Homard à la Bordelaise

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid
• •Small heavy saucepan for the burnt brandy
• •Long match or long-reach lighter
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Lobster crackers and seafood pick
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Warm oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the lobster

   Ask the fishmonger to dispatch the lobster humanely, remove the stomach sac, feathery gills, and dark intestinal vein, then section it immediately before pickup. Have the tail cut crosswise through the shell into four thick medallions, the claws and knuckles separated and cracked, and the body shell divided into manageable pieces. Reserve the coral separately if present, along with the tomalley only where local health guidance permits. Keep everything thoroughly chilled and cook it the same day.

   The source's reference to the intestines means the creamy internal matter used to enrich the sauce, not the stomach sac, gills, or dark intestinal vein. Those parts are always discarded. Coral alone may be used when tomalley is restricted.
2. 2

   Stiffen and colour

   Heat the clarified butter in a wide, heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat. When it flows freely and looks bright, add the lobster pieces in one uncrowded layer. Turn them for 6 to 8 minutes, until the meat has stiffened at the exposed edges and every shell has changed from mottled blue-green to a strong, even red. Do not cook the meat through yet. Pour away two-thirds of the butter, leaving the lobster and the coloured film on the pan floor.

3. 3

   Burn the brandy

   Turn off the extractor fan and measure the brandy into a small saucepan, never directly from the bottle. Warm it gently, move the pan away from the burner, ignite it with a long match, and let the flame extinguish itself. This is the source's burnt brandy. If open flame isn't safe in your kitchen, simmer the measured brandy for 2 minutes instead, until its raw alcoholic bite has softened.

   Keep the bottle corked and well away from the stove. The flame is brief, but brandy poured from a bottle beside a burner is an invitation to trouble.
4. 4

   Make the first reduction

   Return the lobster pan to medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic, stirring for about 30 seconds without letting either brown. Pour in the white wine and burnt brandy, scraping the pan floor so its coloured fond dissolves into the liquid. Reduce the mixture by half. It is ready when the harsh smell of alcohol has gone and the liquid gathers lightly around the lobster instead of running like water.

5. 5

   Build the sauce

   Add the fish fumet, the concentrated fish essence named by the source, followed by the prepared maigre Espagnole sauce, prepared tomato sauce, bouquet garni, salt, and cayenne. Stir around the lobster pieces until the three sauce foundations are completely joined. Bring the liquid only to a bare simmer, with small movements at the edge rather than a rolling boil.

6. 6

   Cook at a tremble

   Cover the pan and cook for exactly 15 minutes at the gentlest simmer you can maintain, turning the pieces once halfway through. The shell should be fully red, the tail meat pearly and opaque, and the thickest piece should reach 145°F (63°C). If the liquid boils hard, lower the heat at once; fierce boiling tightens lobster before the sauce has time to gather itself.

7. 7

   Pick and hold

   Lift the lobster pieces from the sauce and discard the bouquet garni. Remove the tail and claw meat in the largest pieces possible, then cover it under an overturned warm bowl while you finish the sauce. Clean the brightest shell sections and reserve them for the platter. Warm means protected here, not left over active heat, which would turn the lobster firm and cottony.

8. 8

   Reduce and strain

   Stir the chopped coral and, if using it, the tomalley into the sauce. Boil steadily until only ¾ cup plus 1 tbsp (190 ml) remains. Measure when you are close rather than guessing; the sauce should coat a spoon but still pour freely. If it becomes too thick, loosen it with a spoonful of fumet or water. Pass it through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean sauté pan, pressing lightly but leaving the coarse shell matter and herbs behind, then add the lobster meat.

9. 9

   Monter au beurre

   Warm the lobster and sauce gently without letting them boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Add the lemon juice and cold butter a few cubes at a time, swirling the pan until each addition disappears before adding the next. This monter au beurre gives the sauce its final body and gloss. If beads of fat appear, stop and lift out the lobster. Ça se rattrape: whisk 1 tbsp (15 ml) cold water in a clean pan, work in the broken sauce one spoonful at a time, then return the lobster when the sauce is smooth.

10. 10

    Finish and serve

    Fold in the chopped chervil and tarragon, taste, and correct only the salt, cayenne, or lemon. Arrange the red shell sections on a warm oval platter, settle the lobster meat among them, and spoon over every drop of sauce so it pools generously beneath. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A fishmonger is the right partner for this dish. Ask for a lively, heavy hard-shell lobster, preferably a female with coral, and have it dispatched and sectioned immediately before you leave. Keep it cold and cook it promptly.
• •The maigre Espagnole and tomato sauce are finished components in the source, not sauces to improvise inside this recipe. Make them ahead and measure them cold. Replacing them with flour and tomato paste removes the architecture that makes this Bordelaise.
• •Choose a dry white Bordeaux with Sauvignon Blanc for freshness and Sémillon for body. Avoid a heavily oaked bottle, because reduction concentrates oak as efficiently as it concentrates fruit.
• •Pour the same white Bordeaux at the table. Rice pilaf or small boiled potatoes will take up the sauce without competing with it, and a bitter green salad afterward restores the appetite beautifully.
• •Refrigerate leftovers promptly and use them within one day. Reheat over very gentle heat without boiling; if the butter separates, use the cold-water rescue from the final step.

Advance Preparation

• •Prepare the fish fumet, maigre Espagnole, and tomato sauce up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate them separately. Measure each before the lobster reaches the pan.
• •Clarify the butter, cube the finishing butter, chop the shallots and herbs, and assemble the bouquet garni earlier the same day. Keep the butter and herbs cold.
• •The sauce may be reduced and strained up to 2 hours before serving, with the cooked lobster meat chilled separately. Rewarm them together gently, then perform the monter au beurre at the last moment. Never boil a mounted sauce.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 235g)