Perfect Butter Poached Lobster Tail Recipes

PERFECT POACHED LOBSTER

Steps:

• Fill a very large (18- to 20-quart) stockpot 3/4 full with water, add 2 tablespoons of salt, cover and bring to a full rolling boil. Immerse the lobsters in the water and cook for 10 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the middle of the underside of a tail registers 140 degrees F. (Don't worry if the water doesn't come back to a boil.) Remove the lobsters with tongs and set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the lobster meat from the shell, including the claws.

BUTTER POACHED LOBSTER TAIL WITH A LOBSTER CLAW CAKE IN A CITRUS BUTTER SAUCE

Steps:

• Split lobsters, reserve tails, and season. Steam claws and shock in an ice bath. Clean claw meat to be free of all shell and shell fragments, chop, and reserve for the pancake mix.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• In a saute pan, heat oil to smoking hot, saute leeks until translucent. Add chicken stock, and reduce liquid until nearly dry. Season with salt and pepper.
• Melt butter in a small saucepan. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat eggs slightly, add melted butter, and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture, and fold together, adding half-and-half to make it a pancake batter consistency. Add shallot, chives, and parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Be careful not to overwork the batter.
• Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Set ring molds in the pan and spray well with nonstick spray. With a small ladle, add approximately 1 ounce of the batter in the bottom of the ring molds. Place the braised leeks and some of the chopped lobster on top of the batter, and add more batter on top of the lobster. When browned on the bottom, carefully invert the pancake, to brown the top. Cook for about 1 minute, and then place in the oven until the center is done. Test doneness by placing a toothpick into the center of the cake. It should be dry when removed.
• In a saute pan, add 3 pounds melted butter and on a low-medium flame heat the split tails flesh side down until flesh cooks enough to become firm. Turn tails over so that the shell side is down to finish cooking (remember not to cook too high of a heat so that milk solids in the butter evaporates too quickly-otherwise you "fry" the lobster tail rather than poaching it).
• Place sauce in middle of plate. Place lobster pancake in the pool of sauce. Wrap the 2 cooked lobster tail halves around themselves to hold each other in place on top of pancake. Garnish with petite sorrel.
• In a saute pan reduce white wine and shallots until nearly dry. Add heavy cream and reduce to a thick consistency. Slowly add butter whisking continuously on medium heat. Do not bring to a boil. Add juices and season with salt and pepper. Strain.

PERFECT LOBSTER TAILS

Steps:

• Preheat the broiler. Place a wire cooling rack inside a rimmed baking sheet. Cut the top shell of the lobster tails lengthwise down the middle with kitchen shears. Then, using a knife, cut all the way through the tails to split into 2 pieces. Place them flesh-side up on the prepared baking sheet.
• Mix together the butter, parsley, shallot, lemon zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper in a small bowl until well combined.
• Spread 2 teaspoons of the compound butter on the flesh of each lobster tail half. Broil until the shells turn a bright orange, the flesh is opaque and cooked through and the tails begin to curl, about 4 minutes.
• Transfer the tails to a serving platter and top each half with another teaspoon of the compound butter (save the remainder for another use).