When it comes to something as simple as lobster stew, the debate is complicated. Even so, there\u2019s nothing more satisfying than a big,
\nhearty bowl.<\/h3>\n
by Judith Gaines<\/p>\n
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Lobster stew is the most curious of culinary icons. Everyone seems to agree it is a treasured dish of almost mythic status, beloved by generations of Mainers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a classic,\u201d says Chef Harding Lee Smith, who periodically offers it as a special at his Grill Room and Front Room restaurants in Portland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the real Maine experience,\u201d says Cal Hancock, head of Hancock Gourmet Lobster in Cundy\u2019s Harbor, whose lobster stew won a gold medal in 2007 from the National Association of Specialty Foods. \u201cIf you live in Maine, it\u2019s real comfort food. It\u2019s the best thing since sliced bread.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trouble is, no one can agree on exactly what it is.<\/p>\n
Some take a minimalist view. They saut\u00e9 chunks of cooked lobster in butter, add it to warmed cream with salt and pepper, and serve it immediately with a dollop of butter floating on top. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody can improve on that,\u201d says George Olson, who offered a demonstration of his technique at Uncle Kippy\u2019s, his restaurant in Lubec.<\/p>\n
Others insist, equally fervently, that it isn\u2019t lobster stew without paprika (which intensifies the reddish color), a good lobster stock to enhance the flavor, and perhaps some sherry, an elegant touch.<\/p>\n
Succulent Simplicity<\/strong><\/p>\n Lydia Shire, executive chef of Blue Sky on York Beach, makes a lobster stew she claims was a favorite of President John F. Kennedy. She boils live lobsters for five minutes, removes the meat, and saves the shells. Then she cooks the shells in a Dutch oven with sherry; adds milk, cream, paprika, salt, and pepper; and refrigerates the mixture overnight to let the flavors develop. The following day, she cooks the shelled meat with butter and more sherry, adds the cream mixture, heats until warm, and serves her \u201cJFK Lobster Stew\u201d garnished with parsley.<\/p>\n By using the shells, Shire comes close to making lobster bisque, which is sometimes confused with lobster stew because both are cream-based. But bisque involves cooking the shells and then grinding them into a paste which is added to the soup, or making a roux. Bisque also can be thickened with rice, which is strained or pureed in the final stages of preparation. The end product is thicker and redder than lobster stew.<\/p>\n Lobster stew, of course, isn\u2019t really a stew, which typically involves slow-cooking meat or seafood with vegetables and thickening the liquid with flour to make a gravy.<\/p>\n Establishing the key ingredients in lobster stew can be as controversial as debating politics or religion, and partisans feel no less passionately about their views. Chefs and home cooks alike disagree about whether lobster stew should contain onions, or garlic, or a little dry mustard, or potatoes\u2026and the list goes on. Harding Smith makes a version with lobster tomalley and roe \u201cto give it depth.\u201d Cal Hancock\u2019s award-winning stew was inspired by her grandmother\u2013a traditional version enhanced with lobster stock, spices, and a little tomato paste. \u201cMy grandmother always said, \u2018Don\u2019t do anything to hide the taste of the lobster,\u2019\u201d Hancock recalls. \u201cIt\u2019s a delicate balance.\u201d<\/p>\n And a tricky one. Trying to find the perfect lobster stew can seem like the search for the Holy Grail. Is the dish too creamy or too milky? Too thick or too thin? Too simple to make or too complex? Does it have the right ratio of lobster to liquid? (The consensus seems to be 40 or 50 percent, but this is a subject of debate, too.) And should the stew be served right away or refrigerated for a while so the lobster flavor infuses it more fully? The Maine Lobster Council touts about a dozen recipes with names like \u201cClassic Maine Lobster Stew,\u201d \u201cMaine Lobster Stew,\u201d \u201cMaine Lobsterman\u2019s Stew,\u201d and \u201cThe Ultimate Maine Lobster Stew\u201d\u2013all very different, and all with their enthusiastic advocates.<\/p>\n Tasty Rebellions<\/strong><\/p>\n Lawrence Klang, chef de cuisine at Natalie\u2019s in Camden, describes himself as \u201ckind of down\u201d on traditional versions of lobster stew, which he finds \u201cheavy-handed and a little boring.\u201d He enjoys cooking Maine\u2019s premier crustacean but prefers to make a \u201cThai-style lobster stew\u201d with stewed tomatoes and shallots, white port, ginger, green curry paste, turmeric, saffron, kaffir lime leaves, and a vegetable stock with fresh carrot juice, all finished with a bit of preserved lemon. This elaborate dish is \u201ccomplex but light\u201d and showcases the talents of a professional chef, he says. \u201cPersonally, I don\u2019t want people to come to my restaurant and pay for something that\u2019s easy to make at home.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, Chef Jeff Buerhaus of Walter\u2019s in Portland says he enjoys a fairly traditional version of lobster stew at home, but at his restaurant he likes to offer \u201ca Caribbean and Mediterranean twist.\u201d His lobster stew has \u201csweet chili, wild boar bacon, purple Peruvian potatoes, and sweet potatoes; it\u2019s sweet, smoky, and savory,\u201d he says. With so many potatoes, most people would call this a lobster chowder. But who\u2019s to say?<\/p>\n Cracking the Case<\/strong><\/p>\n The origins of \u201cauthentic\u201d lobster stew remain obscure. According to one history, lobster stew became widely popular after about 1910, when a bowl of it\u2013intended for the servants\u2013was accidentally sent to the table of John D. Rockefeller Sr. and his guests. There \u201cit was rapturously received\u201d and quickly became a family favorite. \u201cIn New York, what was good enough for John D. was good enough for the rest of society,\u201d writes author Linda Stradley in What\u2019s Cooking America<\/em>.<\/p>\n But clearly lobster stew was created long before then. There are recipes for it in The Boston Cooking School Cookbook of 1884<\/em> and even Robert May\u2019s The Accomplisht Cook<\/em>, published in London in 1685. In the 1685 version, May saut\u00e9s chunks of cooked lobster in butter and then heats this for half an hour in a mix of claret, butter, nutmeg, and orange slices.<\/p>\n Some Mainers suspect it was adapted here by budget-conscious fishermen\u2019s wives, who laboriously picked the meat from lobster bodies and \u201cstewed\u201c it in creamy milk\u2013which was readily available\u2013with just a few spices for a quick, easy, and economical meal. \u201cIt was a great way to use leftover lobster,\u201d says Chef Larry Matthews of Portland\u2019s Back Bay Grill, who recalls his grandmother made lobster stew this way. Who would have guessed the dish was headed for stardom?<\/p>\n Lubec is a little fishing village with around six very different restaurants. One of the few things they have in common is lobster stew on the menu.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to,\u201d says George Olson, who\u2019s been the cook (not chef, he insists) at Uncle Kippy\u2019s for 26 years. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have it, people will go somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve tried everything, all kinds of variations,\u201d Olson continues. \u201cBut my mother made it, and I do it the same way. The only secret is to use lobster that is fresh, really fresh. That\u2019s what Maine is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n
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