Langosta a la Mantequilla de Quintana Roo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy chef's knife or cleaver for splitting the lobster
• •Charcoal grill or gas grill that can reach 425F
• •Cast iron comal for charring the habanero
• •Long-handled tongs and grill brush
• •Small clay bowl for serving the salsa

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the lobster

   Place each lobster on a cutting board, belly down. Drive a sharp heavy knife straight down through the head between the eyes to dispatch it cleanly. This is the humane cut and the cooks on Isla Mujeres and Holbox do it without ceremony. Now split the lobster lengthwise from head to tail through the shell, leaving the two halves attached at the back if you can, or fully separating them if your knife is not heavy enough. Remove the dark vein running down the tail and discard the gritty sac behind the eyes. Leave the green tomalley. That is flavor.

   Spiny lobster from the Caribbean coast has no front claws like Maine lobster. All the meat is in the tail. Do not buy a lobster with a soft shell or one that smells of ammonia. The langostero will tell you when the season is open. Caribbean spiny lobster is regulated. Buy from a vendor who respects the closure months.
2. 2

   Make the garlic butter

   In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, minced garlic, chopped epazote, lime zest, salt, and black pepper. Mash it together with a fork until evenly mixed. The butter should be soft enough to spread but not melted. Epazote is the herb that makes this a Yucatecan peninsula dish and not a generic grilled lobster. Find fresh epazote at a Mexican mercado. Dried epazote will not do the same work.

3. 3

   Make the salsa de habanero

   Char the whole habanero on a hot dry comal, turning it with tongs, until the skin blisters and blackens in spots. Two or three minutes. Let it cool just enough to handle. Stem it and chop it very fine. Wear gloves or wash your hands well afterwards. The habanero is the chile of the peninsula and it is hot in a clean, fruity way that no other chile gives you. In a small bowl, combine the chopped habanero, lime juice, diced purple onion, cilantro, and salt. Let it sit while you grill. Twenty minutes is plenty. This is the chiltomate-less cousin of every Yucatecan table salsa: bright, hot, direct.

   If a whole habanero in the salsa frightens your guests, use half. Do not substitute jalapeno. Jalapeno is a different chile and gives a different flavor. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and on the peninsula the chile is habanero.
4. 4

   Heat the grill

   Build a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill, or heat a gas grill to about 425F. The fire is ready when you can hold your hand four inches above the grate for three seconds. Brush the grates with olive oil. Lobster sticks to cold grates and tears apart when you try to lift it.

5. 5

   Butter the meat

   Spread two heaping tablespoons of the garlic butter across the cut surface of each lobster half, working it into every crevice of the meat. Reserve the rest of the butter for basting and serving. The butter is doing two things: protecting the meat from the dry heat and seasoning it as it melts down through the tail.

6. 6

   Grill shell side down first

   Lay the lobster halves on the grill shell side down. Cover the grill, or tent loosely with foil if it is open. Cook for six to eight minutes. The shell will turn from mottled brown to bright orange-red as the meat cooks through from below. This is the slower side. Resist the urge to flip early. The shell protects the delicate meat from the direct flame.

7. 7

   Flip and finish

   Flip the lobsters meat side down for the final two to three minutes. You want grill marks on the meat and the butter to bubble and brown at the edges. The meat is done when it is opaque white throughout and just firm to the touch. Pull them off the second they are set. Overcooked lobster is rubber and there is no fixing it. The tail meat should pull cleanly from the shell.

   Total time on the grill is about ten minutes for a one-pound lobster. Bigger lobsters need a minute or two more per side. The internal temperature at the thickest part of the tail should be 140F. A skewer inserted into the tail should come out warm to the touch.
8. 8

   Baste and serve

   Transfer the lobster halves to a warm platter, meat side up. Spoon the remaining garlic butter across the hot meat so it melts and pools in the shells. Set the salsa de habanero in a small clay bowl at the center of the table. Bring out warm tortillas and lime halves. Each person should pick up their lobster half and eat it directly from the shell, dressing every bite with the salsa. This is beach food eaten on white tablecloth, and that is the whole spirit of Quintana Roo. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your lobster from a vendor who respects the closure season. The veda runs March through June for a reason. A langostero who sells out of season is not someone you want to trust with the rest of his catch.
• •Fresh epazote is non-negotiable. The herb tastes like nothing else: resinous, slightly medicinal, completely Yucatecan. Dried epazote is a pale ghost of the fresh leaf. If you cannot find it fresh, leave it out and call this what it is, a compromise.
• •Do not buy frozen lobster tail for this dish. The flesh has already lost too much water and the meat will turn cottony on the grill. If you cannot get a whole live or fresh lobster, make a different recipe today.
• •The tomalley, the green-yellow paste in the head cavity, is a delicacy. Spread it on a warm tortilla with a drop of the habanero salsa. The langosteros eat it before the lobster even reaches the table.
• •No me vengas con atajos. Boiling the lobster first and then finishing on the grill is not faster, it is just worse. The meat dries out in the boil and the grill cannot rescue it.

Advance Preparation

• •The garlic-epazote butter can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature for an hour before using so it spreads easily.
• •The habanero salsa can be made up to four hours ahead and held at room temperature. The flavors deepen as the lime works the onion and chile. Do not refrigerate it. Cold flattens the habanero.
• •The lobsters should be split no more than 30 minutes before they go on the grill. Once split, they begin to lose moisture quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)