Lobster Value–An Update

Roadkill is one source of cheap lobster

Keep checking back here for money saving hints for your Acadia vacation. I wrote in an earlier blog about my attempt to find the best deal when buying lobsters. At that time (mid April ’10) I bought three different sized lobsters and weighed the meat I got out of them and compared it to the price per pound of the live crustacean. The results were much different than what I expected. The best value seemed to come from the smallest lobster, in the 1 to 1-1/4 pound category. I calculated the actual price per pound of the meat to be a whopping $50.55. This was based on a whole lobster price of $7.79 per pound. Right now the prices are lower, around $6.80 last I checked; and new shell lobsters are in the $4 range. When I’m flush with cash I will answer the hard shell VS. soft shell issue, but for now I’m going to talk about another approach.

On our first trip to Maine we go for the whole lobster. What would a trip to the Pine Tree State be without the plastic bib, the cracking of the shell and that first taste of butter drenched claw meat? By the second trip, or perhaps the second meal, we want to explore other possible ways to fix lobster. A lobster roll, a bisque, spring rolls, ravioli or simply mixed into scrambled eggs (like George did in that Seinfeld episode). How about a shortcut? Think of all that boiling, cracking and pulling. Wouldn’t it be easier to let someone else do the “picking” as it’s called in Maine? Surely this would be even more expensive! Wrong!!

I decided to take this shortcut a few days ago when we had our daily adventure and we didn’t want to spend another hour boiling lobsters. I assumed the price per pound of picked lobster meat would be in the $50 area. I was way off! The price was $15 for 1/2 pound! A quick check of area markets found prices at $30, $35 and $45 per pound. The meat I bought was from Young’s Shellfish in Belfast.  My local place (Downeast Lobster Co.) only sells picked meat ($35/lb on 7/10/2010) if you call in advance–but that means fresh!

The meat I got from Young’s was fresh, sweet and in every way as good as doing it myself. How do they do it? Why does the meat end up costing less than doing the work yourself? I have no idea! Maybe they are extracting the meat from “culls”- one armed lobsters, or “chicks”, really small ones which people would probably not want to buy. The meat we got had several tails and claws indicating several smaller lobsters. We used this meat for spring rolls the first night and ravioli the next. Two meals for three people out of 1/2 pound!

Preparing complex dishes out of picked meat means having a kitchen, like you would have if you stayed with us, but there are dishes you can prepare at a picnic spot. You could add the meat to a supermarket salad or mix up some filling for lobster rolls (just add some diced cucumber, scallions and mayo). Don’t forget the  rolls. You may know them as hot dog buns. Here they’re a little different, but the same idea.

A ravioli cutter, found at Marden's in Ellsworth, ME

Lobster Ravioli from SeaCat’s Rest

Semolina or durum flour

Tomato sauce

Olive oil and butter

2 eggs

Salt, pepper, parsley or basil, garlic, shallots

1/4 lb lobster meat

Bread crumbs or crushed crackers

Grated Parmesan cheese

The ravioli we made turned out so well I thought I’d share the recipe. Making the pasta was the hardest part because it required a resting time of at least an hour. Start with durum or semolina flour. Measure out 1-1/3 cups and add 1 teaspoon salt. Dump this mixture onto the counter and add two eggs to a well in the center. Work the flour with your hands (a great job for little kids with clean hands) until fully mixed. Add two tablespoons of water and two teaspoons of olive oil to form a fairly stick-free dough and continue kneading for 15 minutes. Place the dough into a covered bowl and leave for an hour or more. Meanwhile, make the filling. We winged it here, and you can too. Fry a few cloves of garlic and shallots in butter until done and throw in 1/4 cup of  lobster. Heat for a minute and transfer into a bowl. Add a little cream, bread crumbs or crushed crackers, spices of choice (salt, paprika, parsley, basil) and some grated parmesan. The filling should be fairly dry so as to not turn the pasta soggy. Put a pan of your favorite tomato pasta sauce on the heat.

Roll out the pasta into one big circle. When you see the pattern of your counter through the pasta it’s thin enough. Cut into 3 inch wide strips and use a melon ball maker to place a measured amount of filling onto the strip at 3″ intervals. Take a second strip and lay it over the first. Press and pinch the two layers together around the filling and cut out with a knife or ravioli cutter. Keep it up until the dough and filling is used up. Drop the finished pasta into boiling salted water in batches and test it after 7 minutes. Lift out the finished ravioli and serve with tomato sauce. You will not end up with one of those wimpy tasteless specks of filling you usually get with prepared ravioli but a whole new experience. Enjoy!