Remember the wonderful lobster class I was fortunate enough to get to take at the end of 2009 at the Dallas Central Market Cooking School?  The class of 18 students taught by four chefs and helped by three volunteer assistants prepared four luscious lobster dishes.  It was a truly wonderful class and I highly recommend it for all of you home cooks. 

One dish we prepared was named Lobster Savannah.  It is similar but different from Lobster Thermidor, which has a creamy cheese and mustard addition in the sauce, and Lobster Newberg, which is also a similar sauce but heavier on the cream and egg yolks. 

 

Being the ever inquisitive journalist, I asked about the dish’s history and if it had originated in Savannah, Georgia.  No one knew, so of course, I had to do some research.  In the process I learned a lot about lobsters that I had never known.

 

John F. Mariani wrote in the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink in 1999 that “when the first Europeans came to America, the lobster was one of the most commonly found crustaceans. They sometimes washed up on the beaches of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in piles of two feet high.  Lobsters in those days grew to a tremendous size, sometimes forty or more pounds....The taste for lobster developed rapidly in the nineteenth century, and commercial fisheries specializing in the crustacean were begun in Maine in the 1840s, thereby giving rise to the fame of the Maine lobster which was being shipped around the world a decade later.  In 1842 the first lobster shipments reached Chicago, and Americans enjoyed them both at home and in the cities' new lobster palaces, the first of which was built in New York by the Shanley brothers....By 1885 the American lobster industry was providing 130 million pounds of lobster per year. So afterward the population of the lobster beds decreased rapidly, and by 1918 only 33 million pounds were taken."

 

Ike DeLorenzo wrote a restaurant review of Locke-Ober that was published in the Boston Globe Dining Out column May 2, 2009.  This is “indisputably one of Boston’s most famous restaurants and it is best known for Lobster Savannah ($62), the star of the menu since 1875.”  This was the earliest date I could find of this scrumptious dish.  I still can’t find if the recipe was transported from Savannah, Georgia, to Boston via some creative chef or relative. 

 

Mr. DeLorenzo’s column continued that his waiter had been with the restaurant since 1968 and called this the “small lobster.  The large (3-pound) lobster was downsized in 1976 due to health concerns.”  I have no idea what that means.

 

A reader replied to this review that their waiter provided “a sample menu from 1930. Lobster Savannah was $1.60 back then, compared to $62 last night. Worth every penny.”

DeLorenzo then describes how the dish is made.  “The body of the 2-pound lobster is removed from the shell, cut in pieces, and cooked with a sauce made from a four-hour reduction of lobster bodies, sherry, port, and heavy cream.”  Then the mixture is stuffed back in the lobster tail shells and baked. 

During the class I took, we did exactly that except for the four-hour reduction time.  And you’re supposed to have all the lobster tails facing the same direction when you bake them for a beautiful and professional looking presentation.  However, there was a lot of leftover Lobster Savannah that couldn’t fit in the lobster tail shells.  So, at home I decided to make mine as a casserole instead of putting it in the tail shells since it was just the two of us. 

This dish is extremely rich and delicious.  All you need is a simple green salad and bread or rolls to accompany it.  Your valentines will think you have jumped over the moon for them with this meal.

Baked Lobster Savannah

Recipe adapted from An American Place by Chef Larry Forgione

4 Servings

 

Ingredients

2 lobster tails or 1½ cups chopped lobster meat

½ TB unsalted butter

½ red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced

1/8 cup onion, chopped

6 mushroom caps, thinly sliced

¼ tsp garlic, minced

Pinch of cayenne pepper

¼ cup bourbon or brandy poured into a small bowl

¼ cup chicken broth

½ TB cornstarch

½ cup heavy cream

1 large egg yolk, beaten

½ TB fresh chives, chopped

Salt and black pepper

 

Other Items Needed

Measuring cups and spoons

Cutting board

Chef’s knife

Large skillet with lid

Wooden spoon

3 small bowls

2 whisks

Casserole dish

Cooking spray

Pot holders

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

 

Melt the butter skillet over high heat.  Add bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic and cayenne pepper.  Cooking, stirring constantly, until vegetables soften. 

 

Remove skillet from the flame and add ¼ cup of the bourbon or brandy.  If the liquor ignites, cover the skillet and the flames will die.  

 

Return skillet to the fire.  Add the stock.  Bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half. 

 

Mix the cornstarch and cream together in a separate bowl.  Whisk together until smooth, then add to the skillet.  Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and cook until thickened.  Remove from heat. 

 

Gradually whisk in a couple of spoonfuls of the hot cream mixture to temper the egg.  Stir in remaining 1 TB liquor. 

 

Add the lobster mixture to the sauce.  Cook over high heat for 30 seconds.  Then, remove from the heat and stir in the tempered egg yolk plus the chives.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

 

Bake in casserole pan in the oven for 5 to 6 minutes.  Happy St. Valentine’s Day!

 

 

A reader’s request for tortilla soup is on the horizon for Kathryn’s Texas Kitchen.

 

Until next time…

 

 

Bon appétit!

 

frankandkath@hotmail.com