Lobster with Beurre Blanc

Roasted lobster tails with creamy beurre blanc served with smoked salmon roses with caviar

---

City/Region: France

Time Period: 1970s

---

The real luxury of a Concorde flight was not in a luxe cabin, but in the speed with which it traveled. Going from New York to London in about 3 1/2 hours, you essentially had time to get to cruising altitude (60,000 ft or 18,000 m), enjoy a gourmet multi-course meal, then begin the descent to land. Inspired by the recipes of Paul Bocuse, the great French chef who designed the menus for the first Concorde flights, this Lobster with Beurre Blanc served with Smoked Salmon Roses with Caviar will give you a glimpse into those singular transatlantic flights.

Lobster is luxurious, but rather plain by itself. The real star of this dish is the beurre blanc. It’s a simple sauce, but is unbelievably silky and creamy. With just vinegar, shallot, and butter, it’s so flavorful; it’s absolutely a must-try dish.

---

Ingredients:

Beurre Blanc

• 2 shallots
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 3/4 sticks (200 g) softened butter
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of very finely ground pepper

Lobster

• 2 lobster tails
• A few pinches of sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Instructions:

1. For the beurre blanc: Peel the shallots and mince them finely.
2. In a heavy saucepan, combine the shallots with the red wine vinegar. A heavy saucepan is better for this sauce as it will retain more heat and allow the butter to melt more easily. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until all of the liquid has evaporated and only the shallots remain.
3. Take the saucepan off the heat and add about 2 tablespoons of the butter. Stir quickly until the butter melts. Repeat this process, adding 2 tablespoons of butter and stirring until melted before adding more, until you’ve used up all the butter. If the sauce cools too much and the butter won’t melt anymore, you can gently heat it just a bit over a double boiler or over a very very low heat, just to get the butter to melt. It should look like a luxurious thick cream sauce. Stir in salt and pepper to taste, then keep the sauce warm while you cook the lobster.
4. For the lobster: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.
5. Use kitchen shears to cut the top of the lobster shell down the middle all the way to the tail fin, but leave the tail fin uncut. Flip it over and press in with your thumbs to break the underside of the tail to help loosen the meat. Using a small knife or your fingers, loosen the meat from the top side of the shell. Make a shallow cut down the length of the top of the meat and remove the dark vein (part of the lobster’s digestive tract). Pull the meat out of the shell through the cut you made in down the top, leaving it attached near the tail fin. Close the shell back up, then lay the meat on top of it. You can remove the meat entirely if you like, this way just makes for a nice presentation.
6. Sprinkle a little paprika over the meat. This is really for color, not so much for flavor. Place the lobster tails on the prepared baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the meat is opaque and the temperature reaches 135°F (57°C).
7. Change the oven to the broiler setting, then brush the lobster tails with the melted butter. Place them under the broiler for a couple of minutes, just to get a bit of golden color.
8. Serve the lobster tails forth with warm beurre blanc and Smoked Salmon Roses with Caviar for a taste of dining aboard Concorde.

---