[Sca-cooks] Re: European lobsters

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Olwen the Odd:
>In a message dated 10/21/2002 10:42:32 AM Eastern Standard Time, Devra
>writes:
>>
>>>  The pictures of the lobsters in the Dutch paintings (17th cent?) in the
>>Albany exhibit all seemed to have fairly
>>>  substantial claws...
>>>  Devra the Baker
>>>  _______________________________________________
>>
>>KEwl. Someone else who went. I even dropped money on the book, I enjoyed it
>>so much.Anybody want scans of the lobsters??
>>
>>Andrea
>
>I would.  I would still like to know if there is any chance they served only
>the claws and tails.  Anyone???
>Olwen

I haven't seen any specific reference to it. I suppose it's possible
they were dressed in different ways before serving, but they
certainly appear to have been cooked whole, and live. (I STR a
practice of sticking the claws into the mouth and/or vent before
cooking, possibly sort of like trussing a bird.) The author of the
Proper Neue Boke of Cokery talks at some length of how to dress a
crab before serving, sort of a precursor to Crab Imperial (i.e. the
meat is picked out of the shell and stuffed back into the carapace
with seasonings), but those are crabs. Chiquart mentions picking the
meat out of crayfish shells, seasoning it (vinegar and parsley, IIRC)
and restuffing it back into the shells, before frying them face down,
presumably sort of crusting them over and sealing the meat into the
shell for service.

But the short answer is no, I've never seen any evidence of Europeans
serving only the tails and claws of a lobster.

Adamantius
--
"No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes
deserves to be called a scholar."
	-DONALD FOSTER