampling of house made chocolates to satisfy the sweet tooth in us all. What do you think?
