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reduced by half. Put in enough fish stock to cover the lobster and simmer for another 5 minutes until the lobster is cooked. Remove the pieces. Add the rest of the stock and the bouquet, with the rice. Meanwhile remove lobster meat from the shells, restoring a few large bits of shell to the pan of soup. Dice the meat and set aside. When the rice is cooked, take the shell out of the pan and liquidize the rest, or sieve it, with the cream and most of the lobster meat. Season. Mix the coral with the remaining butter and add to the reheated but not boiling soup, together with the last few bits of lobster meat that were not liquidized. Sprinkle with plenty of chopped parsley and serve.

If you have a ready-boiled lobster, shell the meat and add the shell to the vegetables which have been softened in the butter. Flame with brandy, add wine and continue with the recipe above. This method is a good way of using up the shells from a lobster – it is surprising how much flavour they contain, and if you have the forethought to put aside a piece or two of lobster meat from the meal before, the bisque will be quite good. Sometimes a spoonful of tomato concentrate or chopped tomato improves this kind of economical recipe.

HOT LOBSTER DISHES

Most hot lobster dishes can be reduced to two basic methods. Once they are firmly in one’s mind, a number of variations can be introduced.

The first method is to serve the lobster in a rich sauce, with rice. The second is to mix it with a small amount of sauce and some piquant flavourings, and then to grill it in the half-shell. This is a particularly appetizing way of cooking lobster; the only snag is that half a lobster is essential for each person, whereas two lobsters can be quite enough for six people when prepared by the first method.

LOBSTER WITH VARIOUS SAUCES

Serves 6

2 lobsters, live or ready boiled

125 g (4 oz) butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 glass brandy, gin or whisky

150 ml (5 fl oz) wine or fortified wine

300 ml (10 fl oz) cream, preferably double

2–3 egg yolks

salt, pepper, cayenne, herbs

Cut up live lobsters as indicated in the Lobster Introduction. Melt the butter, cook the onion and garlic until soft. Add the lobster pieces, raise the heat and turn until they are red. Flame with the brandy, gin or whisky. Remove the lobster to a dish and keep it warm. Pour the wine into the pan, and reduce to a syrupy essence. Stir in the cream; reduce slightly. Mix the egg yolks with the lobster coral, the creamy part and any liquor. Stir in a spoonful of sauce, then add to the pan and thicken without boiling in the usual way. Add seasoning to taste.

With a ready-boiled lobster, remove the meat and dice it. Add to the softened onion and garlic, reheat, and push to the side of the pan while the sauce is completed. If there is any risk of it overcooking, transfer to a covered dish, and keep warm in the oven, or over a pan of boiling water.

LOBSTER NEWBURG No onion or garlic. Use brandy and Madeira or brown sherry as the alcohol. For the final seasoning, add salt, pepper and 60 g (2 oz) of butter cut into bits and whisked into the sauce without further cooking. Otherwise, as above.

This was a recipe invented by the French chef at Delmonico’s in New York, at the end of the last century.

LOBSTER À L’ANISE As in the basic recipe above, but add 250 g (8 oz) sliced mushrooms when cooking onion and garlic. For the alcohol, use 2 tablespoons pastis or Pernod. The herbs should include some chopped tarragon. Good, and unusual.

LOBSTER À L’AURORE As the basic recipe above, but with white wine as the only alcohol, plus a spoonful of wine vinegar. To the cream, add 150 ml (5 fl oz) concentrated tomato purée, well seasoned. To make the purée, use fresh tomatoes, see Lobster à l’américaine below.

LOBSTER À LA CRÈME Omit onions, garlic and brandy; use white wine as the alcohol. The rest unchanged.

LOBSTER À L’AMÉRICAINE

Two things are certain about the excellent dish known both as Lobster à l’américaine and Lobster à l